2way vs 3way speakers: different or is one "better"

it 
all
depends

I have owned many different types of speakers over the decades, including box (monkey coffin) speakers, electrostat (Accoustat 2+2s, planar magnetic (Magnepan 2.5Rs) and several so-called book shelfs, Reference 3A MM deCapos, and a pair of Callo Classicos 2s (mylar tweeter); these are small and terrific while they lack bass , a matching sub was available https://www.audiogon.com/listings/monitors-gallo-cl-2-huge-monitor-closeout-save-72-2016-01-12-speak... , but all this leads to my recent purchase...

Emerald Physics open baffle 3.4s, 8ohm nominal, 96dB, easy to drive, with 12" carbon fiber driver and a concentric polyester tweeter per side. Now, it’s a floor stander, but only 38" high to the top of the 12" driver. Alas, the XOs won’t be here until Monday, but these should be tremendous imagers with excellent mids and upper bass

I would look for a pair of these, especially if you can find a pair of factory closeouts https://www.emeraldphysics.com/products/ep-34

hth

Everybody knows 3 way is a fuller sound with better bass.HELLO!!!!!

Millercarbon wrote:

" What is the point of a midrange? To handle midrange frequencies better than a large woofer. Do bookshelf speakers have large woofers? No. So what is the point of a midrange in a bookshelf speaker?

"Good question."

Well I was going to say "good question", but you beat me to it!

Imo there are at least two arguments in favor of doing a three-way bookshelf speaker:

First, relative to the typical off-axis response discontinuity between a midwoofer and dome tweeter in a two-way, there will be less discontinuity between woofer and mid, and also less discontinuity between mid and tweet. So the reflections will (usually) sound more like the direct sound, which is imo desirable.

Second, handing off much of the midrange duties to a dedicated midrange driver theoretically frees up the designer to use a woofer which has been optimized for the lower part of the spectrum.

There are also disadvantages: Now you have two crossover points instead of one, and at a given price the money for drivers and crossover components is spread more thinly.

Execution matters more than the number of "ways", and the best designs are often the one which are exceptions to whatever rules of thumb I or anyone else might come up with... for example, Fritz speakers totally defy my expectations for a two-way bookshelf speaker.

For an example of a designer taking advantage of what can theoretically be done in a three-way bookshelf speaker, google "Cliffhanger Bulldog". Sadly discontinued, this was imo a superb design.

Duke
former Cliffhanger dealer, fan of Fritz