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Speakers The single most critical component

I know we've been over this Q hundreds of X's over the past 20 years here on audion, You can find dozen of topics dealing with this Q <which is the ,,,,most important component...>>
well time for yet 1 more topic dealing with this,, perhaps unanswered, un-resolved issue.
I'm bringing up the old hachet due to my recent experience acutally hearinga FR in my system. 
Let me tell you, there is not even 1 traditional/conventioanl/xover design <The Boxed Type>> in the world that could convince me  , there is something that will beat out FR (caveat, FR requires  some sort of high sens =sensitivity, tweeter)  in  the Boxy world of speakers.
That is to say, FR + Compression Horn is the future of 21st Century high fidelity. 
One lab has already brought us these ~~~SHF~~~ aka SuperHighFidelity  single drivers. 
The code word here is ~~SHF~~~ which can not never be employed when describing xover/trad/conventioanl style  aka The Box designs. db level under 91 are _<<IN-EFFICIENT>> , = dysfunctional, out dated, old school , = Dinasaurs. 
For amps, I only consider tube amps (PP and SET) as ~~SHF~~~ I can not include ss amps in this topic. 
IMHO all well made tube amps sound very close,
 a  kt88 in brand X will sound  close to brand Y. 
So amplification takes a  distant 2nd place in critical component.  No need to break the bank buying amp A vs  a  lower priced kt88 amp B
CD players, nearly all  tube DAC's , tube cdp-ers sound  close. No need to braek the bank over X vs Y.
My Jadis DAC is  only miniscule gain over the Shanling,
 the Shanling
only a  miniscule gain over the Cayin CD17. 
Now as for  best source  , phonograph is the ideal playback medium vs cds. 
I have some LP's now , but my main collection are classical cds, most not on LP version. Cables , I did note some gains employing silver/copper wiring throughout my entire system including inside the Defy.
Tweak worthy.
New Mundorf caps in all componets, tweak worthy. 
Yet the main central component remaisn the speakers.
Here is where  the entire audio resolution either rises to Nirvana or falls to <<distortion/muddy waters,/pollution/anti-fidelity  voicing  issues.
Your system's fidelity is ultimately dependent on what speaker  you have chosen to employ.
Forget all you've learned over the years, 
The new mantra is <,The speaker is key component>
All else is just extra tweaks/nuances. 
To sum up, a  ~~SHF~~ driver will match even the top of line Wilson weighing in at hundreds of lbs priced $$$$$$$ overa single FR driver. 
FR beats out any/all xover box design speakers. Mostly due to that key specification ~~db level~~~ which is everything in speaker design and thus in resolution/fidelity. 

mozartfan
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,588 posts
 
....now, That was scary.....

I open the link, and Miller is on about 'the Perfect Speaker', a somewhat more coherent version of 'Mr. k"....

*whew*  Glad that potential universe swerve collapsed as I made way 'down here'...

...anyway...

Getting over the concept of 'Perfect' is somewhat hard, but do-able.  Just go for what boats your float...and enjoy.

Weekend, yay. J
redwoodaudio
413 posts
 
Well, perhaps they were junk, and they were certainly not magico gold carbon fiber quality, but the omega single driver alnico FR speakers I had were nice, but had many weaknesses. Is Voxativ making something entirely different? If so, please educate me. Thanks. 
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
quality, but the omega single driver alnico FR speakers I had were nice, but had many weaknesses. Is Voxativ making something entirely different? If so, please educate me. Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not able to give real live/bonifide critique on the Voxativ
as i have not heard them, only via YT uploads. Of course you can just look at the web site and see these are highly engineered products. 
Richard also mentioned weaknesses in his experience of FR,, but as with you he said there were many lovely things as well.
AS we know there is no perfect speaker, and i have no super high celestial hopes of finding perfection.
I awoke at 3am with this thought on my mind.
THE MORE EFFICIENT THE SPEAKER THE MORE EFFICIENT THE TUBE AMPLIFICATION
There , I have finally figured out how to get the best super high fidelity out your tube amplification.
I seriously doubt anyone has formulated this thesis in any stereo review/speaker review.
I am the 1st, although may have been hinted at somewhere in Stereophile's years of issues.
Of course this applies to SET amplification, which led me away from SET's. Due to my Thors 87db, I was a  a  harsh critic of SET's due to their limitation of speaker choise, Stupid me, al;l i had to do was draw a  further conclusion. 
If SETs love high efficiecy, its logical to note push pull also may benifit from  employing high efficient speakers,
And this is the truth. Push pull tube amps perform much better with high efficient speakers. 
This is the main thrust to my argument, that any speaker  lower than 92/93db is not a  match for tube amplification. 
FR is the only way to voice muisc via tube amplification, Now which lab is on the cutting edge of technology of FR drivers?
Lucky for us, the lab developed a  single driver we all can afford. Now our tube amplification can 
as one DIYer has his mantra
~~Sing Like Angels~~~
mozartfan OP
2,143 posts
 
https://omegaloudspeakers.com/collections/monitor-speakers/products/super-alnico-high-output-monitor...


Yes pretty good description of a  very friendly tube amp speaker
Note in the descript ~~No power sucking, midrange MUDDYING xovers~~~
Agree. 
xover speakers are dinasaurs when it comes to voice tube amplification magic. 
Thats my point.
Now as far as Omega vs Voxativ.
I'd rather  have the option of purchasing my own driver and buildinga  cabinet, AS per the suggestion from Voxativ 
Quote
** our customers like the idea they can purcahse our driver, go to Home Depot and buy a piece of sanded plywood and build their own cabinet/face panel**
WE are all ona  tight budget lately, so buying a  single FR driver making the cabinet is a  great way to get the foot in the door to high percision high fidelity voicing of music.
I'd say the 21st Century is here and now. 
I  have been enlightened, comming out the dark ages. 
No one back in 2000 fully explained these things to me, had they, I might not(?) have bought the Thors. 
There are alot of newbies who do not havea  clue, such as i was once, as where to go for speaker selection for their tube amplification. 
WEll now these greenies do not have to go down the wasteful road of speaker flipping to realize its FR which is the answer to their issues.
FR is the King of all speakers. 

Troels Gravesen can read my posts,  just sit there and shake his head all he wants,
Hard to argue against  the truth. 
phusis's avatar
phusis
1,196 posts
 
@Millercarbon --

When in reality: Imagine the perfect speaker

Sounds like an oxymoron to me, certainly the premise it forms:

... with the perfect speaker the speaker itself no longer matters. It is the components feeding it the signal that matters. Since you cannot hear the speaker then logically the only thing left to hear is the signal, which is running through all these other components.

Do you get it? All these other components are the amp, source, wires. The better the speaker the more these matter. So when you say the speaker is the most important, what you forget to leave out is it is only the most important when it is the worst component.

The better the speaker the less it matters and the more everything else matters.

What’s to get here, pragmatically speaking, is that the speakers (and acoustics) have always mattered the most to even approach "perfection," and trying to convince oneself we’ve actually accomplished that seems, if anything, unrealistic. Everything may matter to some degree, but certainly not all equally.
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