Line Source - to toe in or not?

There is no cure for the time-domain performance characteristics of a driver;

I’ve seen good evidence that notch filters not only can damp the ringing, but also reduce overall tweeter distortion. Having said this, I’ve never purchased a tweeter with significant ringing, so I can’t argue the point much with first hand information. See if you can find the old threads at DIYaudio on this.

A similar argument is made in rooms, something about linear phase systems can be damped by reducing the input. In any event, I won’t argue this point, but thought it was interesting.

What I can say is that there’s a lot of metal dome speakers out there with measurable ringing in a lot of reviews and living rooms. While personally I prefer to have tweeters with little to no stored energy, lots of people have no problem with them at all.  They may even give the listener a euphonic sense of air. 

So separate enclosures for the different drivers is a good idea? Is that the reason why subs or woofer columns are separate from the mid panel or drivers and the line of tweeters? I had 123s 15+ years ago. They were a nightmare. I did everything GR said to do.. They got better but they were horrible. It took a basketball court to make them sort of work. 123s made you want to put headphones on..

The owner Danny didn't like them either. His OB design is an acquired taste. They are the best I've ever heard though. I'm no expert but "Toe in" or "OUT" is pretty important.

A lot of bass columns are toed OUT while the mids and highs are toed IN. It's always "the room" anyways and what you like. Bright is usually a room issue. The lack of mids? On and off axis is important if your dancing? I sit when I listen, so I adjust accordingly. When many people are listening I toe my Hybrid LS out. They aren't glued to the floor. :-) 1/4" difference in tow or tip helps with "Bright" too.

The answer to the question is "it just depends on what you like". Getting speakers away from walls is hard for some people to learn too. Treat the room like it's part of the speaker and you'll be fine..

@erik_squires: Yeah, Danny Richie uses a notch filter to "tame" the ringing in the tweeters (and even midrange/bass drivers) in loudspeakers he is sent. Driver ringing is often also related to frequency response issues, so a filter addresses and helps with both issues.

Stored energy remains a significant failing in many (most?) drivers and the loudspeakers they are used in. I believe that is one reason why I was SO shocked when I heard my first ESL tweeter---the RTR used by David Wilson in his original WAMM, and in the ESS Transtatic I, a pair of which I also own. 

@bdp24 

Theonly way to inow what you are hearing is to measure.

Be tweets have, often, a combination of the best and worst traits.  While there are some really crappy AMT tweets, with terribl frequency response I have never seen any of them javesignificant stored energy

Danny Richie measures loudspeakers in the same way John Atkinson does. One reason Harry Pearson never earned the credibility possessed by J. Gordon Hold was that measurements were not part of TAS reviews. In fact, Pearson lacked the technical knowledge (and gear) required to do so.

If Pearson heard a hint of brightness in the sound of a loudspeaker, was that due to elevated frequency response in the 1kHz-2kHz range, driver ringing, distortion, or all three? Pearson hadn’t a clue. Neither do other purely-subjective reviewers. Measure and listen, as they say.