I think the later Thiel versions worked nicely. Perhaps, the flat profile helped mitigate the lobing and doppler issues that might have otherwise prevailed?
Coaxials - Reality vs. Experience?
Should say "hype vs. reality" in the headline.
Coaxial speaker design has been around in one way or another for a long time. I often think I’ll be absolutely blown away by them, but in practice traditional vertical layout speakers often have sound as good, or have other features that make them sound better.
Thiel, KEF, Monitor Audio, Tekton, Seas are among the many players attempting such designs, but none has, by the coaxial drivers alone, dominated a segment of the market.
What are your listening experiences? Is it 1 coaxial speaker that won you over, or have you always preferred them?
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@mitch2 I bet they did! They sounded awesome in my 78 Trans Am back then too! |
Tannoy dual-concentrics blew me away when I first heard them, and basically converted me to a Tannoy owner for life. I presently own 5 pairs! As a young man I actually transitioned over to speakers from high-end headphones; the Tannoy DC’s coherence and musicality, versus multi-driver speakers, is what instantly won me over. I’ve listened to other high-end conventional speakers as the opportunities arise, and they have certainly gotten a LOT better in the past 10 years IMO. I do quite like Magico S series, and all 3 of the Acora Acoustics models. The Von Schweikert VR-55 Aktive and Focal Sopra 3’s are also quite enjoyable, but by the same token the bigger (and very expensive!) models from both of these makers haven’t really impressed me yet. It’s been almost 20 years, and Tannoys have become firmly seated as my audiophile "home base", so I’m not sure there’s much room for that to change anymore. But I also recognize Tannoys are not for everyone - you either "get them" or you don’t. Also Tannoy had a couple of models that really sucked, IMO. Also individual units could be miswired (like a set of used Glenair 10 I bought - good god did they sound like sh!t until I rewired them correctly), or may have had a driver wire knocked loose (they use very cheap clips) - early on, the woofer of one of my Canterbury GR’s became disconnected during loud playback (easy fix with a set of pliers)! So if it sounds bad, it may have been caused by one of these issues rather than the design itself! |
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