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?
The real purpose of a coincident source driver is because of the waveguide affect of placing the tweeter in the center of the bass driver. A waveguide to a tweeter extends the frequency response lower allowing a 2 way to utilize a larger driver for more bass extension and volume while not asking it to operate outside its physical abilities thereby introducing distortion. Andrew Jones mentions this in his description of his speaker. Not really anything new though. |
@headphonedreams great call on the Cabasse. A truly remarkable system (fully active, dsp)! Heard it at AXPONA. Suggest for anyone mildly interested in audio engineering marvels/curiosities/design to audition these. You will probably be stunned (as I was) by the quality and quantity of sound from these relatively modest sized orbs. May or may not be your cup of tea, but impressive none the less. |
