Coaxials - Reality vs. Experience?

@johnah5 and @nationalbar, it was interesting to see your comments on the Hsu speakers.  In my elder years I'm looking at simplifying and downsizing my system and the CCB-8 is on my list.

A few years ago Dr. Hsu gave a demo to our audio group with an earlier model of smaller stand mounts with a single sub.  He made a point of using a very modest system including a low-powered AV receiver, inexpensive CD player, and literally zip cord.  That offered amazing sonics and musical satisfaction for such a modest system.  It left me wondering how good it might have sounded with better components?

Then a couple of weeks ago I saw the video you posted.  I've been to his house and while I didn't hear his Hsu system, I can appreciate the particular care he exercises in component selection,  BTW, his comments on Hsu begin about 10:35 for those not wanting to search through the whole video.

But I've not heard the CCB-8 yet myself so both of your comments are appreciated.

Hard to beat the imaging of some of the KEFs and Tannoys IME. Otherwise there is nothing particularly remarkable about the scheme. 
 

I owned the previous Spatial Audio M series which consisted of Eminence woofer with a coaxially mounted compression driver at its center. The imaging was not nearly as good as I expected from such a design but I chalk that up to the size of the woofer. 

Definitely, nobody is claiming coax or DC to be a perfect scheme, and in particular Tannoys do not look good in measurements. Fortunately I enjoy music, not measurements!

The Tannoys with a 15" DC (like my Canterbury) are probably pushing that woofer a bit far, asking it to do 1,100 Hz at crossover. They are technically "beaming" at that point but the dispersion of the horn tweeter helps cover for it, somewhat. Within Tannoy fandom you’ll find fans specifically of certain driver sizes, or of the tulip vs. pepperpot wave guides. I love both the 10" and 15", and both in tulip and pepperpot, but they certainly do different things. For some reason I haven’t been enamored by a 12" DC yet; you’d think that would be the good compromise.

As far as Tannoy tulip vs. pepperpot waveguide: pepperpot (usually paired with a single alnico magnet which is VERY expensive) is capable of a more vibrant, lifelike and gorgeous midrange with very fast transients and "startle" factor, but on the flipside its top end can get a bit rough and requires careful system matching to keep this in check! Tulip (dual barium ferrite magnets - this makes the drivers MUCH cheaper) is more even keeled and a great all-around performer, but can’t quite get the midrange exactly as lovely as a good pepperpot.

@mulveling

As far as Tannoy tulip vs. pepperpot waveguide: pepperpot (usually paired with a single alnico magnet which is VERY expensive) is capable of a more vibrant, lifelike and gorgeous midrange with very fast transients and "startle" factor, but on the flipside its top end can get a bit rough and requires careful system matching to keep this in check!

Agreed.

The occasionally sharp treble sting of my Tannoy Berkeley’s was reduced by 2 things.

The first was the use of isolation under the 4 feet, especially the front pair which carried most of the speaker’s considerable weight.

And secondly by gently loosening the 4 drive unit bolts to hand tightness.

Otherwise, I don’t know if even all of their alnico midrange glory would have been enough for me to stay with them for so long.

I've owned coax speakers (Thiel) and listened to a number of others - e.g KEF, Tannoy, more recently the SourcePoint 10s.

I have not found any particular advantage just due to a speaker using a coax design.  I don't for instance find the KEF, Tannoys or SP10s "extra coherent" or casting a soundstage unlike I can find elsewhere.  In fact I've found a number of speakers, even the old Shun Mook Bella Voce (Shun Mook!!!) speakers to strike me as more coherent than for instance the Tannoys or SP10s or even the KEFs.

That said...I have found the two most recent Thiel speakers I've owned - Jim's last flagship 3.7 and also the 2.7s - to be just about the most coherent multi-driver speakers I've ever heard.  Especially the 3.7.

I had the Thiel CS6 at my place years ago which had their then-new coax midrange/tweeter.   That speaker sounded very coherent with the exception of a slight change in character with listener position, especially vertically a bit as I remember.  I think some form of interference was producing a slight "hollow" sound from certain positions.

It seems that Thiel finally nailed the coax design with his last version - the tweeter set in the "flat" (corrugated) midrange driver.   That speaker's midrange and treble (and bass) was just totally coherent in my home.  Same with the 2.7.  I can not for the life of me "hear out" the difference in drivers, any transition, cancellation or anything.   And it maintains it's character over a very wide area.  The sound is very consistent even when I stand up and walk around the room.

The other thing with the Thiels is the insane imaging prowess.  There is a focus and precision and density to the imaging I have rarely heard before.  Even my Joseph Speakers, renowned for imaging, sound slightly diffuse and less tight when directly compared with the Thiels.

So ultimately I have no idea how much of this to attribute to the fact it's a coax driver for the mids/highs, or to the first order/phase coherent design, or to any number of other design choices in the Thiels.