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?

erik_squires

Some of the most successful implementations of a point source I've heard (which is what coaxial comes down to, being a point source - certainly over a relatively wide frequency span, if not most of it) is the Synergy horn by Tom Danley and TAD's CR1, but I'm also quite fond of the WLM Diva's (10" Eminence coaxial). I've found the Tannoy Dual Concentric iterations a bit too "flavored" or heavy/dark sounding to my ears, albeit with a very easy-going presentation and distinct sense of a coherent "radiation bubble" in front of me - a vital trait to aspire to.

What I'd consider the most here is a Synergy horn, but even being large I find they tend to lack a wee bit of upper bass energy that can be more successfully achieved from a dedicated midbass horn. So, instead of going with a 2 or 3-way Synergy horn crossing over to a midbass horn at 3-400Hz and then subs ditto further low I'd rather skip the Synergy horn altogether and go with a larger format MF/HF single-driver horn that takes over from the midbass horn on up. Being careful with timing/delay and maintaining uniform dispersion patterns at the cross-over frequencies a very coherent radiation sphere-of-sound can be achieved, while having more dedicated driver/horn sections to their respective areas. More of a hassle for sure, but to me at least ultimately more rewarding.

I’m a fan of speaker design guru Andrew Jones who makes great sounding speakers at their price point.  His new MoFi SourcePoint 10 garnered many very favorable reviews that I’ll likely get a pair even though I don’t have the need.  He reportedly sold 80 pairs at the the recent CAF 

I think I'll buy those new Steinway Lyngdorf Model A's and end this game for good 🤔😎 Enjoy the music 😃

@mulveling Main stream very succesfull co like Wilson,Paradigm, JBL ets dont follow you suggestion LOL,   I am not participate in forum only .