@bmbmzig: Danny Richie has repeated stated that achieving a desired frequency response (the specs/measurements to which you refer) does only one thing: make the speaker accurate. He over and over has stressed the point that replacing sound-degrading crossover parts with parts that don’t degrade the signal is the way to increase a loudspeaker’s transparency, resolution, fine detail, soundstage layering (depth, width, height, spacing between singers and musicians), and other audiophile performance characteristics.
For the speakers sent to him that have technical problems (less than optimum crossovers), he designs a new crossover to correct those technical shortcomings. And he also of course builds the new crossover using parts he has found produce good sonic results For the speakers that already have an accurate frequency response, he just replicates the stock crossover, but replaces the electrolytic capacitors, sand cast resistors, and iron core inductors with audiophile grade parts, including internal wiring, copper binding posts, etc.
People often say (in fact did so just above) "Why not just buy a better loudspeaker, one you like the sound of more?" That’s fine, but what makes you think the better speaker doesn’t also have a "junk" crossover. All loudspeakers are built to a price point, and using the best crossover parts can increase the cost of a speaker to the point of it not being a commercially viable product. Loudspeaker companies don’t divulge what parts they use in the crossovers, and Wilson Audio "pots" their crossovers so that you can see what’s in them.
The video below---Danny’s latest, posted just yesterday---is an interesting (and unique) case. An owner of a Magnepan 2.6 sent his speakers to Magnepan to have them repaired and refurbished (details in the video). When that was completed he had Magnepan ship the speakers to GR Research, Yes, Magnepan is well aware of the mods Danny offers for their speakers. To hear Danny’s thoughts on the 2.6 (and Magnepan’s in general), you can watch the video.
So if you’re a Magnepan lover, how do you take the advice others have made in this thread, and just buy a speaker whose sound you like more than Maggies? Like what? A "better" model Maggie? Sorry, they all contain the same quality crossovers. At least they did until recently. Magnepan themselves now offer some of their models in the new X Series, which feature crossovers using better parts, internal wiring, binding posts, etc.
And what if you like your current speaker more than any other in it’s price range, but suspect that an upgraded crossover will keep it’s basic sound character, but improve it in the ways I listed in an above paragraph? A GR Research mod is just one alternate to consider.
Yesterday’s GR Research YouTube video is entitled "Is This The Best Deal In High-End Audio? (Magnepan + Mods). It may be, but it has stiff competition from the Eminent Technology LFT-8b, another planar-magnetic loudspeaker. Here’s the video:
https://youtu.be/WjNV8BbZRG8?si=HyRoyMQiMGXhWe1Y
And here’s a video on the ET LFT-8b:
https://youtu.be/Uc5O5T1UHkE?si=yyvaTIj9e-Rc44JL
