Single way or multiway


The founder and builder of the highly respected high-end speaker company Gauder AkustikDr. Gauder, says that using a full-range driver is very bad. He uses 3- to 4-way speakers with extremely complex 10th-order crossovers consisting of 58–60 components.

In contrast, some other well-known and equally respected speaker companies — such as Voxativ, Zu, Cube Audio, and Totem — use crossoverless designs.

Who is right, and who is wrong?

bache

The solution is to get rid of cone drivers and use electrostatic forces to move ultralight diaphragms.  Done properly can be free of cabinets and cover the full frequency range.

Still have to ensure there is coherence across a big panel, as is done by Quad with their apparent point-source annular design

IMHO, there is really NO right or wrong. If there was, then we are all having that setup, wouldn't we!

I think, it all depends on implementation. I think, multiway setup can be made to sound great, but Multi speaker and crossovers all require more power to do what the designer wants it to do. So as long as you have the power amp to do so, then you're a winner. 

On the other hand, Single driver with a minimalist crossover (or none) is the most efficient as most of you are aware. BUT I don't believe there are a lot of good speakers that can be a called "master of everything". I personally owned for years the DX4 from Lowther in a single driver arrangement driven a flea watt. I never really like it but got stuck with it. BUT now with Voxativ drivers in the market, maybe there is chance for single drivers to shine. 

This are just my take based on my listening experience.

In my younger days I was all for a multi-way, but nowadays I can usually handle just a single way before it's time to call it a night and cut the music.

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