How come that when most audiophiles

OK, your looking for the impossible, how about this?

A single driver speaker that is pretty much flat from 24 Hz to ultrasonics, and can be driven by amplifiers from as little as 21 watts to over 700 watts?

This speaker would have no crossover, less than 36 inches of wire and exhibit an impedance of 8 Ohms.

It must have a radiation pattern that remains IN PHASE from 24 HZ to ultrasonics, and yet produce between 88 and 95 BD sound pressure level at 1 watt, measured from 12 feet, rather than the industry standard of 39 inches.

This speakers single driver must be engineered where it is so lightweight and quick, that it measures and weighs less than the air it moves.

It must use a magnet that will deliver equal force and power distribution over it's single driver at all times. This must remain true, regardless of the total power applied to the driver, the sound pressure level required, and regardless of the frequency it is producing.

Last, it cannot occupy any more floor space than a Vandersteen 2C speaker.

It seems to me that about 99%+ of all audiophiles are at the "mercy" of speaker manufacturers. Why speaker makers don't use simpler electronics I have no idea, but if what you suggest is really superior, it should show up in music quality and character; it should show up in "reviews", and it should show up in advertising. IMO, audiophiles purchase by reading, by looking and especially listening-- no?. Some enterprizing speaker maker could make a lot of money from the concept "simpler is better" if it's really valid (and significant)-- and if he's able to "sell" it.

Speakers are certainly the most "colored" of all components in a stereo system, and it seems to me that the "simpler is better philosophy" regarding speaker electronics, may not be the biggest reason(s) for the colorations-- just my opinion. Cheers. Craig

I reject the notion that there is a single technical and/or equipment path to audiophile nirvana. What works for one person may not work for someone else. While the system you describe might work wonderfully on several types of music, I doubt it would really excel at raggae, large scale orchestral, rap or electronica. At the same time these other systems may not have the textural magic and transparency that your system possesses. Any system involves making trade-offs. The success of each system will depend heavily on the biases of the listener. To paraphrase another Albert - it should be as simple as possible, but not more than necessary.

So Onhwy61, are you directing your comments to the topic posted by Twl, or to my post about the impossible speaker?

My post described a speaker that appears to have all the attributes that Twl was searching for.

Your argument as to the possible merit of that technology should be directed at him.

As the person who posed the topic here, I think all of your feedback is very thoughtful and correct in the aspects you all approached from. It is good to hear knowledgable people and their valued opinions. If any of you are interested in my speaker design and its strengths and limitations, I will give you further info here. First, it is not perfect as all of you well know, and since you cannot hear it and I'm not selling it, you can only go by my description. I'm sorry Albertporter, I cannot meet all the criteria you posted, but in many areas I came surprisingly close. First, I used a Fostex FE103 driver(4") on each side.Don't laugh yet. It posesses an excellent moving mass to spl ratio(efficiency) of 92db unloaded.It's very quick and has much less phase shift on transients than larger cone drivers. It is quite flat in response from 100-6000Hz, outside of which it suffers from impedance rises that I dealt with to improve the response. I designed a TL tube cabinet tuned to 41.7Hz - exactly half the driver's natural Fs which gives bass to that freq within 3db. I reinforced the lower mids with a disc shaped baffle behind the diffraction plane. The highs were cured with the impedance mod. The Z mod was simply a 24ohm non-inductive resistor paralled across the terminals. This reduced the 32ohm rises at the Fs and the gradual rise above 6kHz to less than 13.7ohms while only reducing the nominal system Z to 6ohms. (Simple product/sum theory) By reducing the Z rises, the driver efficiency at the frequency extremes was increased to within the 3db down level of the OTL amp from 41Hz to 20kHz(in room response at listening position). I now achieve 100 db peaks at my chair. The TL tube is loaded by the floor(front firing)at the base of the unit. Judicious tuning was required to get the correct tube/direct radiator balance to reduce midrange contamination. It stands 6ft. tall and 18" across(cylinder shape)- not much different than Van.2c's. Sweet spot is smallish due to beaming of highs. Bass is full, solid and quick. Midrange is golden. Transient dynamics are tremendous and all detail is revealed. Rock, jazz, classical, all sound very well given good recordings and imaging is pinpoint and concrete. The downside is spl of only 100db/1 watt peak. Max power handling is 3w continuous, 8w peak. My listening habits are not affected by this. Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, Sade, Weather Report, Kinks, Joni Mitchell, etc. are all handled with aplomb. They look like 6' tall stick telephones from the 1920's. Very unique. I welcome all comments. BTW, I'm driving them with a Berning MicroZ OTL - 1watt output.(NOS tubes)