Okay, the gloves are off. Let the fur fly

Zaikesman, I completely agree with your insightful observation on the box speaker evolution/development. I hope that in coming days, you could change your view of me from "agent provocateur" to "interested participant with a unusual point of view" or something. You obviously look for more in these posts than just the factual statements, or you wouldn't have even noticed a two pronged approach in my question. So maybe our points of view aren't all that different. I can see that your insight is not limited to the box speaker development path. I very much look forward to having the opportunity to have future discussions on this forum with people like yourself. After all, audio is not just the equipment alone. It is the interaction of music and the listener that makes the magic. The perceptions of the listener is at least as important, if not more important, than the gear producing it. Cheers.

TWL - Of course that descriptive was meant in fun. Your statement at the beginning about slings and arrows - maybe you're trying to catch some where there are none? No need to apologize for having a point of view here (or to ride in on a Trojan horse just to stir the pot!). BTW, I happen to have a fascination with line-source panels, and hope to one day own some as well (my speakers are Thiel CS 2.2's). But in the meantime, do you have any hot suggestions about what to listen to in the way of crossover-less single-driver designs? Cheers yourself!

Zaikesman, I currently use a Fostex FE103 based single driver system in a tubular transmission line configuration, tuned to 41.7Hz. Since the FE103's are only 4" drivers, they will not be everyone's cup of tea. But they are common in high end systems here and in Japan.I drive them with a 1 watt Berning OTL and they give me satisfactory results for my application. With the impedance curve mods I did, and the T-Line loading, the 41.7Hz bass response is achieved. I am not in need of lower bass than that for my listening. SPL levels are low by most audiophile standards, but reasonably loud levels are possible without much compression except on full symphonic and heavy rock. Jazz, vocals, pop, folk,etc. are breathtaking in detail and naturalness, and imaging and soundstage is typical point source perfect(dare I say it?). They won't rock the house down, but I live on a large lot and when I walk the dog, I can hear the music faintly from 30 yards away with the windows closed. They do not suffer the usual HF rolloff of single drivers because of my impedance re-curve mod.(also greatly helps bass response.) So a usable bandwidth from 41.7-20kHZ is not bad for a single driver and SPL's in the upper 90's to boot. The whole ball of wax ran me $250 for the pair. Now, I've worked in high end audio stores and been around, so I've heard plenty of good stuff and these babies are good! If you really need that bass kick, then you could cross in a sub pretty low and you've got it. But when I put on Sade(Best of)I can feel that low bass in my body - with no subs. This type of design can also be done with 6's or 8's too, and you'll get more SPL and lower bass that way. But, the 4" is fast,light, and easy to control at all frequencies. As this whole thread demonstrated, tastes vary. Whether you could live with this sound, I don't know, but I sure can.And I saved alot of jack in the process. I've heard multi-thousand dollar speakers that can't match these within their limitation range. So, if you can live with lower SPL,bass to 40HZ, some compression in the really big music, and stunning, highly detailed and natural sound in all other aspects, these will please you.

Fascinating thread here, Twl - spinning into something more like a tapestry, I'd say...

In my experience, the most fundamental quality a speaker has to get right is tonal balance. This implies adequate bandwidth and a non-irritating midrange. After this, personal preference dictates what priority is placed on clarity, timbral shadings, harmonic richness, coherence, dynamic contrast, soundstaging, bandwidth extension, maximum usable loudness, and so forth.

As an owner of and dealer for both single-driver and multi-driver systems, I think that in the lower price ranges the multi-driver systems are generally the better set of compromises. Then at higher price ranges, single-driver systems begin to overcome their bandwidth limitations, and become much more competitive. As an oversimplified general trend, I'd say below five grand mulitiway systems rule, while above ten grand I'd lean towards single-driver systems, and in between I'm not sure.