What's the best 7" & 8" woofers available?

Humble thanks from me too for all the info. Now,
a Zobel question. Will a multi-way speaker with all-active
crossovers benefit as much (or at all) as passive crossover
multi-way system?

Rbj, the answer to your question depends on the drivers and their crossover points. When using active crossovers, they should be used to bracket the ranges that the drivers are most suited to drive.If you use only the flattest center sections of the response curve for that driver, then you will likely also be free of the typical phase shifting and impedance rise areas of that driver. Use steep enough slopes to have them well rolled off before they reach the "bad zones". The woofer will probably benefit from a Zobel network tuned for the resonant freq(Fs) to deal with the spike around that freq. The tweeter may also have a similar problem, depending on where it is crossed-in. If you try to run any of the drivers in a wide-range manner, you are likely to need it due to your running into the extreme upper and lower freq.s that driver can handle. This is where most phase shift and impedance rises occur with most drivers(there are exceptions).I have found it to be very beneficial in single driver systems also, where the impedance peaks on both ends of the spectrum must be dealt with. Very useful circuits.

I have also enjoyed this thread. I almost always read all the speaker threads but this one really zeros in on the huge rip off most manufactures charge for their products. All of my equipment sounds great (to my ears) and are either produced by company's that represent great value (in high ends terms) or I buy a great piece used. I have been wondering for quite some time if I would be capable of building a quality speaker, amp, pre-amp myself using top quality brands. You guys have me fired up. Ehider I have been looking for a new pre-amp I wonder if you could share with us a site or components you used with your pre-amp. Iam interested.

Mr Ehider once again your post tops the chart..i can tell from your post that you've tried to sum up in 500 words or less "things that need to be said"..your playing the flute but i doubt if you'll have many followers...the mags ads, the "professional" reviewers ,the commercial labs, the "hi-fi" shops are all in cohoots and the amount of hype generated by the previous cohooters have the masses "hype-ta-mized"..i've got more to say about your post but gotta run..i got my PHILIPS RT8P isodynamic "ribbon" tweets in today..SUPER!!!

Another Zobel question. The thread is changing direction
here, but since we're on it, and it's interesting, here goes. If we put a Zobel network on the woofer to flatten the reactance spike in the very lowest usable register,
wouldn't this decreased reactance now allow a higher signal
current to flow, meaning that the low end flat response is extended? The limiting factor of the flat response at this point is now the "X-max" total linear cone travel AND the
mechanical cone mass/damping factor (classic mass/spring/
damper system), NOT the electrical damping. If this is true,
shouldn't we look for woofers with high moving mass, long
long X-max (P-to-P), and "tight" non-compliant surrounds?