Bigtee: You bring up some valid points for typical "full range single driver" systems. What you may have forgotten to take into account is how a Walsh driver works and is shaped.
Due to the shape and size of the cone, the section of cone that is closest to the motor is furthest away from the ear in terms of actual physical distance. Yet at the same time, it is closest to the ear in terms of a direct path when one is seated in a normal listening position. The lower section of the cone is larger, making it physically closer to the ear, yet it is further away due to the higher position of ones' ears at a seated listening position.
The end result is a relatively consistent wavefront in terms of arrival time vs frequency. That's why this is called a "bending wave" transducer. It takes into account the length, path and arrival times of the various frequencies being reproduced and where they are emanated from on the driver itself. Obviously, some attention needs to be paid in terms of speaker height vs seated listening height, but this is true of any speaker system.
As a side note, Ohm had to play with the shape of the driver quite a bit when redesigning the original Walsh driven Ohm A to come up with the Ohm F. If you look at pictures of them side by side, the shapes of the cones on the A and the F are quite different. Whereas the A looks like an upside-down funnel with a much broader flare near the base, the F uses the same basic "upside-down funnel" design but maintains a consistent rate of flare from top to bottom. If these were potentiometers, you could say that the Ohm A had an "audio taper" whereas the Ohm F had a "linear taper". Sean
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PS... The Walsh's are FAR, FAR, FAR from perfect drivers, but they do some things VERY well.
PPS... Mburns: E-stat's and any other "panel" type speaker have their own set of problems. Each speaker design has its' own benefits and baggage. Plasma drivers are the "best" in terms of linearity, but they are just about the worst in terms of spl capacity when taking safety into account : )
Due to the shape and size of the cone, the section of cone that is closest to the motor is furthest away from the ear in terms of actual physical distance. Yet at the same time, it is closest to the ear in terms of a direct path when one is seated in a normal listening position. The lower section of the cone is larger, making it physically closer to the ear, yet it is further away due to the higher position of ones' ears at a seated listening position.
The end result is a relatively consistent wavefront in terms of arrival time vs frequency. That's why this is called a "bending wave" transducer. It takes into account the length, path and arrival times of the various frequencies being reproduced and where they are emanated from on the driver itself. Obviously, some attention needs to be paid in terms of speaker height vs seated listening height, but this is true of any speaker system.
As a side note, Ohm had to play with the shape of the driver quite a bit when redesigning the original Walsh driven Ohm A to come up with the Ohm F. If you look at pictures of them side by side, the shapes of the cones on the A and the F are quite different. Whereas the A looks like an upside-down funnel with a much broader flare near the base, the F uses the same basic "upside-down funnel" design but maintains a consistent rate of flare from top to bottom. If these were potentiometers, you could say that the Ohm A had an "audio taper" whereas the Ohm F had a "linear taper". Sean
>
PS... The Walsh's are FAR, FAR, FAR from perfect drivers, but they do some things VERY well.
PPS... Mburns: E-stat's and any other "panel" type speaker have their own set of problems. Each speaker design has its' own benefits and baggage. Plasma drivers are the "best" in terms of linearity, but they are just about the worst in terms of spl capacity when taking safety into account : )