Another good article Shady.
I think the issue about tweeters is well taken. Choosing a set of speakers based on the tweeter is absolutely absurd.
I have said many times you do not pull any drivers out of thin air when designing a speaker.
The questions are what is it for, and where is it going? A budget then enters into the equation.
Selection of the drivers is then crucial, and at the very heart of good design. So you look for drivers, that can be designed to work well together. At this time leave all preconceived notions on the floor.
So the only thing that matters about a tweeter, is if it right is for the job at hand, and not its mechanism and the use of materials selected.
Then we come to the matter of room correction. I agree that there is probably a place for some equalization in the bass.
However this is very much an interaction of speaker, and especially subs and the room.
Most subs I hear at not very good, and do not produce realistic bass. This was reinforced last week, when at a friends house and I heard an expensive Legacy sub. Again there was bass alright, but of very low quality.
I think the problem is that Qt of most subs is just too high. This then exaggerates room modes.
A really clean bass at the CORRECT volume really does improve the overall sound dramatically. That is why I really favor the TL if correctly executed.
All the very best speakers I have ever heard have been well designed TLs from experienced designers. My experience is that they produce a very realistic bass, and you end up with a good room curve down to the last octave.
This brings me to the next point, that unless you have a room that sounds aberant on human speech, or an instrument like a guitar or piano, then a speaker system should sound fine also. If it does not, then there is something wrong with the speaker.
You can not correct these aberrations, even if you can get a better room curve.
I totally agree with Billy Woodman of ATC about this. I would bet most members here are actually making their systems worse with Audyssey, if they listen critically.
There is no way these crude systems, feeding off a cheap $0.50 plastic mic can do anything much except harm, although you might get lucky in the bass.
If you have a really good system with excellent balance, it is just astonishing how severe the degradation is, when engaging Audyssey.
So I would encourage all members to listen critically to their systems with Audyssey off, and listen long enough to erase auditory memory.
The issue of centers is a thorny issue, that we have discussed at length before.
I believe the front three, should be designed as a unit. I think with the advent of these current incredible up mixers, that can be extended to all the speakers for the best results.
But let us return to the front three. If you walk across the front stage, then all these speakers must sound the same and the center especially not sound different. The best way to do that is make sure all the speakers have a really flat response until the bass roll off.
Now, the horizontal MTM, just has the wrong dispersion pattern.
The three way has advantages but it makes integration with the right and left speakers problematic, especially if they are two ways. This has to do with issues of phase response and cancellation nulls.
My center based on coaxial driver design, is by far my best solution to date, and is an absolutely superb center, with clear and natural speech, and also for music, both vocal and instrumental. The front three produce a seamless front soundstage and excellent imaging.
Centers need a lot more thought and research than they have been given so far. In AV I think it is true that it is the most crucial speaker of all. Making it the low boy on the totem pole is in no way acceptable.
