Another concern I have with the multi-use of phase is that phase is frequency dependent in measurement in a way different from real output.
If I take a waveform we consider "completely in phase" and I play it perfectly one millisecond later; the phase shift on 1khz is 180, but the phase shift on 500hz is 90.
The problem is that the waveform is *completely identical* to the original. The description of phase makes it seem like the two frequencies are out of sync with each other relative to the original (relative phase shift) when in fact they are not.
In fact, if I were to make a frequency dependent delay so that phase shift was constant across all frequencies (at, say, 90 degrees); then 500hz would occur .5ms earlier relative to 1khz than it did in real life.
Phase numbers are misleading.
I'm on the same page you are.
I've spent considerable time with Quads and with Sound Labs electrostatics, both of which do a nice job reproducing square waves, and while they do sound different than my current multi-cone-driver, passive-crossover system, the stats don't do better in realistic imaging or what I'll call coherency.
I really like the Sound Labs, though I think a lot of what I like is explained by the fact that they're dipoles, combined with the huge wave-launch area, which is really different from typical point-source speakers. My personal, worth-what-you-paid-for-it theory is that dipoles do a better job of making the reproduced sound field overcome coloration from reproducing one room's signature in another, which makes them sound different. The stats make you feel more "there", rather than bringing the there into here, if this gibberish is comprehensible.
The Quads and the Sound Labs sound remarkably similar in the midrange (considering I've never heard them in the same room), but the Sound Labs seem more realistic in the high frequencies (like when reproducing crash and china cymbals), and, of course, the massive Sound Labs have a huge advantage below 50Hz, where they are rather remarkable for an electrostatic. Of course, they ought to be awesome considering they are so huge and about twice the price of the Quads.
