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Rip Van Woofer : Hmmmm...that gets my BS detectors quivering. Especially at $2k! If your speakers already have good response to the upper limit of audibility (20kHz) -- and any decent speaker already does -- then it's hard to imagine what benefits this would give. Add to that the fact that integrating drivers into a speaker is a far from trivial engineering problem and I think that adding an external driver to a presumably already well-integrated system is problematic at best. Heck, even integrating a sub halfway decently is a tricky business, as attested to by numerous posts here!
If you think your speakers are deficient in some way, the thing to do is replace them, not futz with expensive add-ons, IMHO. If you think they're just fine, then sit back and enjoy! $2k will buy a lot of good disks!
The ESR-6 was a nice add-on tweeter (array) that worked very nicely with speakers like the Large Advent. Of course the Large Advent had two small cone "mid-tweeters" so there was plenty of room for improvement. The best modern domes I've tested are almost as good as the best modern ribbons, and the best modern ribbons measure almost as well (and sound as clean and clear) as modern ESL's. There are still differences, but they've gotten depressingly
small.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that all drivers are equal. The best spectral decay plots I've ever seen are nearly textbook perfect plots produced using ESL mid-tweeters.
Anechoic, 1/3 octave smoothing.
Next on my list of favored drivers is the pure ribbon, and the good ones produce measurements like the one below:
Measurments made by Orca.
I have yet to see any dome with the flat response and sharp but smooth spectral decay characteristics of a good ribbon, even though I've measured some of the most highly regarded domes available. Of course I haven't measured them all, so if anyone has better measurements from a dome, I'd be interested, even if no one else cares.
Having played around a bit with both the ribbons and the ESL's I can say that the differences in the spectral decay, in large untreated rooms, doesn't seem to make a difference that most people notice. I certainly would not argue that the differences are obvious, or even audible, because doing a DBT with different driver types is just too difficult. The dispersion differences alone are enough to cloud the issue of what might actually be causing any subtle differences one hears (or thinks they hear). I do think I hear some of the things that show up in the measurements of even the best domes, but it isn't a given. Whether I actually hear the differences or not doesn't matter (to me), because I'm happy with getting excellent measurements (and the resulting sound is rewarding, which is really the whole point). It's about the music, and for most it is probably also about that elusive "point of diminishing returns."
The point of diminishing returns? Does that have meaning in the context of something some call "perfectionist audio?" I really don't know, Rip, but I do know what I like. My wife’s car will do 0-60 in 6.5 seconds and on a good day it can break into the 14's (just barely), but I find it rather mundane, perhaps even boring. Knowing what you drive I suspect you'd find it boring too.
When it comes to our hobbies, "good enough" usually isn't good enough. For some it is the same way with audio that it is with automobiles. I'm not into the audiophile flavor of the month club, but I've enjoyed making progressive measurable improvements in my hobby audio system, and I don't mind paying more for better performance. Not as long as the improvements are real. Before I buy any loudspeaker or driver I talk to the manufacturer, and make it clear that I will be measuring the device and that I expect it to meet my expectations. When they waffle or hesitate I usually look elsewhere. For the most part this has prevented disappointments. I've even returned a few products that didn't meet spec and had the manufacturers update the product, and I've never been asked to pay for an upgrade when this has happened. Actually, I think I'd be pretty angry if I was asked to pay more to make a product I'd purchased meet it's specifications. My experience is that over the years many small improvements have lead to a system that is very high in resolution and accuracy, and I'm sure I can not match the current performance with modestly priced off the shelf cone and dome loudspeakers. Heck man, one of my subs measures flat to 14Hz! I've never seen any COTS loudspeaker of any kind go that deep. Does it matter? Well, why do men climb mountains?
My thing isn't climbing mountains, it's (among other things) fast vehicles and high-performance audio. I suspect there are a lot more people with an interest (at least a passing interest) in fast cars than extreme audio, but I always figured the two were alike, in that they are both about performance, and the idea of diminishing returns doesn't hold. When you race a Formula V, you clean it and wax it before every race. You do dozens of things, none of which make enough difference to bother with, when taken in isolation. Taken together though, they are all necessary if you want to be in the game. You ball out the manifold and hand pick valves that are at the limit of spec, and all the do-nothing little differences give you a few more horsepower, and in a class where all the cars are built to the same rules, every little bit counts. That is why the sport is so much fun. Everything you do, matters. Everything from "slow hands" to a smooth waxed surface to "slip through the air" actually matters. Guys will spend a grand for a new nose design that drops the CD by 0.01, because it does matter, even if it doesn't in and of itself, make a winner. I believe it is a mistake to see the perfectionist audiophile any differently than we see a guy competing in the SCCA National Runoffs.
The world is full of people who would say your little hot rod was excessive, overkill, or even just plain silly, but for you and guys like me, such things are just plain fun. Am I wrong to go after audio with the same passion that I go after the autocross trophies?
See ya,
Chuck</font>
