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Recent posts about the limitations of 2-way loudspeakers
have got me thinking (again) about my own thoughts and processes in developing
The Loudspeakers that I am using now. It might surprise some people to hear
that I was not trying to find “the best possible loudspeakers”, rather I simply
wanted a system that would render Bruckner (and other Big Music) in a way that
would allow me to listen to it “deeply”, as I have been accustomed to listening
to smaller works for many years. I wanted to re-purpose as much of my system as
possible, except I was saying goodbye to a separately powered center channel
that I had explored for over 10 years. After my 5 years of experience with Lamm
ML2s I knew I wanted more power, preferably a lot more power, without
sacrificing the wonderful sound the ML2s are known for. A “plus” for me would be that I would not “need”
sub-woofers, and I aimed for 1 amp for each (right and left) side. I developed
a plan over the 10-year course of experiments with vintage driver “stacks”, and
I continued to weigh that information against high-powered amps I was listening
to on a more and more regular basis, trying to keep everything inter-related in
my mind. I found my amps (Marantz MA-9S2s) before I found speakers I wanted,
and I worked with these amps for quite a while before choosing new speakers,
keeping the amps in mind. After all that I had reasons based on listening to
believe that the least I could use for Bruckner was 4-driver speakers, with 18”
woofers. I really wrung out the MA-9S2s before I pulled the trigger on The
Loudspeakers, and the project took me a long time. I basically “crossed my
fingers” regarding the modern drivers The Loudspeakers used. When I finished
the speakers it did not take me long to figure out I was on the right track. One
thing I am sure of now is that, indeed, a big 4-way is the minimum for Bruckner for me.
To my ears, drivers need less rather than more to do in terms of frequency
response. Of course, this has to be weighed against crossovers, etc. How nice
that my current system does most Music better than previous systems, and it is at
least comparable on all fronts, including those where my previous system
excelled. If thinking less than 4-way speakers for Bruckner, think again about
LF, and think about how high you want an LF driver to go. Likewise, think about
the top of the frequency range, how low you want that driver to go. If 3
octaves or less per driver, you are at 4-ways. I was at 4-ways. It’s working
fine. As far as the amps are concerned, I don’t know what I would have done had
I not found them. They are a critical part of “the speaker system” as I have
embedded it in my system. The MA-9S2s have their own thread, as do other
elements in my current system.>>
Paul S
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