If you could only own one set, which speakers are your "keepers"?

[dlneubec]

The Scimitars are currently in the main seat. I have had both in and out in the last year or so.

I have the Echelon's out for repair as one of the top boxes was pulled loose way back when PE transported them for the catalog photography, which I never got around to fixing.

I'm seriously considering doing an active/passive version of the Echelon's. I had that in mind when I built them originally and have separate terminals for the woofer and for the mid tweeter XO's, with the woofer xo on its own board. I would disconnect the woofer XO, keep the mid-tweet passive XO. I picked up a couple MiniDsp 2x4HD's with left over past MFAW credit and would use one to handle the woofer to mid XO and some woofer and overall dsp. Maybe this version would end up with your Echelon Fortissimo moniker.

[Wolf]

Cool!
Wolf

[johngalt47]

Solstice

[Sinistre1]

For right now that distinction goes to my continuums but i'm sure if I was living with some of the Audio Porn Models you guys are displaying that would change. Lol. My Statement Monitors were my defacto gotos for a very long time... and I even traded the two out over and over again and although there are one or two things the monitors do better.. or should I say.. more to my liking.... the continuums just check all the boxes in such a way that the net effect is that if I had to choose between.. i'd pick the continuums. Ideally when watching bombastic soundtrack movies or listening to triangle or vibraphone solos i'd play the monitors but they would instantaneously switch themselves out to the continuums for most everything else

[rhubarb9999]

My hybrid 3 ways are my keepers. BG Neo3/BG Neo8 (passively crossed) and a sealed Hivi D8.8+ (actively crossed to the Neos with a MiniDSP). Incredible detail and punch.

[mlau]

Those Scimitars remind me of Daleks...really cool Daleks in gloss white.

[Psycoacoustics]

Those Scimitars remind me of Daleks...really cool Daleks in gloss white.

I thought so too! Only didn't want to say it. I've heard em and,,,,,,, I'd LOVE to have those "Daleks" in my room!

Have Fun! Mark

[johnk...]

I'm sticking with my NaO II RS.

[williamrschneider]

Nice, John. I've always admired the engineering behind those. And good looks sure don't hurt anything!

[craigk]

Nice, John. I've always admired the engineering behind those. And good looks sure don't hurt anything!

Yes, Mirage did a really nice job when they designed the OM - 5. Made it easy to copy.

[fdieck]

Yes, Mirage did a really nice job when they designed the OM - 5. Made it easy to copy.

????????? Who copied it and what is easy to copy about it? It is a bipolar and not a dipolar design with custom drivers from Mirage. I really don’t know what you are talking about. BTW there is not too much easy about designing a decent dipole speaker as you will find out if you have followed John’s or Linkwitz’s work.

[craigk]

????????? Who copied it and what is easy to copy about it? It is a bipolar and not a dipolar design with custom drivers from Mirage. I really don’t know what you are talking about. BTW there is not too much easy about designing a decent dipole speaker as you will find out if you have followed John’s or Linkwitz’s work.

Lets not have a drama queen moment. The cab is almost an exact copy. Linkwitz isn't a God or petfect. Surely you can see the similarity in the cabinets can't you ??????????????????????????

[bcodemz]

Building only one speaker has been my goal all along.

If you only have one speaker, the speaker must be adjustable, which rules out any passive approach.

This led to my Reference Mini's.



With this speaker they are using some of the best drivers available, so I have nothing else to upgrade to. But more importantly, I have the platform to go bananas in experimenting with all sorts of different style speakers through DSP like dipole, bipole, cardioid, full range, FAST, and even emulating various 2 way and 3 way designs.

Another very important factor is room correction. I can tune the speaker to the room and correct for various problems in the bass (room modes, time smear), midrange (early reflections), and treble (excessive absorption). I've recently made significant strides in improving this and that has made for a huge improvement in sound quality.

On top of that, I can change the speaker to a different type of sound if I wanted to, or if a certain genre of song required it.

Maybe I should rename my speaker to "The Transformer", because that's exactly what it is, a speaker that can mimic many different kind of speakers.

[johnk...]

The cab is almost an exact copy.

The NaO II has a long history. It was refined over several revisions but basically remains the same using the same driver compliment as the original version, same driver layout and same U-frame quai-cardioid woofer (not a ported box a la OM-5), same basic baffle but has now progressed to a fully active, digital crossover and the addition of side panels reminiscent of numerous designs from the 80s such as the SAE Model X ELS.

[craigk]

The NaO II has a long history. It was refined over several revisions but basically remains the same using the same driver compliment as the original version, same driver layout and same U-frame quai-cardioid woofer (not a ported box a la OM-5), same basic baffle but has now progressed to a fully active, digital crossover and the addition of side panels reminiscent of numerous designs from the 80s such as the SAE Model X ELS.

that is my point and you made the case better, the cabs are not one of his original designs. the design has been around a long time.