I am interested in people's arguments for either type of speaker ... I'm posting this thread because, whilst I have always considered that so-called "full-range" speakers involve significant compromises ... maybe there are just as many compromises resulting from the XOs used in multi-driver speakers?
I'm also interested in input from those who know DSP, whether this can fix the phase problems inherent in XOs.
My view is as follows:
Full-range speakers:
Pros:
- no phase shift happening as a result of filters, over the audible bandwidth of the driver.
- high sensitivity.
Cons:
- limited bandwidth; physics says that the one driver will not go very high (20KHz) as well as very low (40Hz) - so the usable bandwidth is likely to be 80Hz (at best) to 12KHz.
- high levels of IMD when the one driver tries to deliver 12KHz simultaneously with 100Hz.
Multi-driver speakers:
Pros:
- differently-designed drivers can be used for the different frequency bands.
- so a much wider frequency range can be delivered by the speaker (the usable range of my Maggies is 35Hz to 40KHz ... @djb's Tymp 1Ds go lower but not so high - so, say, 30Hz to 25KHz).
- IMD can be low.
Cons:
- phase shifts around each XO point.
- low sensitivity.
Andy