Gizmo -
Not having heard the Usher or Energy speakers you are comparing, I obviously can't comment directly. But I have worked with the Usher drivers and, assuming Usher did an excellent job with the design, I can offer some observations that may help.
First, the Usher drivers are commonly regarded as being clones of popular ScanSpeak drivers. The tweeter is basically a clone of the SS9500 and the midwoofer is basically a clone of the SS8545 driver. In this regard, Usher did a very good job. I have used both of these drivers with very satisfactory results.
That said, there is no comparison between the performance of these drivers and those used in the HT3.
While the Usher tweeter does a good job as a conventional 1" dome tweeter, it is nowhere near as detailed as the G2 pure ribbon tweeter. The G2 is a much lower mass driver and is significantly faster. Whereas the Usher tweeter tops out just above 20,000Hz, the G2 is down only 3db at 40,000Hz.
Now you might think that as long as a tweeter reaches 20,000Hz, all would be pretty much the same (since you can't hear higher frequencies anyway). But because a pure ribbon tweeter is much faster, it can resolve minute detail in the audible range that the dome tweeter simply can't reproduce. The result is that the ribbon tweeter will resolve additional detail in the overtone structure of instruments and present them in a more natural light. In that regard, a ribbon tweeter provides a crystal clear window into the sound.
The dome tweeter produces a very nice top end. But the ribbon appears to have no top end at all - it just goes on forever.
In terms of the midwoofer, the Usher driver uses a paper cone. Again, it is a quality driver, but does not have anywhere near the detail of the Seas Excel W18. The Seas driver uses a very stiff, low-mass magnesium cone (one of the stiffest, low-mass cones available today). The result is much greater midrange detail. With the low-distortion W18, you will hear midrange detail in recordings that paper-coned drivers simply cannot reproduce.
The woofer chosen for the HT3 also has a very low-mass cone (aluminum in this case). This, too, was chosen to provide detail in the bass frequencies. No "one note" bass here.
If these drivers provide more detail (which they do), why wouldn't Usher or Energy use them in their designs? The answer is simple - cost.
Usher and Energy sell their speakers at retail. A retailer will not stock the product unless he can make about 40% margin. Then the manufacturer has marketing, distribution, labor and other costs. Of course, they both also need to make a profit.
The bottom line is that manufacturers who sell through retail channels can invest no more than about 10 - 15% of the retail selling price in parts. In comparison, we typically spend about 50% of our selling price on parts.
Because we and others like us sell direct, we can afford to offer higher quality drivers and crossover parts in speakers selling at roughly the same price.
This is not to say that Usher and Energy do not make good speakers. They do.
But, $ for $, our speakers will perform better simply because they are better - they are built with higher quality parts.
Speaker building is all about trade-offs. When you determine the target selling price for a product and analyze all costs associated with your marketing model, there is only so much you can invest in drivers and crossover parts. It is that simple.
I'm sure all of these speakers sound good. But the biggest difference in the sound reproduced by these various speakers will be in the level of detail resolved. Higher quality drivers will result in a more accurate and detailed speaker. Provided the crossover is designed properly, higher quality speakers will also provide superior imaging and a more realistic sound stage. They will add no "signature" of their own to the sound and will literally disappear into the room. You are simply left with the music - no more, no less.
Obviously, you should consider these comments biased. But I believe them to be an accurate assessment of the types of differences you would hear in these designs based simply on the parts used.
I hope you find this at least somewhat helpful.
- Jim
