A few comments...
First, I do not mind posts on any topic since open discussions shed light on alternative points of view and can help people sort fact from fiction.
Second, the word "challenge" in the topic referred to the challenge any speaker designer would face meeting ALL of funkmonkey's criteria. He originally emailed me asking for recommendations and I responded by saying I doubted he would find what he was looking for. When he mentioned my email response on his thread, a request was made to post it, which I did.
Here is his thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=995082When people read it, they recommended I share it here as well (which I also did).
As I indicated in the original post, there are many good speakers on the market for $2000, some of which may meet his requirement for bass extension to a solid 30Hz. At the same time, they may fall short in other areas. I tried to explain why I thought this would be the case.
I have not heard the mini Stratas. I'm sure Danny did his usual great job of crossover design and they may well be the speaker that funkmonkey was originally looking for (if so, I would be the first to admit I was wrong). If so, they would certainly dominate the speaker world and put a lot of high end companies out of business. But not having heard them, I can't comment further (and wouldn't anyway).
As to whether or not I posted the original thread as a lead-up to the introduction of a speaker that would meet funkmonkey's requirements, the answer is no. As I indicated, I just do not believe it is possible. A "great" speaker that does everything EXTREMELY well and covers the frequency range down to 30Hz requires, among other things, great drivers. The cost of these drivers alone will prevent hitting the $2000 target price in a commercial product, especially one selling at retail.
If it were possible, there would be no point in designing a speaker that exceeds that price. Yet there are a myriad of designs on the market at ten times that price and more. Some of them may be a tad over-priced. But many of them tout performance and quality that fully justifies their price.
In short, speaker design is all about balancing trade-offs. In this case, the $2000 price point will impose trade-offs that I believe will prevent any talented speaker designer from meeting funkmonkey's total criteria.
In the end, after reading a new post on his thread this morning, it appears that funkmonkey may have found what he was looking for. He just had to make a trade-off of his own and spend a little more than he originally wanted. But all is well that ends well.
- Jim