[2bigears]

   no tweety in my head,but think i gotta woofer up my  hind end,[second thought,sometimes it's a tweeter]....... big output after a trip to Olive Garden.......

[stereocilia]

KEF

[Construct]

KEF

Gesundheit! 

[JLM]

There is no perfect speaker, each must choose which parameters they want to compromise.  This issue is typically painted in such wide brush strokes as to render the arguments pointless.

I own single driver, 2-way, and 3-way designs.  (My favorite is the single driver, followed by the 3-way, but I’m open to the possibility of a great full range 2-way.)

[versus rider]

So what's the big deal? Listen to them on axis and the problem is solved. Full range drivers sound worse than a clock radio off axis, so multi driver speakers still win regardless and win in spades.

you do talk absolute rubbish man, pound for pound or dollar for dollar if you like, diy full range speakers would win easy. Most three way speakers I have heard with the exception of speakers costing £25000 upwards have sounded dull and lifeless in comparison to a well implemented full range. 

[versus rider]

There is no perfect speaker, each must choose which parameters they want to compromise.  This issue is typically painted in such wide brush strokes as to render the arguments pointless.

I own single driver, 2-way, and 3-way designs.  (My favorite is the single driver, followed by the 3-way, but I’m open to the possibility of a great full range 2-way.)

I started out with full range single driver and now run both my pairs of css bass reflex speakers with a horn loaded tweeter as the css roll off at the hf extremes. My other set up is open baffles with 8" full range  and 15" woofers. Oh and I do have single driver speakers, fostex back loaded horns. Horses for courses as they say, all depends what I'm listening to.

[face]

So what's the big deal? Listen to them on axis and the problem is solved. Full range drivers sound worse than a clock radio off axis, so multi driver speakers still win regardless and win in spades.

Wait, I thought they were the same thing? 

[JLM]

Who does serious listening off axis?

Coaxial drivers solve the point source problem but the tweeter is typically riding the woofer such that the sound from the tweeter is mechanically (and inappropriately) added to the woofer.

One of best 2-way designs I've ever heard were floorstanders (I believe by Bill Martinelli) that used a wooden 1 inch mid/treble horn with a 12 inch woofer.  They could go loud and low but more importantly were smooth, dynamic, and had great imaging without colorations.  Many small 2-way standmounts sound good but run out of steam and of course can't produce much bass.

[face]

Who does serious listening off axis?

Many people do. 

The mains in both of my rigs only have a few degrees of toe, which give me a wider soundstage... as always YMMV.

[JLM]

I'm not thinking of off axis listening and toe in tweaking as being the same issue.  Again we're generalizing to such an extent as to render the discussion pretty meaningless.

I envision off axis listening as more than 30 degrees (brought on by compromised room layouts or large gatherings).  Fortunately it's been years since I've had to suffer through this on a regular basis.

My 8 inch full range drivers (no whizzer) do beam above 4,000 Hz and listening in a nearfield equilateral triangle the does limit hearing the imaging magic to a 2 foot diameter circle around "the chair".

[Chromisdesigns]

I'm pretty pleased with the Nuforce Icon and S-1 setup I just got for my office pc system.  The S-1, of course, is a single-driver speaker that covers the high and midrange down to about 80 hz.  From there the bass rolls off rapidly.  If this matters to you, it pairs well with a subwoofer.  I managed to find an M&K VX-7 on eBay for $60 that does a fine job of filling in the lower two octaves.  For a total of under $600 delivered, including of course the Icon Dac/integrated amp, I think the value for dollar is pretty extraordinary.  With FLAC files, in nearfield listening, it sounds nearly as good as my main system, which even with electronics and speakers bought used cost about 10X as much (about 15 years ago!).

It won't fill a big room the same, of course, but that's not the purpose.