Sorry for off-topicing here, but as an erstwhile professional speaker designer, I figured I’d throw in my 2¢.

 

You should seriously consider active (internally amplified) speakers. Actual professional studio monitors are available at reasonable prices, so try to check them out. I always laugh at audiophools and their continued use of passive speakers (and many other things), when active designs tend to provide a quantum leap in performance.

 

You could get into building your own speakers, as the cost savings will likely be large. I’ve never owned commercial speakers, so have admittedly been spoiled re sound and economy. 

 

I like the idea of ribbon tweeters, but have not heard any implementations I like. One issue is the difference in falloff between line & cone drivers (roughly 1/d vs. 1/d^2). Thus, they only sound right at one listening position (which is also because of the low vertical dispersion for small units), and if your room is live, it will tend to be treble-heavy. 

 

Circular ribbon tweets exist. Philips used to make one (I have a couple to experiment with some day), but they are long gone. One other brand is currently available AFAIK, but I haven’t tried them yet either. Seems like they may provide ribbon advantages without the disadvantages.

 

Horn drivers can provide excellent sound. Pretty rare AFAIK.

 

Some people like electrostatics. I don’t even like the “idea” of them…mainly because of their dipole radiation pattern.

 

Michael Dunn

 

 

>Any speaker recommendations for listening to harpsichord music (or early

music in general)?





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