Floorstanding loudspeakers?

[GaryB]

Ah, I missed that you had a target height of 40". I think that would only be realistic in something like a TMW or TMWW design.

No problem... come to think of it, with the small-faceplate 170 SE tweeter at 36", tight spacing between the drivers, and a "squared-off" driver frame for the 4" midrange, a 42"-43" height for the MTMWW array should be achievable, which isn't too far off the mark. So maybe I should start to consider the merits of such a design, such as controlled vertical dispersion, ability to lower (in frequency) the MW crossover which in turn allows further physical separation between the woofers and midrange on the baffle, etc., etc. Or maybe I'll just leave it up to DaveF.

Frank Van Alstine... I haven't heard that name in many, many years. I just Googled his name and found his company's website. I, for one, certainly welcome his take on quasi-scientific "audiophilia".

And again, Brad, my apologies that my off-handed (ultimately ham-handed) attempt to be "familiar" with a well-recognized name in internet audio circles made you feel compelled to "explain" yourself. It wasn't my intention.

[BradJudy]

It will be interesting to see what Dave comes up with for 2007. With the amount of time he spent on the SE tweeter, I'm putting my money on him spending a lot of time specing out either a woofer or smaller mid for something like this. Of course, there's always the mid from the HTM-200.

Don't worry about it Gary - I'm just a bit sensitive from others who have implied or stated a degree of relationship that wasn't there.

Frank seemed like a good guy - he was in the Salk Sound room with Jim and Mary Salk who are both very nice.

[GaryB]

Of course, there's always the mid from the HTM-200.

...which might work quite well in my proposed designs, but I might hope for something slightly more ambitious in "flagship" models.

Hey! I'm a "Senior Member" now!

[Jonnyozero3]

...snip.... With the amount of time he spent on the SE tweeter, I'm putting my money on him spending a lot of time specing out either a woofer or smaller mid for something like this.

...snip....

My thoughts exactly

[jad5]

I would also like to see a tower about 38" tall with either two 6 1/2 woofers or one 8" woofer along with a 4 or 5 inch midrange plus tweeter. I believe the smaller mid would provide better dispersion and transparency. I also prefer the mt design on music better than the mtm.

[bikeman]

I would also like to see a tower about 38" tall with either two 6 1/2 woofers or one 8" woofer along with a 4 or 5 inch midrange plus tweeter. I believe the smaller mid would provide better dispersion and transparency. I also prefer the mt design on music better than the mtm.

The design isn't anywhere near as important as the execution of the design IMO. Speaker design, like anything else an engineer gets their hands on, is all about trade offs. I like the decisions (compromises) that Ascend makes with their speakers so I'll leave that part of the equation to them. My preference is in the end product, not how it got there. My wife's preferences are more weighted toward the aesthetic so even in this house, priorities vary.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I took the 200's I got from Jeff and sold them to a friend of mine who's a heck of a chef. As part of the deal, I get great food and wine for the day. And the music for dinner will be much improved with the 200's.
Life is good.

David

[Eddie Horton]

Happy Thanksgiving back, David, and to everyone else as well. Let's all eat too much!!!

[GaryB]

The design isn't anywhere near as important as the execution of the design IMO. Speaker design, like anything else an engineer gets their hands on, is all about trade offs. I like the decisions (compromises) that Ascend makes with their speakers so I'll leave that part of the equation to them. My preference is in the end product, not how it got there.

I agree completely. OTOH, I think DaveF has taken the economical 2-way to the point of rapidly diminishing returns with his current designs. There are real gains to be made, at additional cost of course, with 3-way designs, both for a dedicated center channel speaker and a compact floor-stander. I am quite willing to pay the somewhat higher prices that such designs would demand, and suspect many others would, as well.

As to the details of how this might be accomplished, I'm perfectly happy to leave those decisions to DaveF, and I'm quite prepared to be pleasantly surprised. My proposals merely reflected what I thought might be done, using many existing Ascend resources, in the "compact" cabinets that I prefer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Yanks, BTW. We had ours in the Great White North over 6 weeks ago. And life is indeed good.