Chinese Hi-Fi products mainly speakers.

[Barrelhouse Solly]

a speaker consisting of a 15" full range driver must be the worst speaker imaginable.

For amplified harmonica with a tube amp and the right mic though...

 

[Zinda]

a speaker produces wavelenghts 1000:1 which is why tweeters are tiny and woofers that produce bass are big or with long throw.
a 15" fullrange driver will have insane beaming and insane distortion in the high-end, a laughable polarresponse and a rollercoaster FR. dont get me startet with all the qualifications you need to meet when designing a dipole speaker. even with a passive crossover it will never work, and these dont even have that. a 2-way speaker is always better than 1-way, and 3-4-way can always be better than that again.
there is a reason why virtually all high end speakers are 3-way minimum.

I have to disagree, for obvious reasons, I myself have found a 2-way to be the best design and best overall sound balance. But like everything this is only possible when the correct drivers are used and how they are used. I don't agree with many "rules" for designing speakers since there are no "rules".

One big thing I've noticed is the stress put on steep crossover points, while it might seem logical, with proper testing I have found some carefully planned overlap between drivers creates a very smooth transition between them.

The more crossover points incorporated brings more complications that need to be addressed, that's why you see more DIY speakers going with 1 or 2 drivers, thus minimizing those phase shifts and transition issues that unless properly tuned by extensive crossover testing and huge amounts of time spent working with each single speaker to ensure multiple drivers are reproducing the same exact sound, 4 ways are typically things of the past (when multiple drivers impressed buyers) or only handled by companies that can afford to do it right.

When you see speakers with multiple drivers per cabinet, that automatically does not mean each driver has its own set range of sound, even drivers that look different or have different sizes can actually be playing the same frequency as other drivers in an overlapped design. Now working with crossover design is needed to end up with what's expected as the end result. People want uncomplicated looks and small size. Say goodbye to 3 and 4-way systems when 2 drivers can cover the spectrum. Good crossover design has become the most important part of speaker design at this moment, either you figure it out or you'll never sell any speakers!

Careful planning and testing costs money and making consistent speakers is a must. You'll only see complex systems that sound beautiful coming from companies that can afford to do it. Many times you'll see multiple drivers on huge speakers and you'll find that they are still only considered a 2-way or sometimes a 2.5-way system.

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[Mart68]

I have to disagree, for obvious reasons, I myself have found a 2-way to be the best design and best overall sound balance. But like everything this is only possible when the correct drivers are used and how they are used. I don't agree with many "rules" for designing speakers since there are no "rules".

One big thing I've noticed is the stress put on steep crossover points, while it might seem logical, with proper testing I have found some carefully planned overlap between drivers creates a very smooth transition between them.

The more crossover points incorporated brings more complications that need to be addressed, that's why you see more DIY speakers going with 1 or 2 drivers, thus minimizing those phase shifts and transition issues that unless properly tuned by extensive crossover testing and huge amounts of time spent working with each single speaker to ensure multiple drivers are reproducing the same exact sound, 4 ways are typically things of the past (when multiple drivers impressed buyers) or only handled by companies that can afford to do it right.

When you see speakers with multiple drivers per cabinet, that automatically does not mean each driver has its own set range of sound, even drivers that look different or have different sizes can actually be playing the same frequency as other drivers in an overlapped design. Now working with crossover design is needed to end up with what's expected as the end result. People want uncomplicated looks and small size. Say goodbye to 3 and 4-way systems when 2 drivers can cover the spectrum. Good crossover design has become the most important part of speaker design at this moment, either you figure it out or you'll never sell any speakers!

Careful planning and testing costs money and making consistent speakers is a must. You'll only see complex systems that sound beautiful coming from companies that can afford to do it. Many times you'll see multiple drivers on huge speakers and you'll find that they are still only considered a 2-way or sometimes a 2.5-way system.

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A 2 way always suffers from the bass-mid having to do too much. Unless the HF driver can cover a wide range - such as with the JBL compression job.

There's good cone/dome two ways I don't disagree, but a good three-way is always better.

 

[Zinda]

My woofers were crossed @ 800Hz and the electrostatic panels had a natural roll off at around 660Hz I overlapped them from 680-800Hz. The woofers I used were 12" infinity Kappa 7s and Monitor Audio 10" both tested nearly flat up to 3kHz. @ 3kHz they had a huge spike then nothing after that.

I do agree that there is a risk with a 2-way due to the chosen crossover point. Using efficient tweeters can give you the room to lower that point as long as you use common sense. A Heil tweeter or even good ribbons gets you close to 1kHz and there's plenty of good woofers out there that can easily pick up without loosing their edge. I think now more than ever has made the 2-way the most logical choice. Just looking at what's being made now (of course I won't count speakers that require a sub) and you'll find the go to design is 2-way even though they're using more than 1 woofer, but that's to keep front width to a minimum for a few reasons I don't necessarily agree are im}rant enough to limit overall spectrum reproduction. Getting down in the 20Hz range is something that u found to be needed now that I've heard what's been missing.

But low has to be clean or it's useless and detracts from the experience. Not realizing how loud your playing music is a good sign that you're getting the full effect.