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The old Quad speakers I bought second-hand really opened my ears—great stage width and depth appeared as by magic.
Recent reviews in <I>Stereophile</I> have highlighted a wide variety of loudspeaker design approaches. What is your favorite speaker technology and why?
I listen mostly to what I describe as "big" music—heavy, plodding, thud music (such as Black Sabbath and other metal bands) that requires lots of power and deep bottom-end. I've tried many styles of speaker, but cones seem the way to go for me.
Recent Tractrix Horn designs have just about eliminated any residual coloration, deliver very low distortion, and are very tube-friendly. You must hear true horn-loaded bass to appreciate what horns can deliver in the lower ranges—where direct radiators and cones have the highest distortion.
For me, above the subwoofer range there're only two choices: a 10-12" Tannoy Dual Concentric or a 10-15" woofer with a large wave-guide on top. I regret not buying JGH's old Tannoy 10 DMT IIs when they were on Audiogon, because there's just so little that the Dual Concentric does wrong. For bass drivers, I prefer drivers with stiff cones, push-pull spiders, and long-throw, underhung motors for high Bl and suspension linearity over stroke. Aurasound, with their "Neo Radial Transducer" motor, does these drivers best, which is why firms such as McIntosh use them.
Micro detail—play it soft and everything is still there late at night. Within the limits of loudness I am interested in (non-hearing-damaging levels), few other speaker types get close. However, space constraints forced me to replace my Quad 989/63 surround set-up with Gallo Ref—great speakers but the stats were/are better