Hi Dallas 84,
Going along the lines of the concept of High-Fidelity, where music should be represented as close to the recording the sound engineer had intended the listener to appreciate, I would say a three way speaker would be your end goal.
3 way speakers go as low as 16Hz to 45kHz. Sure you may not hear sounds lower than maybe below 30Hz, but you do FEEL the reproduction. Also, 45kHz maybe too high pitched to listen to, but it does give a certain honesty towards the highs.
In the two way speaker system, you will lose out information beyond the speaker's limitation. For example, If my speakers are 50Hz, then anything beyond 50Hz that the engineer had intended and recorded would be lost, or compressed into a higher frequency- you may hear the bass, but it will not go deep enough, nor would you feel its vibration.
Then again, if you listen to recordings that do not fall beyond the 2 way speakers, then it'll be okay. 3-way speakers will give you more versatility for the genres of music that you listen to.
Consider between a ported and non ported speaker, as the back ported speakers rely more on the environment to give you some bass extension. A top ported speaker relies minimally, but will still give you resonance. The non-ported speaker will rely entirely on the drivers. Of course the room plays a part, in different designed rooms, certain frequencies will be enhanced from the speakers that would cause reverberation or some echo. Mostly in bass frequencies, where you may find the music too boomy, or a lack of detail due to the non linearity of the overall sound. If too much bass in emphasized, then you may miss out on some nuances on the mid and highs.
The other school of thought is - if you're spending so much money on a pair of speakers, or a hi-fi system, would it be something that you like to listen to (preference), or something that is entirely honest.
I've heard some 2-way speakers like Opera, Sonus Faber, MBL, and some active studio speakers, and they do give very sweet mid and highs- even sweeter when driving with tubes. Great for vocals and acoustic set ups. Not too great for a full range orchestra or rock.
The 3 way speaker also typically better sound staging / imaging, whereby instruments' positioning are well defined.
IMO, you can start with a 2-way, 2 half way because its typically and relatively (to manufacturer) more affordable (less intricate cross over, less material in speaker cabinet), and grow to a 3-way, which is where you wanna end up with a good Hi-Fidelity system.
3 Way speaker system has its disadvantages: Sometimes they are not linear. Where when a woofer is bigger, against a tweeter that is smaller in size, their capacity to handle higher power is very different. Hence, for an instance, when you drive at a louder volume, the tweeter will not be able to handle such power (at perhaps limited to 150-200watts) and the bass woofer has the capacity to handle 300 watts RMS, then the bass will be producing a louder volume than the tweeter. Typically, the bigger the woofer, the more power it can handle. So instead of having the Bass, Mid, and Highs reaching you at the same time, you have the bass impact first, before the mid, then the highs, in differences in micro to milli seconds. What actually happens to the tweeters are that they just become hot from the over driving at its power handling limit, and will breakdown over a shorter than expected period of time, without the increase in volume.
A linear pair of speaker will be able to achieve this 'equal' level with multiple mid ranges and tweeters, to match the bass.
Sure, 3 ways are typically more expensive, even so for the linear types, which typically have more drivers. But that's the process. We grow from small systems to huge systems over many years and enjoy the difference in each 'upgrade'. Where money is no issue, it'll then boil down to which point do you want to start at.
Electronics also play a big part, but i guess that's up for another discussion.
I'm sure many ppl will have their opinions, so please bear in mind that this is mine, and it's my philosophy in approaching to purchase anything to do with my system.
In each system that I own, I identify which school of thought I will adopt, 1. Hi-Fi, 2. MY preference.
I have a few systems built on both philosophies, and I enjoy both very much. The Hi-Fi approach allows me to enjoy more genres of music. MY preference allows me to enjoy some, more than the others.
Thanks.
enit.
