Question: Does the world really need more 5 or 6 inch two-way loudspeakers?

Answer: YES !!
And here in the opinion of this designer is a shortlist of why…

1. 1. The actual quality control or unit to unit consistency of some of the most respected names in the high end loudspeaker world is certainly not up to scratch . I have recently measured three standmount loudspeakers in the US $2000 to $3000 price range, one of these units is considered to be near state of the art within the highend audio community.
   
   It's full of trademark materials special enclosure shapes and tons of marketing rhetoric yet my measurements of this particular loudspeaker expose a very inferior device to the example Measured by Stereophile Magazines John Atkinson. Indeed I believe Mr. Atkinson's methods and measurement procedures to be correct and reliable. In fact when I saw the measurements in the magazine I returned to the loudspeaker and set up an identical test procedure measuring at 1270mm averaging over 30 degrees.
   
   What I found was a response that was certainly
   Identifiable with the magazines but much worse, much!
   On removing the bass driver to have a look at the crossover network I was greeted by four parts worth about US$6.60 in the high pass circuit. One of the problems I saw in the speakers High Pass (tweeter measurement) would be impossible to deal with using only four parts, so it simply wasn't dealt with !!!!
   The sounds of these units is at best poor to just OK.
   
   
2. Some high end loudspeaker companies use what they call upgraded or special versions of off the shelf drivers from companies like Scanspeak Peerless Vifa Skaanings etc.
   In some cases this would be quite true although I think this is very much marketing.
   Why do I say this ?
   
   

   Well unless you count using a slightly different shape tweeter face plate with the loudspeaker manufacturers name injection molded into it or maybe a bit of spray on compound masquerading as a special NASA approved version of an already very good 6 inch midbass driver, then my understanding is that this is largely marketing.
   
   The fact is that many of the current crop of off the shelf tweeters and midbass drivers on the market today are truly excellent and massively superior to the cost effective enclosures that house them and crossover networks that filter their signal. Could the main reason for them being ignored be perhaps that off the shelf drivers are just that! and that using them may make an exclusive highend company look a little common. After all we can't have just anyone ringing a local supplier and ordering a replacement tweeter for one third the price of the supposedly real one.
   Of course the finish of many of these acoustically substandard enclosures is very very good.
   
   In truth a substantial proportion of the budget in many cases goes toward the finish and not high quality enclosures and crossover components that do the actual sounding, for some audiophiles of course the eye appeal is as important as the sound . At Lenehan Audio our focus is first and foremost on audio performance, and our efforts will be directed at those who require maximum accuracy and musicality.
   
   

3. We realize it's very trendy at the moment to have rounded or curved enclosures and on this subject let me say this !! The manufacturers of these products are generally skilled acoustical and electrical designers but I would posit that this approach has a significant marketing (sorry to keep harping on that word) content and that much of this skill is being diverted to keeping the wheels of commerce greased.
   
   Take a look at a Northrop F-117A Stealth Bomber this is the shape that pulls off the ultimate audio disappearing act(try and find some curves).
   Curves are required on the external front baffle to correctly smooth the transition from half to full space radiation but as for the rest of a high performance enclosure I'm afraid it isn't necessarily so. Take a sphere or dimensionally rounded internal enclosure; reflections or standing waves are present and are very difficult to attenuate! not good.
   
   
   
4. Some highend manufacturers claim to use pair matched and closely toleranced drivers and crossover components. This is very true but not particularly for the reasons you are being told . When a loudspeakers design is finalized and the first pilot run is done the first thing that greets the manufacturer is how different all the speakers measure and of course sound!
   Why's that ?

   
   

   All the drivers and crossover components are slightly different, not by much but it's enough to make the QC measurement system at the end of the production line produce some undesirable results unless the limits are set very wide ! (And often they are)

   
   There are two ways to remedy this situation the first and best way is to thoroughly run in the woofers tweeters and crossovers and then have a technician hand tune each and every driver set with it's own crossover by altering the values of the crossover components slightly so that the critical antiphase response (depending on the filter topology used) and other relevant measurements are identical to the reference responses. After this is completed the component set must then be burned in together and rechecked.
   
   Now here's the way it's done by many big highend loudspeaker manufacturers. Very large quantities of drivers and crossover components are ordered which are held to tighter tolerances than are available to the average customer . The loudspeakers are then assembled from parts bins and run through QC testing with of course a better result. The parts of course are all brand new which means that when you get the speaker you have to run it in and I'm afraid herein lays a little problem. The manufacturer knows only approximately what the ran in result will be and has no control over the actual result and of course neither do you but then that doesn't matter because you have no idea what the result is either.

   Of course it will sound subjectively smoother and richer simply because the bass driver spider and mechanical system has loosened up making things sound a little less damped. The harmonics of that slightly looser or more overhung low end produce a candy like coating on the midrange and top end. If your making a bread and honey sandwich and there was a little bit of chili on the knife just lay the honey on a bit thicker!
   I can assure you a correctly toleranced and tuned loudspeaker will exhibit untoldly more resolution and dimensionality than you thought was ever possible.
   
   Designing and building high performance loudspeakers is not rocket science it's a very well understood rather old fashioned discipline. The main ingredient in a successful design is passion, laser like focus and never say die determination.
   Building and tuning a highend two channel audio system is not particularly for the feint hearted, even one as seemingly straight forward as a full range two way floorstander with Digital front end and Pre Power combination. There are power cords, interconnects, speakers, amps and CD players. That's five basic variables, try guessing your friends four digit ATM pin number in the first 100 attempts.
   
   What's required here is dedicated vigilance or some very good and accurate advice. One thing is certain; once you hear a correctly zeroed in system you're a goner, either do it properly and methodically or consider another endeavor.
   The design combination that works best for most highend manufacturers is to produce a loudspeaker that is first and foremost economical and fast to build, large profit margins are required to support the massive cost of marketing and the multiple secondary margins required to get the thing to the retail outlet. Second it must have some cheap but innovative looking differences (marketing hooks) to attract peoples attention, they don't actually have to do anything as long as the marketing arm can link them in some way to something that is real. Third it must be able to sound decent with a multitude of electronic mismatches.