Sir Robert,

The world has a way of throwing you a curve ball when it is least expected. If you remain focused within your objective, the curve ball doesn’t catch you off guard to the same degree, always easier to manage with less surprise thru higher awareness.

You haven’t committed to any regrettable path as of yet. Your path is merely at the crossroads stage. You are ultimately faced with accepting the path that you choose with pure conviction. Take your decision and run with it just to see where it leads  down the chosen path. The end result may be highly rewarding beyond your wildest imagination, or  the culmination of your lowest expectations. Then there is always the rule of compromise where the reality of it all falls somewhere in the middle. Only you have the power to decide where this roller coaster ride of audio enchantment comes to a complete stop.

When it becomes time to disembark, the ‘Holy-Grail’ will be of utmost certainty.

The last time that I heard a speaker present this degree of presence above 16kHz was from my set of giant planar speakers housing massive full range ribbon elements. There is just nothing that can beat the presence of well executed ribbon designs (except for maybe electrostatic designs).

The major drawback to these design concepts usually falls in line with low efficiency ratings. The amplification factor becomes the Achilles heel as a result.

Here I have a highly efficient speaker with just the right amount of flavor added to the mix via the high frequency elements. I am sure that the influence of the German M-caps (Silver-Supremes) had something to do with this level of presentation. I am also quite certain that my custom housings contributed to the resulting sound sculpting through positive isolation measures at key points. There are no less than four stages of de-coupling from the main cabinet for which transferred resonance is highly restricted from it’s influential manipulation to color the sound of the ribbon elements. The higher degree of stability initialized into the supporting structure for the delicate ribbons results into a much cleaner presentation of well focused projection .

If you were to place your television upon a vibrating platform as an experiment by example, you would experience complete chaos within the stability of it’s presentation. Once stabilized, the picture returns to clear focus. Think about what induced vibration at even seemingly low levels contribute toward the disruption of proper sound pattern alignment within the plane of focus.  

We know that quantum levels of induced aberrations are present within electronic circuits from which external vibrations are resulting in fluctuations to the integrity of those circuits. The compounding of these elements will expand on a level for which eventually becomes audible within the human hearing range.

The supporting evidence for this is strongly reinforced by the widespread popularity of isolation pucks & cones plus the use of mass within supporting structures to counter the effects of this phenomena. Again, resonance is the key factor  which comes into play.

By design, ribbons radiate sound concentration into a narrow beam which primarily bears a vertical dispersion pattern in order to reduce anomalies associated from surrounding room boundary interaction across the horizontal plane.

The ceiling and floor become the primary interaction points for which place the greatest degree of influence upon the ribbons projected path. For this is why a certain degree of geometric alteration must be instilled within the plane of dispersion through critical time alignment.

The rules change significantly within the design principals of ribbons over that of ordinary high frequency transducers.

The Silver Flute driver is known for it’s gentle attributes, so this is of no surprise in all actuality. These drivers are very smooth in presentation for which consistency would prove to be a major part of it’s influence. The extension of this driver is rather remarkable considering it’s design.

The full range driver (DFR-8)  can be compared to the untainted bloodline of the finicky,  ‘high-strung’ pedigree, while the MK2 version is more gentle in acceptance like the ‘mutt’ that never barks  when a stranger approaches.  

It is just too good of a driver to be limited within the confines of a subwoofer enclosure, as it‘s real qualities would never be revealed for it‘s true worth.

I am quite certain that the implementation of external lower frequency augmentation would fail to yield  the linear response which can be extracted from the HDT designs in a ‘stand-alone’ configuration once the proper conditions prevail.

The Silver-Flute drivers  produce excellent results within the HDT design as a stand alone concept. As you can see by my results, there is no possible logic to justify the need for extended lower frequency augmentation.

How many subwoofers will extend below the performance as shown while maintaining a level of complex frequency balance in terms of speed to match the speaker? The odds of finding an appropriate subwoofer for which to synchronize with the HDT’s properties is highly improbable at best. The need for such a thing would be completely incomprehensible!

If the HDT ‘s do not provide adequate low frequency response within the room in a stand-alone configuration, I can assure you that the addition of a subwoofer will produce inadequate  results along the same lines, as acoustical factors are creating barriers for which to cancel out peak performance potential.

Fix the room, dial-in the speaker adjustment, and the problem is solved. You will find that the speakers produce adequate levels of bass that just may go beyond your wildest expectations.

The key issue is that of compatibility for which precise matching is crucial for proper synergy to unfold. That is just not going to happen with the addition of a subwoofer!

There are no indications in response which would even remotely suggest the need for it. I would strongly advise against any form of additional augmentation. If accuracy of tonal balance holds any semblance of importance to you, than this should immediately be dismissed  as any sort of viable option.

The best option for gain is thru variable tuning of the speakers chamber ports plus the actual relation to  surrounding room elements for which to reinforce the lower frequencies as an advanced degree of fine tuning.

There is a great deal of versatility built-in to this design concept for which you can dial-in the degree of performance ratios that suit your taste to form. You can clearly see what the audible effects of change are to the HDT design in general just by the choice of drivers and degree of chamber porting used within it’s design, in combination with the degree of acoustical  reinforcement measures instilled within the structures for controlled stability.

Once the ideal placement is located within the room’s modal zones for maximum interaction, you will discover just how low these speakers actually will extend and to the extent of it’s presence. Standing waves will always be your enemy. Control this problem and you will unlock  a critical stage for which to obtain quality sound.