Ken,

Welcome to the forum....Some interesting questions for sure!

[quote]1.  Does the vertical (ear level) listening position matter ?  I read the long paper on the website but not quite get it....the horizontal gap opening on the top of speaker, is that the optimum height for the ear ?
/quote]
Like any other speaker the HR-One's has a vertical axis sweet spot, it's just much larger than a conventional speaker.
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[quote]2. The front speakers....it kind of imply a traditional listening window in space, does it affect the radial pattern in a negative way ?
/quote]
Like the answer to your first question, Yes it has a "typical" listening window, its just much larger. Say from just below the front woofer to standing, all sounds the same. There is no negative effects on the radial pattern, the drivers are seamless (which was one of the hardest things to get right) you won't even notice there is a radial driver, or a front set of drivers, they are that seamless.

[quote]3. What is the -3db response on the low frequency in a typical room ?  I think the speaker bottom radiator is ideal for bass.
/quote]
There is no "typical room". Every room is different, dimensionally, furniture placement and quantity. With that said mid 30's would be typical in a decent room.

[quote]IF the speaker is more efficient......but there are a lot of air to move inside the speakers !/quote]

Efficiency has nothing to do with box size, per say. Box size has more to do with the bass alignment for the flattest bass response.

[quote]and last, a stupid question.  for orchestra symphonic recording, is the HR-1 better or the ZOB ?  just when I thought the ZOB is ideal, now here is the new HR-1./quote]

Not a stupid question in the least. Being the proud papa that I am, I would reserve my opinion on this. More so because I'm not a open baffle fan. That is just me however.  If you are on the fence about either speaker, the best thing to do is call Steve and talk it over with him. He is great at finding the best match for your room, and personal tastes.

Hope this helps...
Zygi

Here some light reading Ken
My lavish praise of the HR1 post #11.
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1351974083

The Zenmaster himself on the year long courtship of HR1
post #26
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1346704134/15

I have listened to HR-1's back to back with ZOB's. To my ears there was a huge difference. The ZOB's are very clinical and unforgiving, very accurate. The HR-1s have quite a bit more "sparkle" on top, something that I personally am a sucker for.
I always point out that my hearing is shot and my taste in music is quite different than most people. So listen to both and make up your own mind.

Thank you gentlemen for you comments.

to Chris K : Are you driving them with the Decware 2w or 6w amp ?

One thing I am looking at Decware's product is quality power, a few watts from Triode amp, what on earth can we drive ?  10 years ago, I was brainwashed into hundred watts of amplification.  Now, we are lucky to have full range speakers that are efficient.

Book shelf speakers are good, but bass is bass.  I supposed bass frequencies need a box to resonate (I could be wrong).

To Donnie :  Does the ZOB sound 'smaller' than the HR-1 ?  I supposed if there is more bass frequencies present, the lower amount of volume to hear (feel) the music.  Otherwise the ear wants 'more' for information, and it is natural to turn up the volume.

But the ZOB, with that specially tuned driver(to compensate the back EMF distortion ?), is almost ideal in theory.

I read the links in the msg.  Amen !

Ken I have driven them with an older version of the Decware Integrated 6 watt amp producing around 6 to 7 wpc. I can tell you honestly that respectable volumes and bass output is excellent. The speaker has the drivers loaded so well with the cabinet volume and passive loading that the drivers barely move at 34-36 Hz. That is DEEP bass. The extention of usable in room bass is down into the high 20's (28 maybe). All I can tell anyone here is that these speakers give you rock solid harmonic and tuneful bass extension that you just know it when you hear it. Yes 6-15 watt tube amps do well on this speaker. But you can give these the full force of a 100+ watt solid state or 35-60 watt push pull tube amp and the micro detail and dynamic all remain intact but the slam factor and big dynamics increase many times. TORII MkIII sound big on them though I dont have one myself. I am running many different amps on this speaker with the Decware CSP2 preamp in front of them. A bone stock Dynaco ST70 sounded simply delicious. It depends on what you want. Total transparent soundstage and imaging of low watt Decware single ended amplifiers is hard to match. Take a long time to find amps that do it without spending thousands.

Ken,

Of course, how loud you want to listen...With the Mini Torii I can get right to my listening level, it's just enough, no headroom for some really low bass if I wanted to get any louder.

Torii-MKIII as loud as you would ever want to listen, period!!

But my favorite other than my original Blue Torii, (I only had a chance to try it out at Decfest this year) was a pair of  bridged Super Zen's and a CSP2 in front of them. The amps were brand new, as well as the CSP, it sounded awesome.

However, in Steve's room, as large as it is, may also been lacking in power. Where as the Torii-MKIII is more than enough.

Zygi

Bump!
A real GEM here guys someone give these a listen. They will amaze you. Really.