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Decware vs market of high-end speakers (Read 2755 times)
Ken Rafika
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Decware vs market of high-end speakers
01/14/20 at 21:44:36
 
Has anyone done any comparisons of the better Decware speakers (including the new single-driver models) with speakers like Wilson, Sonus Faber, Magico, etc?  I know they all need more power, but I'm simply asking for a sound quality comparison.  Thanlks.
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Tekton Designs Electron spkrs; Tori MK IV and CSP-3 w/ 25th Ann Mods; OPPO 105D; Roon Quboz; ultraRendu; Teac UD503; Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects and Red Dawn spkr wire
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Alex
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Re: Decware vs market of high-end speakers
Reply #1 - 01/15/20 at 03:33:28
 
That’s a loaded question. It depends on a persons preference in sound. For me a good full range will blow away high end speakers.

With regards to the amp world, I’ve heard several Mcintosh’s and really listened to their integrated receiver amp. I also have the Decware entry level amp and the Decware amp blows tosh away.... at least in my opinion.
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Steve Deckert
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If the 1st watt
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Re: Decware vs market of high-end speakers
Reply #2 - 01/17/20 at 04:07:32
 

It's a good question that I think many of the lurkers on this thread are also asking themselves... and I think the question comes from a perspective of frequency balance. All the mentioned hi-end models have multi-drivers and complex cabinets and crossover networks to ensure a flat and smooth response that will sound full bodied. This in contrast to many crossoverless single-driver speakers that often have no real bass on their own, and or are peaky in response... or riddled with different kinds of distortion when driven too loud for the diameter of the driver... both which completely outweigh all the advantages they otherwise have in speed and coherency.

The Crystal 10 drivers in these cabinets have a well balanced response without any noticeable peaks in the response. The top end does not sound rolled off, and the bass extends lower than most music and with an efficiency of 100dB the cone does not move enough to get into modulated distortion unless your trying to play them outdoors at rock concert levels.

In your home the sound will get louder than you'll care to ever hear it before you see the drivers actually move. So this makes it a pretty fair fight between the two camps except for one thing... the Crystal 10 driver has a total moving mass of less than 15 grams. The Wilson Chronosonic, with 2 large woofers, 3 midrange drivers and 2 tweeters I estimate to have a total moving mass in the bass frequencies of probably 112 grams with each driver getting slightly smaller until you reach the tweeters.  

This difference in moving mass from low to high frequencies creates a speed disparity throughout the frequency spectrum, low frequencies being much slower than high frequencies. This seems harmless if you equate speed to frequency because lower frequencies are slower and higher frequencies are faster anyway. Problem is, speed has nothing to do with frequency, it is the drivers ability to stop. It is how fast can it stop. That is speed. So this is why a speaker like the Lii Audio Crystal 10 is about 8 times faster than something like the Chronosonoic.

More importantly is what a speaker like the Crystal 10 makes possible in amplification. I mean it doesn't matter how much you spend on reference grade speakers if you're married to amplification that typically only sounds half as good as SET triodes. No longer do you need high power, feedback laden amplifiers that only sound good when they are turned up, but instead you can enjoy a naturally linear triode that is feedback free and sounds full and dynamic at all volumes. Also, with the triode comes an output transformer that is instrumental in creating a handshake between the output stage of the amplifier and the voice coil of the loudspeaker, keeping things from getting ugly when you do turn it up, effectively blocking back EMF from the loudspeaker voice coil and creating a much more synergistic impedance match.

All these things have to happen if your going to chase the holy grail of high fidelity... and virtually none of them can happen in the section of main stream retail hi-end audio that requires high power amplification to get loud.

Perhaps it will never be popular in the world of hi-end reference speakers to own a single-driver model such as this simply because it would be hard to justify charging so much for it, which is after all a big part of it's appeal in the first place.  If after all these years of charging the price of a small home for a pair of loudspeakers, you suddenly came out with a single driver model like this, people would be all over you about the price being so damn high for only one driver.  If instead you charged 1/10th the price for it - it's actual worth, suddenly people would be all over you for claiming your best sounding speaker cost 10 times less than all your other models.  

So you see, there is no real middle ground, but once you get past all the fluff and commit to listing to music instead of gear the journey will ultimately lead one to the land of lower power amplification paired with higher efficiency speakers like these.

Steve





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