In Reply to: Re: Dear Mr. Welborne... posted by Ron W. on January 25, 2001 at 14:10:10:
Thanks Ron, for the advice (re. "Bad Advice"); its obvious that what you do is a labor of love, and I certainly respect that. Craftsmanship is a dying art in this country; perhaps because it is no longer "profitable."
Since SETs are more or less in opposition to the current (at least in this country) hi-end state of mind (discounting flavor of the month trends), those of us who value quality over quantity will tend to have slim pickings indeed, esp. in regards to speaker choices.
Don't get me wrong, I am intrigued by some of the numerous horn designs (namely the Oris and Avantegarde); however, in my case, I'm not so sure I'm ready to take the plunge. Aside from budget (esp. in the case of the A-garde) and space concerns, I have to admit that (at least psychologically), I don't like the compromised nature of most horn designs: especially when it comes to integrating the low frequencies. The Oris horn for example: my mind simply rebels at the notion that a bass cabinet can blend seamlessly w/ a pair of Lowther drivers. True, I've never heard them, but in the past, I have never been able to tolerate b-shelf speakers w/ subwoofers, or even many other typical 3-way designs that most people found unobjectionable, were completely disturbing for me.
As I mentioned in another post, I listen to (and play) a lot of solo piano, so you could say that I'm pretty familiar w/ the sound of that instrument. The piano has a very complex sound to it: equally percussive and musical. So many systems I've heard completely disintegrate when trying to reproduce its sound (even at low volumes, and esp. in the lower registers).
I guess you can say that I'm looking for something that preserves not only the delicacy and impact of the instrument, but keeps it together as a seamless whole. (I know, I should get a disklavier, right? To bad the selections are so lousy.)
What I'm saying, is that my research has led me to the fact that SETs preserve not only the delicacy but potentially the impact and full-range coherence as well-- the question is what kind of speaker could best display these qualities? Again, I'm not looking to blow my eardrums out, just something that holds together under reasonable (yes, I know "reasonable" is a rather subjective term) volume levels.
Any opinions, suggestions? What are your thoughts on the Alon Lotus?
In any case, I apologize for carrying on like this. Just another hyper-sensitive, obsessive-compulsive audiomaniac: but then again, SET types are probably the worst of the worst. I guess you have your work cut out for you...
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