Which Sounds BEST? Concentric/SourcePoint VS Horn VS Standard HiFi Speakers. 

Spot on! I couldn’t agree more. After a long journey I ended with Tannoy Cheviot driven my Jadis Orchestra Black. Absolutely mind boggling and continues to improve many weeks after purchase. Cannot recommend them enough!

Brilliant. My first summer part-time job in college was moving around stereo and recording equipment for J Gordon Holt when he still lived in Wallingford and started Stereophile. I was just "the kid" but I got to meet Edgar Vilchur and Henry Kloss and various musicians in the Phila orchestra who came to him to record their music. Technically the "traditional speaker" I think you are speaking of Edgar Vilchur's "Acoustic Suspension" patents in 1958 followed by addendum patents in 1961. IMHO, it was no accident JBL switched from mass production horns to the likes of the JBL Century100 in 1969. The patents for the enclosed Large Advent and AR's "new" 3A had passed. IMHO2, Much as engineers have been trying to make their tube amps have more qualities of solid-state, or solid-state amps like tube amps, I have looked forward to a some day when live dynasism of horns could be blended with acoustic suspension or single point.

I have over 20 pairs of speakers.I have been designing/ building speakers for like 30 yrs. I like all types! I Have Klipsch Belle's, Heresy's,JBL 632a club speakers, also i have Little British stand speakers like Rogers LS3 5A's, Celestion SL6's,DL 6's,model 300's,3 prs. of KEF dual concentrics,a pair of vintage JBL C53 Libras,w/ LE 14 c 14" coaxial drivers. I feel that all my fovorite speakers are unique and special in their own way! There is no best speaker!

Cocentrics strongly depend on the quality of the power supply of the amplifier and the source! If everything is correct, then three-dimensional sound will be available from any listening angle, mid frequencies will appear, like at a concert. Thank you, I look forward to your review of Daniel Hertz.

Fantastic and so helpful and informative. Thanks for sharing what is obviously many hours of listening experience, it's much appreciated. I'm using LS50's at the moment with a REL sub. I have aging ears that are showing signs of wear and tear and I bought these speakers so I could listen at lower volumes and get a clean well defined and tight, accurate sound and I'm finding them very effective.

GREAT REVIEW,NEVER THOUGHT OF WHICH TYPE I LIKE

Great insight! Long ago I owned the Legacy/Real to Reel Classic's, and Ohm Walsh 4 and the Thiel O3A that I enjoyed. Now, I have the Thiel CS2.3's and Legacy HD monitors in my systems.

Am using a set of Concentric Visaton on a Diyed enclosure and I agree on all the cons how you described how they sound. Really love mine after having numbers of speakers

Best sound I ever heard was a pair of Tannoy Westminster Royals, driven by McIntosh MC 275 tube amps. Effortless, dynamic delivery.

Since 30 years I use Tannoys, actually Definition DC 8 T bought in 2010 or so, by now in connection with a Vincent SV700 integrated hybrid Amplifier using a Daniel Weiss DAC501 and a Bluesound Node X. I am very happy and love to listen to Roger Waters‘ Amused to Death at the sweet spot and enjoy an almost Surround Sound out of this 2-SpeakersSystem❤ … and I am very glad to do so here in Switzerland (as a foreigner from Austria)🤩

No one buys horn speakers expecting them to be flat we buy them for the live and open sound stage.

Fell in love with Klipsch Forte I speakers with Crites upgrades, went to JBL L100 Classics, now have Klipsch Chorus II with Crites upgrades. Really want to try some point source speakers, may try some Zu's.

I have the Fleetwood Deville Sq to my Shindo Masetto pre amp and Montille 391 with Weiss 501 with Luminu2. I love the synergy and vocals are sublime. It’s all about what your ears like and at this point in my life I prefer the sound to be not to high pitched or agressive.

Full range single drivers and open baffle designs are also interesting

The Ambers and Tannoys have horn treble. Tannoys have a compression driver behind the woofer, the driver exiting into a horn which runs through the woofer pole piece and then exits into the cone which acts as an extension of the horn. This is Tannoy's take off on the Altec 604, the grandfather of coaxial speakers, the 604 (which dates back to the mid 1940s) using a separate radial horn nestled inside the woofer cone. The MoFi uses a direct radiating dome tweeter and is a take off on Harry Olson's RCA LC-1 speaker of the 1950s which used a cone tweeter at the center of a 15" cone. Altec 604s (still in production by Great Plains Audio) and RCA Lc-1s must be heard, they are amazing speakers still after all these years

Thank you. I really enjoyed your video.

Great overview based on deep experience. Does it trigger the idea to complete the overview with open baffle speakers and planar speakers?

Concentric in my opinion offers the best of horns and panel speakers, coherency with great dynamics. Fyne Audio also offers coaxial concentric speakers. They are former Tannoy folks.

The Kef R11 Meta has a coaxial driver with additional bass drivers and that gives you the best of both worlds

Thanks. Glued to Cornwall 4s and First Watt J2. No fatigue. I have them disappearing in a very small room. Sibelius review would be interesting.

I've had bookshelf, horn & planar speakers. Never heard source point speakers. All sound very different. I like them all!

Hey man, honest comments, the one type of speaker system I heard, about ten years ago ,was a revelation ,, a pair of martin logan electro statics, forget the exact model but they had a sub build in, I've done the looking for the perfect sound with all types of designs, but they really moved my heart, and that's surely what music should do.

I grew up listening to my dads Altec Lansing Model 17 speakers and have been looking for something to reproduce that sound since. Built with a 15” driver and a center mounted horn. They have such a beautiful sound.

I am using JBL 4365 horn speakers; they have the bass slam and dynamic range that traditional speakers do not have. Proper pairing and consideration of room acoustics are paramount and crucial.

I used to think the same about horns too until I heard Blumenhofer acoustics from Germany. Their Big Fun 17 is the most unassuming looking horn speaker ever which on first listen I didnt even realize were horns. They have all the virtues of a horn but none of the drawbacks - they are small, accurate, live sounding, have fantastic bass, tube friendly and you can listen to them all day without fatigue. Do give a listen to Thomas Blumenhofer's creations before you write horns off. Klipsch on the other hand - they have all the downsides of horns and are not a brand I would recommend.

Thank you for sharing

Thanks for you insight and content after listening to multiple speakers and loving most of them and also a Zu owner nothing on the market like them for live music reproduction .

I loved my omnidirectional horn speakers, two way... Duevel

I have had many types of speaker throughout my lifetime. Horns, concentric, and your standard type speaker. I agree that they all have their pros and cons. I've also had both stand-mount as well as floorstanding speakers, but for the last three years I've been the proud owner of a pair of Q Acoustic Concept 500 floorstanders, currently driven by a Cayin Soul 170i tube amplifier, and the sound is simply spellbinding. Please review these speakers as I'm sure, with the right amplification, you'll be as impressed as I am.

One of the big advantages of a point source speaker is placement. They maybe large but you can sit very close to them and they are less effected by room boundarys.

I agree that your music tastes has lots to do with what speaker type you prefer. I like differentiating between your taste in music and what you want to hear in your gear.

Thanks!

If you're into coaxial/concentric driver speakers, give the Elipson Planet L's a try. It's an older speaker, but for the price, I think it's quite nice. Keep in mind, the optional stands make a huge difference, to the point I wouldn't call them "optional" (for Hifi Use).

I liked the Dynaco A-25's. Do you know them? From the 70's? And the ESS AMT's

The jublilees and the la scalla are beautiful sounding.

I have all three types , and definitely like Devore fidelity 96 speakers 10” driver and tweeter fantastic speakers

Adding Concentric Zu Audio speakers to your review portfolio would be greatly appreciated.

As a Zu loudspeaker owner I want to hear that Amber system so bad...it sounded amazing in that clip you played the other day

I have K-horns with Crites crossovers, Pair of REL Subs, Mac MC 30s, VPI turntable and Mac C20 preamp. Magical. Several other systems, but nothing better to my ears.

I have to say, same feelings and hearings frim my KEFs as well. Exactly what you're talking about. 3D stage that sometimes I have to turn my head around😂

Looks like the Amber is using a Radian coax. As do several home audio designs, such as Coherent Audio and Live Act Audio..

I favor my pair of custom built L-Cao FA6 Alnico 6" single drivers in Bamboo Tuned Quarter Wave Pipe enclosures for 3D sound. At the port there's a 'low-mass' passive radiator that squelches chuffing distortion. A LRC contour network tames a low Q resonance at 3KHz. Driving them w/ Wavelength Mercury AVVT20 tube monoblocks :)

Very similar experience trough a lifetime..........i started with simple FR and I go back to it with quality drivers/LS...........but I still like the speakers I had before ...............just the point sources and some other exceptions have that magic of dissapearing that leaves you with the music in a coherent way gorgetting you listen to reproduced music............same with amplifiers..............Tubes and class A rules above the hypeof a certain kind of Hi-end performance.............just stop analyzing your system and enjoy the music and you may connect to it ..

Do you prefer you la scalas closer to the corners? Walls? I saw in another one of your videos saying they were meant to be that close.

It depends on the recording n mastering n type of music with each type speaker it's a moving target never stagnant with these much variables in play

I have many speakers to chose from in my collection. I tend to consistently pull out 2 styles. Both with subs added. Magnepan 1.7 for a smooth presentation and late night sessions. And highly modified Klipsch LaScalas for live performances and those times I want the music loud and in my face. At the end of the day the Klipsch are just way too much fun to put away. I also have highly modified Klipsch Chorus 2 that are used for rock music. My next adventure will be full range and or open baffle cone drivers. With the extremely diverse range of music styles I really need a diverse range of equipment.

Very interesting.

I'm an avid fan of vintage ADS speakers. Been collecting them for a few years and have yet to come across a model that doesn't impress. They do nearly everything I want and nothing I don't.

I enjoy horn speakers for cinema because they enhance the experience with powerful, immersive sound, while ribbon tweeters are perfect for music, delivering exceptional clarity and detail.

I’ve got a set of Tannoy mansfield’s 12” powered by Quad 405/2 I’m finding positioning very difficult in a 4m x 3.5m room

Funny you said the Cornwalls are lacking in bass. I have some vinrage cornwalls and tge bass is tremendous!

You like concentric, will you like Kef such as the new R3 Meta? Are they a combination of concentric and traditional? Are they the best of both world? Just curious. Thanks for sharing.

What are your thoughts on AMT Tweeters vs soft dome tweeter or a metallic tweeter such as aluminium?

Have you heard Ohm speakers when I heard them I really loved them

I'm right there with ya. Full range drivers 2.1 setup has something about the imaging that is unique and vocals pop.

Every speaker is a compromise , i think the best compromise for the normal size rooms are Audio Note AN E type of speakers ( dynamic , live , coherent , musical ,great bass for the size ...).

electrostatic speakers are my favorite,stacked Quad 57s

Are you looking for bass reflex speakers? Enjoying your work here. I’ve owned about every kind of speaker made… Electrostatic Horn Source point… I’m looking for a new speaker. I loved my Martin Logans but they are a one listener speaker (one sweet spot). I like rock from REM to Genesis…Steely Dan to Porcupine Tree. I want to feel my bass at all levels of listening. I’m considering two vastly different speakers right now: Magnepan 3.7 and Klipsch Forte IV. I run entry level Pass amp/preamp. 150.8 and 12. What to do? Currently I own: Harbeth P3ESR 40th Anniversary, Zu DW 2, JBL HDI3800 and MAGNEPAN LRS. I listen to the JBLs most of the time but I don’t really love the mids - a tad muddy. The LRS are hard on amps. The Zu are really very nice, and the Harbeth are more for my office desk system.

The one style overlooked is Yamaha's NS-5000 with all three drivers made of the same material. Not possible with coaxial designs or horns. Different effect than planars. Even the six digit price speakers mix driver materials.

I need to get out and listen to some more systems. When I first started looking for real speakers I found a pair of Bozak Concert Grands... I kind of stoped looking as soon as I got them home.

It would be interesting to try and make all of them sound the same thru an EQ 😊

Wondering why you haven't added bipoles dipoles and especially omni directional speakers. I've had a pair of Maggie 3.6 R's in my system for over 20 years and they're going to be the last speaker I ever own because they sound so incredible! Any small are revealed showing no mercy to poor quality and ecstasy high quality components and recordings. That's what I look for in a speaker system. And yes, they do need subs.

4:00 timeline....strongly suggest take a look at LX521 speakers....🙂

🎯👏👍🙏❤ I'm a Martin Logan fan.

Zu Druid V owner...love concentrics.

Horn speakers lacking in the bass? If they're Klipsch Scalas they do. If they're EV Patricians, the bass isn't too bad. 😃 The shoutiness in the midrange does seem to depend on the driver choice and horn design. I've heard constant directivity horns that I can live with. High efficiency in speakers isn't just about using low powered amps. It's about dynamic freedom combined with clarity and detail retrieval. All of which are lacking in low efficiency slimline ported speakers.

Point source speakers would be interested to try with vinyl playback. But I am not interested in imaging. I feel for my listening, 3-way is fine.

The largest part of the speakers in commerce have an emphasized 80-120 hz range. This gives us the sensation of round and full bass, but it results in a loud but poor bass range. Certain high efficiency woofers not loaded with a typically tuned reflex port can deliver super detailed and natural bass section. Personally I prefer the last option, but it's a matter of choice.

I prefer the imaging that coaxial designs give.

Sometimes it's better to have more than one flavor. I have two different concentric design speakers (Trenner & Friedl RA and Suns) and a big set of horns that do not sound like horns (Destination Audio Vistas)....

I had a new pair of Klipsch Heresy IV, bought from an authorised dealer. Your comment about coloration with horns seems to ring true, for example Chet Baker's voice did not sound like Chet Baker.

Also what has concentric drivers in a speajer got to do with intrinsically having a greater dynamic range?

What does the horn tweeter have to do with bass SPL?

The Dynaudio Heritage is a wow speaker. For $7k, it should be!

Best speakers ever Heard Martin Logan CLS and Quad ELS55

Great analogy 'My audio system is my therapist."

When it comes to concentric speakers, Tannoy has been the gold standard. For the reasons you described Tannoy's were very popular mid-field monitors for pro studios. Sadly, Tannoy was bought out a few years ago by MusicTribe (a.k.a. Behringer) and production has been moved from the UK to China. As for horns, they require a big, properly-treated room to sound their best. Horns also tend to suffer from impulse response and phasing issues. They do make great party speakers when you want to "rock the house" because they can get loud, quick.

The Quad 65 is actually a “concentric” too, full range, one driver. Beautifully coherent but not quite as dynamic. I also have a pair of Kef LSXs that are pleasing. My main system is a 3 way pair and I find the midrange enunciation better than most 2 ways that blend the midrange though the crossover where capacitors and chokes are fighting with phase shift that may distort the music’s focus slightly on terribly. Never played with horns yet. Decent drivers, parts and engineering can make or break any speaker’s format. They all speak differently though and any can great or bla.

I had a Tannoy Eaton DC... the sound was nice, but when I connected small Telefunken TL500 monitors to my amplifier, the sound was much much better

Point source 💯

would be amazing if you review an Omni-directional Loudspeaker, like the ones from MBL

Gosh darn! I am openly baffled!!

So a combination of coaxial with an excellent subwoofer (or two) could be the best ?

Point Source you mean! Genelec The Ones are outstanding! If you listen to the KEF Blades you will see that they have a lot of bass!

Dipole baby😊 foŕ soundstage.

The term you're searching for for traditional speakers is "direct radiator" speakers. A horn is not a direct radiator, but the SourcePoint's ARE direct radiators. Its tweeter is set in a waveguide, and radiates directly into the air. It is not mounted inside a compression driver, like Tannoy's. Panel speakers would be yet a 3rd broad category of speakers, which you did not discuss.

Goldenear triton series❤

MTM configuration is also a point source

I just changed my cables from silver plated copper to silver. All I hear is transparency. I like the sound of my AMT tweeters, too.

Seems like concentric designs should sound similar to horn speakers since the woofer cone acts as a horn for the tweeter mounted at the throat of the cone.

Horns are inherently nonlinear as their bandwidths are physically limited to around 3 octaves. And within those bandwidths there are many factors that can cause coloration, such as discontinuities of rate of expansion that are oftentimes deliberate to control dispersion. Thus they are inherently the hardest to design crossover networks for if true high fidelity is the goal. But when actively DSP multiamped with appropriate digital equalization and signal path delays they can become quite magical and transparent while retaining their dynamism. If Klipsch would expand their Heritage line with carefully tailored DSP multiamp modules (a la the Fives, Sevens, Nines?) I think the result would be stunning. My DIY system is basically that and it's utterly beguiling, especially with well recorded symphonic music.

Planar magnetic and ribbon transducer beats all the above

1:51 Infinite baffle? The co-axials are also infinite baffle of course. No idea really - I would not think there is a specific name for them. 1:58 There is one type missing: full-range, specifically, real full-range that rely on flexing cone membranes. 3:17 Errr... point-source, rather... 5:04 I just realised there is a fourth type: Duevels and the like (they were not the first company to use this effect) which are horn speakers but also omni-directional. 10:30 Actually concentric speakers, and full-range driver speakers for that matter, are horn speakers. It's just that the horn is only applied to the high frequencies (and it's larger than needed for these frequencies) and by virtue of being formed by the midrange driver's cone, which moves, there maybe some Doppler distortion going on there (if that is actually an effect) or some other strange effect going on because of that.

I've got 29 drivers in my sorce point! :-)

Don’t forget Zu Audio. Thanks

I agree with the characterizations you assign to these types of speakers but I disagree with the attribution based on the physics of the design (somewhat). Horns having a lack of bass? As I am sure you are aware, speakers which incorporate horn loading usually apply horns to the treble and sometimes midrange. Bass horns are quite uncommon. This means there is added efficiency to the upper end of the sonic spectrum which makes a horn speaker sound bass light because of the design choices and constraints put in place by the designer; efficient bass is expensive (and/or huge). So, horns having light bass is not inherent to them being horns, but it does follow because $$ Ordinary dynamic speakers have more of a midrange hump? Most concentric speakers do not employ an additional woofer section like for example the KEF Q950 etc. I think that this is a marketing tactic to highlight the design choice of using a concentric driver (and why most concentrics are bookshelf style speakers) which means they lack boom. They can be balanced and have great bass extension but yeah, they don’t play as loud and are more ‘delicate’ because of the design decisions and constraints put in place. Put 3x 8” woofers in a tower with a concentric mid/tweet and you will get boom. It’s not because of the inherent character of a concentric design, it’s because of the tradeoffs manufacturers usually make when trying to market. So yeah….I agree with your generalizations regarding these three types of speakers, but I don’t think it has much to do with the potential of each type of speaker to sound a certain way. The differences are largely choices by designers. You can make a horn sound pinpoint accurate and have deep bass (get a bass horn!). You can make a normal dynamic speaker sound bright or balanced. You can make a point source sound bloated. It is a natural occurrence to fit a price point and design aesthetic that align these types of speakers with the generalizations you attribute to them (don’t blame the speaker; look to the designer/company and their intent) Also - no mention given to planars or line arrays?

Try the speakers from Pearl Acoustics you will be amazed.. be prepared to throw away your amps though 😂 and get ready to start on another way of enjoining music.

Being a source point does not determine the tonal balance of the sound. If you take a warm and punchy sounding mid-bass driver/cabinet system, adding a tweeter in the mid-bass driver's axis should not change those qualities.

What a bout a point souce ??coming from 1 point ? Tannoys allow the high end reduced ait the xover, for room, adjustment

TANNOY……All the way baby!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣