Quote Originally Posted by mr. budget
I was wondering, on good equipment, is two-way better better than three-way or is it just a matter of personal preference, I know the 3-way puts hgh/mid frq to twtr and mid/low frq to woofer, and 3-way is high to twt mid to mdrnge and low to woofer, but what should it be, like does it even matter. So which is better for quality accuracy and better sound reproduction? thanks.
A typical two way has some limitations which may or may not be significant for you.. In order to achieve deep bass response, you need a largish driver in a good sized box. Largish drivers start beaming at lower frequencies than smallish ones, so to maintain even dispersion very far off axis, the tweeter must be crossed over fairly low. Alas, tweeters tend to be more delicate and can't handle so much power. Hence, the typical two way has a fairly small woofer, about 6 inches or so so that the tweeter can be crossed over moderately high, but give up deep bass response and power handling capacity. Now, this may not be that much of a limitation for many people, for most people listen at reasonable levels. The typical reasonably priced high quality speaker is a two way.

There are ways around this. The old Altec 19 had a robust 15 inch woofer crossed over fairly low to a sectoral horn tweeter, also quite robust. Those who think it was not a good speaker almost certainly heard them with the midrange and high controls poorly adjusted because they could be adjusted to be quite accurate. Paradigm, which makes its own drivers, has some very robust tweeters which can be crossed over fairly low. They and others also may use more than one woofer so the bass response and power handling can be increased.

Now, a three way system can have one or more largish drivers devoted to the bass, a nice smallish midrange with excellent power handling, and then cross over to a tweeter and a somewhat higher frequency. This can give deep bass response, high power handling, and wide and even dispersion.. The crossover is more complex and since there are more drivers, the cost tends to be higher. So, if you need high volume levels, a three way may well be better, even if you have a subwoofer.

You can have high quality speakers either way, and don't listen to those who say you can't. Two ways plus a subwoofer works fine for me but your needs may be different.