Internalizing the WAF

[Feanor]

WAF? These are small and female.

The Frugal-Horns Site -- High Performance, Low Cost DIY Horn Designs

They are pretty small at about 30.5 x 7 x 15.6 inches but I'm not quite sure how they're "female".

[RGA]

Feanor

What about Martin Logan - they've gotten better with driver integration and they're still a panel. But they look sexy - maybe there is a middle ground with the wife. The prices have come down as well now that they're in the big box chains. Those big box chains often put the screws to the manufacturers to lower prices to increase sales. Best Buy was recently ranked as a top 10 company to watch for possibly going bankrupt in 2012. Their downfall could be your advantage because if it should go under (not going to miss them) then they may start dropping speakers prices for 50% off type of thing. They might still be over budget but I would watch for such deals - you never know. I have not heard the lower lines so I don't know if you'd like the sound but the Summit X I heard was mushc more integrated than their older top of the line stuff.

The problem I think you're going to have is cheap boxes can't get away from their box sound. Even if you go with a kit - the cabinets won't be good enough since they're all about deadening the sound - but that only works if you completely deaden it - but the logic is faulty because the energy is stored in the cabinet to bounce around and is delayed from leaving. There is a reason why folks like the OB and single driver and panel loudspeaker - IMO it is because of the speakers that believe in the dead box approach - but the box can't control what is deadened so it throws the blanket over the whole thing. That is why they sound shut in and "dead" and boxy. It's similar to noise reduction and why people liked the Nakamichi Decks with no dolby noise reduction - sure it takes some noise away but it also takes some of the music along with it. Removing the hiss was also removing the Baby out with the bathwater.

The dead box approach to me runs directly counter to Panel and OB speakers (and yes my speakers too) because the idea is to not have sound energy (music) trapped in the damn cabinet when it should be hitting your ears.

The sealed box has a faster sound, OB has a faster sound and not stored energy - panels ditto. To me the Kits you end up with may be good value for the dollar in terms of I spend $400 and it sounds like a manufacturerd speaker at $1200 but that isn't saying a whole lot and in all likelyhood you'll hate compared to the Maggies.

I would print off about 20 loudspeaker pictures - ones you're interest in in terms of sound and appearance and show them to her - ask her which ones she could live with the looks of.

I brought up ML simply because they're smaller and they're see through so while they're panels they're a little more home decor friendly. But personally I like the 1.7 a lot more than the double the price ML's of years past like the Aerius i which was a gutless wonder at $3k Cad back in the day (though that was when the dollar was .60 against the U.S.).

For $999 I would also add Wharfedale - you might be surprised how good their little floorstanders are - they don't take up much space and they sound surprising clean and unboxy. And they should have someone somewhere near you selling them.

I'd also add the AZ Two - if you can get past the big hole in the back of the speaker - it's a quasi horn loaded transmission line speaker but it is a must for corners which you said you can't use - but to me when it comes to home decor - not having the speakers take up a third of the living space makes the room seem a lot bigger which is an enhancement right away.

But to me if it was my money under $2k it would be 1.7 or AZ Two/Three, Roksan (this really does a wonderful job of integration and not sounding thick and sludgy), or OB speakers that Poutlrygeist suggests and single drivers - it's just two bad that good sound is usually butt fraking ugly.

[Feanor]

Thanks for your comments, RGA.

First, I have to reiterate that my wife isn't putting me under a lot of preassure; it's more that I just fell a little guilty about it. The space consideration puts any sort of dipole out of question as far as I can see. In any case my budget remains about $1200.

However successful AN might be with "live" boxes, IMO it is, in practical terms for amateur, a difficult thing to achieve -- you've said as much yourself. On the other hand it's feasible to build a sufficiently "dead" box with simple measures.

Seal boxes are more tolerate of imperfect design than vented boxes. Sealed boxes are smaller They have higher initial roll-off (F3) than vented but, if you want to, you can easily expend their response with equalization.. Also, they are more amenable to near-wall (or corner) placement. It's likely that if I go for a kit or work from a desing, that I will used a sealed box.

[Poultrygeist]

They are pretty small at about 30.5 x 7 x 15.6 inches but I'm not quite sure how they're "female".

Look at that shapely backside