A2 question.

[Tadams]

I'm excited to post my first question after lurking for a while. I am trying to decide between A1's or A2's for semi critical 2 channel listening. I am drawn to the A2's due to the additional mid bass and efficiency. I do like to crank up the volume at times. Also the size is a little more forgiving for wife approval. Would there be any advantage to swapping a dedicated mid driver for one of the mid woofers? One more question, is the imaging better utilizing the MTM versus the TMM configuration? I gots ta know.:rolleyes:

[craigsub]

There will be no benefit in taking out one of the 5.25 inch woofers and replacing it with a midrange. The splitgap woofers are linear out to well past the crossover point. And when you hear the imaging of our MTM design, you will be thrilled. Jon nailed it with these speakers - they are truly high end.

[BufordTJustice]

You would have to purchase a midrange that, for your cost, might equal the cost of the entire loudspeaker in order to better than the Arx midwoofer in this application....and it would then be unbalanced.

As Craig said, Jon has tuned these midwoofers to the hilt and they sing in this application. Prepare to be surprised how good they are.

Also, bass would suffer greatly. I do NOT recommend altering the design as there is so much more to a substitution like you're suggesting than just a driver swap. Jon has tune everything to be the way it is. The delicate balance he has struck is sure to impress you as it is.

[Chane M&C]

I am drawn to the A2's due to the additional mid bass and efficiency. I do like to crank up the volume at times. Also the size is a little more forgiving for wife approval.

I'm drawn to the two double-woofer models too. The second woofer adds appreciable headroom to the speaker and we can really start to get some acoustical work done, whereas as neat as the little A1 is, it really needs to be throttled down internally across the band to match the single woofer's output below a few hundred cycles. This is true of any single-woofer 2-way - they have to be contoured down to match the loss of the bass wrapping around the cabinet

This is where the A2rx-c (and especially the A3rx-c, which you didn't mention but I'd like to include in these comments) have the ability to jump an entire acoustical class as it were, really energizing the room and lowering any sense of strain way down. The second woofer adds back a lot of efficiency and that in turn allows the whole speaker to be let out and become an order more dynamic. Again, this is true of the layout and not just these specific models.

Would there be any advantage to swapping a dedicated mid driver for one of the mid woofers?

This has been answered but I'll add that the dedicated midrange would lose this advantage if relying on just one Chane 'Arx' woofer below it. It'd basically be a 3-way A1 with an added complexity it doesn't need or really benefit from. The dedicated midrange starts to make sense up in the A5's class and beyond. All those midwoofers below the dedicated midrange and tweeter elevate the whole design's simple "acoustical horsepower" and push its sound up a whole new class in terms of power, scale, and dynamics.

One more question, is the imaging better utilizing the MTM versus the TMM configuration? I gots ta know.:rolleyes:

This is where it gets interesting. Added to the observations above, the TMM A3rx-c has image precision and focus to recommend it, whereas the MTM A2rx-c in stereo has a larger, more prosound-like, and more vibrant soundstage. I'd consider the A3rx-c slightly more of the classic, locked-in-space two-channel sound and the A2rx-c a little more like the big, juicy, ambient sound of a great club system. It's not an easy choice.

Identical drivers and similar crossovers in some regards, but the speakers' acoustical topologies are quite different.

[Tadams]

Thanks to all that provided input for my questions. This is one of the things that's seems to be very consistent in my past "lurking" that has impressed me. The sharing of theory allows me to understand more and in turn feel confident making a decision when the time comes. I will admit that my past readings about the Dana 640i were intriguing. I am fighting the urge to wait for the reintroduction of them. Worst case, I would have the A2's for other applications if I did decide on the 640's a later date once released. Pretty sad situation huh? Thanks again.