Hey Paul,

I wasn't even going to respond to that...but oh well. I don’t think that anyone could characterize a –3db dip on axis as a “serious design flaw”. Maybe it was just an unfortunate choice of words. I was looking at an un-smoothed response that would look like a ruler if the standard smoothing were applied.

In any event, I have seen many multi thousand dollar speakers with a worse on axis response reviewed in Stereophile. Yet these speakers received great reviews. There is more to a speaker than the on axis response. Many designs might have a slight dip on axis that smoothes out off axis. The speakers power response, THD, and IMD are probably more important than a ruler flat frequency response.

I have had a few more people listen to them with very favorable comments. I have also listened to a few more commercial speakers in the 1 to 6k range which had a very similar tonal balance.

In addition, I finally found a placement that works better in my room. The suckout that I had in the 60 to 80hz range has filled in a bit (still down ~5db). This has helped dramatically. I think Paul hit the nail on the head, they are unforgiving of poorly mixed/recorded material. They sound quite phenomenal with anything that is well mixed.

For example if anyone has the Billy Joel greatest hits 2 cd set from around 1988, I challenge you to find any decent speaker that will play that recording well. Sounds terrible, even in my car (unless you boost the bass). Almost all of the eighties hard rock/metal and most 90s grunge sounds terrible. In contrast Dave Brubeck (Sony remaster), Brad Mehdau, Dave Holland, Tord Gustavsen, Perfect Circle (13th step), NIN (Fragile and With Teeth), and well recorded classical to numerous to mention all sound great.

With all that said, I will still try the MKI crossover ( I have all the parts, just no time) and pad the tweeter a bit to see what I prefer…I’m just an inveterate tweaker. I’ll let every one know what I find out.

mike