[please forgive my poor English]
Interesting, thanks.
Do other members also corroborate this contrast/difference? Or is it so dependent on the partnered equipment (and room) that no generalization can be drawn at all?
(see also question in §2)
PERSONAL PREFERENCES
I attend live acoustic unamplified concerts (mainly classical), and I favor full-bodied, natural presentation and "flow". I am sensitive to screechy treble; I like it highly detailed and highly "various" (not a mono-chromatic
tss-tss), but natural and perfectly integrated with the midrange. I like the Raal ribbon tweeter, the Esotar 2&3, but most of all, good AMT tweeter implementations. Compression drivers I know less: I listened attentively to the excellent Thrax Lyra and was a bit puzzled by its compression tweeter (sounds amazingly 'live', but does some "quirky things" I nevertheless could live with would you offer me a pair of Lyra).
I am not a bass-freak (if cello is OK, I'm happy).
I don't know a lot of horn speakers, but all the ones I heard are fatiguing at best, a bit shilly, or blare at worst [those words care maybe too strong; I am a non-native speaker]. The remarkable exception to this is the gob-smacking Aries Cerat Symphonia horn speaker (which does it all, except deep bass), but is totally beyond my budget ($ K100?).
UPGRADE TOWARD A CHOPIN?
Therefore I wondered if a
Cessaro Chopin with their CNC-milled tweeter horn (made out of a solid piece of wood, like the big 50Kg midrange horn of the Symphonia), their half-horn/half bass-reflex bass guide and their heavy enclosure, could not be considered as a kind of "mini-Symphonia" (for smaller rooms, as
@morricab suggested).
But...I have never heard Cessaro's (you don't find them on every street corner). And no dealer in my country (but Germany is nearly next door...).
MIDRANGE IS IMPORTANT
My fear with any 2-way (except Harbeths) is always:
where is the midrange? (when I see a 3-way, I am relieved - BUT: I can't afford none of the Cessaro's 3-ways).
For instance, on lieder (voice & piano), a monitor like the little Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary favors voices (very natural and lifelike, full-bodied, fairly expressive with the right amp) over piano (sounds too soft and rounded, lack of speed and attack). But I can live with that contrast (in a 2nd system), whereas I would be very unhappy if a speaker would reverse that contrast, and would deliver all the directness, speed and attack required to reproduce piano in a credible way (fine!), but would play voices leaner instead!
(the Aries Cerat Symphonia horn speakers, again, subtract nothing of that sheer naturalness on voices, which remain full-bodied, but then gain a breathtaking and genuinely lifelike expressiveness).
ROOM
The room is 40 square meter; plenty of space around the speakers (no close rear wall possible, as recommended for the Chopin); former stable; very good acoustics; no neighbors; very silent; low ceiling, but small curved ceiling brick vaults.
Thanks.
