Pero Grande ako. This is one speaker where you definitely would not use a subwoofer na. Saan kaya mag-start ang roll-off ng grande sa lows...?
Nelson,
Sige Grande ka na, makiki-rinig na lang kami. It's nearly flat (-3dB) to 18Hz, and goes down to 14Hz at -6dB in an anechoic chamber (I think). Inside a typical room, it would probably go even lower. The great part is that it reaches those frequencies with very low distortion, and it can play loud with minimal compression. I can't say the same for many subs on the market.
Sir Mark,
Congrats sa major major surprise sa weekend!
I'm sure super ganda yan, and something that dreams are made of.
Regarding the driver config:
Being 4-way or 3-way may indeed be due to tradition in this case -- and admittedly, we're already splitting hairs at this level of performance. As for the crossover issues, I'm sure Focal had taken extra care to minimize that in their flagship speaker (why would they stop at that when they've already gone all the way with adjustable focus time), especially since the Utopias have always been known to utilize among the best passive componentry in the industry (for domestic audio, mobile audio and the studio).
Theoretically, because of the limited bandwidth, a dedicated midbass could be made to have less reciprocating mass (it's easier to make a smaller cone more rigid, and a low Fs point may no longer be necessary), matched to a more compliant suspension (because there is less inertial mass to control/damp), and placed on a more sympathetic dedicated enclosure. This would reduce the need for such a strong motor (such as that in the EM woofer) in delivering the high efficiency and low distortion design goals.
The larger subwoofer would usually play lower, and the extra driver displacement (granted the linear range remains the same) means that it can reproduce a greater scale without being plagued by motor and/or suspension non-linearity (making it play cleaner, as long as it remains within its usable operating range). In the Grande Utopia's case, the reduction in the sub's upper range performance would likely be covered by the dedicated midbass assembly.