I heard the XGs on many occasions and, as someone who is horribly bothered by
colorations of any and every sort, never noticed this supposed problem.

I understand exactly what you're talking about -- the speed of sound in SF6
being much slower than in air, there would be a significant reflection of energy
at bag's surface. You might be right (ar, ar) about this. I'd have to listen to
the XGs again to see whether I agreed.

The original XGs sounded a bit dull, and D-W added a cheap Motorola piezo
tweeter to extend the response. (Note that the well-respected Dahlquist DQ-10
used a similar driver.) I never heard the version with the "leaf" tweeter.

As for the electrical impedance, I agree completely. The XG speakers have one of
the worst impedance curves of any speaker ever designed. The impedance rises to
over 100 ohms in the low bass, and drops to below 2 ohms (IIRC) in the upper
midrange. You need an amp that can swing lots of voltage (as you would with most
'stats) while being able to pump a lot of current. At the store where I worked
we had them running with a Swiss amplifier that couldn't provide that current,
and you heard something you hardly ever hear from an amplifier -- current
clipping. This is a speaker that needs the likes of a big Krell.

Our customer bought two Crown DC-600 (or was it DC-1200?) industrial amplifiers,
one for each speaker. Although the 600 used bridged output stages, it could
itself be bridged (bridges on bridges!) to put out something like 1200 watts. It
just laughed at the XGs.

I have to say, you sound a bit like me criticizing Maggies... grin


I have to disagree vehemently about the positive comments made
about the DW's. I speak as a past owner of 2 of the incarnations,
the Mk8/III and Mk10 that supposedly had all the problems fixed.
The main problem, and Bill should know this, is the impedance
missmatch between the very dense SF6 and the air. It makes for
reflections galore. On an A/B voice test, no one could recognize
the speaker's voice when played through the speakers. This is
an intrinsic fatal flaw that these speakers possess.

their impedance is horrendous, there are almost no amps out there
below kilo$'s that will drive them. You will need the likes of a ML or if
you're on a budget, a Leach. The tweeters on the XG8 is a $5 piezo.
(Ok, I don't know the exact value)... give me a break. The later Mk10
incarnation at least had a Matsu****a leaf (NOT ribbon) tweeter. Anyone
who thinks that these speakers gives an accurate presentation of what
is recorded has WAX in the ears, period! BTW, I am not saying that
they don't sound pleasant, hey I sound 'pleasant' singing in the shower
(lots of reverb) but accurate it ain't... so sorry.