I am certainly not upset that Ked states his opinions. It is a free forum (as long as there is no personal attacks). He is merely trying to communicate to others that he has heard better sound from the O96 (and others) than the DuoGT. As Mike L. would say that is a data point for people to put in their head and think about.
The trouble, in general, is that a speaker can be made to sound pretty bad or just ok or really great depending on the seup and how much attention to detail the person setting up the system paid to getting music to happen. Let me explain what I have learned about the DuoGT to this point. I am still learning but here goes.
Just like the Trio the tweeter in the DuoGT is set into a sphereical horn. That means that the speaker needs to be pointed pretty much right at the listener. Poor toe-in choice is one reason a lot of the setups can sound bright. People tend to think toeing in the speaker is going to make it bright but that is backwards.
The Duo GT has two 12" woofers and is ported through the bottom. This means that it is extremely responsive to height. Getting the speaker to come up some will vastly clean up bass articulation. It is enough height that one really needs longer spikes. I use shims.
Speaking of height and tweeter -- The tweeter in the DuoGT is just 36" off the floor. A typical listening height is going to be between 38" (on the low side) ot 41". Sitting in those dining charis at a show my ear height is 45". For the same reasons stated above on toe-in the tweeter really needs to be pointed in the vicinity of the same height as the ear. Raising the speaker to help bass articulation helps this also. But then the speaker is going to need some rake.
Then there is the crossover point between the woofer bin and the horn. I am still playing with this some but the default is 170Hz with a 24 dB/Oct Butterworth Filter. Surprisingly, I am exploring the 12 dB/Octave filter with some nice benefits. TBD if I will leave it like this.
Do you see my point? Details apply to ANY speaker. Not the specifics I stated above but the specifics for how THAT specific speaker is designed and responds. It is very easy to set this (or any) speaker up by just pointing them straight ahead, relatively flat on the spikes and maybe even shoved up against a wall. In this case one would be listening to the room as sound is simply sprayed around everywhere. To me, going into a room like this is like a "noise box". I think some like this type of sound as it is very uniform around the room. I consider this uniformly bad sound. But to each their own.
Thanks for that explanation - it corresponds very much with my experience with Duo XD speakers.
My tweeters are 35" above the floor and my ears height is about 38", but I have no concerns about this as it's best to keep the mid horn not far from ear level, so my 38" works well. Therefore I avoid the need for tilting. I changed spikes for IsoAcoustic Gaia I feet and this significantly improved detail and clarity within the bass range.
Yes, toe-in should be directly towards the listening position, plus or minus a few degrees and this precise angle is important to experiment with. However at Shows, this precise setting up goes out of the window because the intention is to offer "good" listening to dozens of listening positions, whereas in the home, one is looking for "exceptional" listening at a single position. At Shows it is better to reduce toe in to achieve this and to improve visitors' initial reaction to their looks.
Whatever Ked may say about the Unos and Duos, it's nonsense and should be ignored by potential purchasers (and current owners) of these great speakers. They are consistently reviewed favourably with the possible exception the HFN review of the understandably poorly-received Primo. In fact it was the 2000 Stereophile review of the Uno that convinced me they'd offer a massive increase in listener pleasure compared with my earlier ATC 50 Actives. Stereophile went on to choose the Uno as their Speaker of the Year - and rightly so at its price point. I've since moved to Duos circa 2006 and more recently Duo XDs, but sadly AG representation in the UK is dreadful at present so I've had no opportunity to hear the new GT model yet.