Patrick,
Thanks for the input. I am indeed looking more at the econowave type of designs. I just do not know if the extra expense is worth the challenges of a DIY Unity. I believe I have read a post of yours somewhere that the mids were better from the Summa as well.
There is something to say about a simple speaker...
The only other style I was looking at was the open baffles like the LX521 as they also try to control room interactions. However, multiple amps and the cost of such a system is far above what I am currently willing to spend.
The only thing that I would consider at this point in time is a BMS coaxial CD when looking at horns... but even then I question the return I am getting for the return....I am a very frugal person and try not to spend more than I have to if you can't tell
I also thought about the possibility of a "D8" where I would essentially be doing something like the JTR T8 but with an 8" Coax and then a 8" midbass but from what I understand that is also more complicated and the econowave will give a bigger sweet spot which is one of my main goals since this is going to also be used for home theater purposes....hopefully one day behind a projection screen
I'm using the ultra-cheap KEF UNI-Qs in a home theater setup currently, and it's a screaming deal for the cost.
When you do a Unity or Synergy horn, there's a lot of reasons to go with a big mouth. For instance, when you use a 40cm mouth like the Lambda, the horn is basically not doing anything to control the pattern of the midranges. (There's a *little* bit of pattern control, but it's basically collapsing at the frequency where the compression driver is passing the baton to the midranges.)
The Danley SH-50 has a mouth with an area that's four times as large, so you're getting pattern control well into the bandwidth of the midranges... But at the cost of an enormous chunk of real estate.
I think these factors are one of the reasons that a forum member named "Sheldon" didn't hear a huge difference between running the Lambda Unity as a three-way (with the midranges) versus a two-way (without.)
The Kefs might make a wicked wanna-be Unity; it would be trivially easy to drop them into a wide-angle waveguide, kind of like the coaxial boxes that Danley sells.
The Kefs were a way better deal when Newegg was blowing them out for $250 a set, but they're still available on eBay for around $300.
Sorry this is so long winded.
It basically boils down to this:
Do you have a huge room? If yes, then Summa-type speakers could be very nice. Due to their very extreme dynamics, you really need to think about your neighbors because Summas just beg you to crank 'em up. They just don't exhibit any type of stress or harshness.
If you *don't* have a huge room, I'd go for something like the Gedlee Abbey, Nathan, or any of the smaller Synergy horns. (Due to the smaller center-to-center spacing, they're going to work better in a small room than a speaker with large CTC spacing.)