I'm pleased to be able to tell you about the newest Vandersteen loudspeaker, the 3A Signature. Well, OK, it may not be that close to perfect, but compared to other loudspeakers in this price range and even more expensive ones, hoo boy, the 3A Signature is one precious pile o' powerful mojo. The 3A Signature has four drivers. The tweeter, midrange, and midbass drivers are all forward-firing. The low-bass driver fires from the rear of the speaker at floor level.
Crossovers are first-order types to maintain accurate phase performance.
Other steeper crossover slopes introduce phase error. Some people believe this is inconsequential, while Vandersteen and several other manufacturers believe that minimizing phase error is an important performance consideration. The midrange and tweeter are physically staggered to make the speakers time coherent. The importance of time coherence is another area of disagreement among manufacturers. The terminals are mounted directly to the crossover, something not generally possible with conventional binding posts.