From: Help choosing a 10 inch midbass driver.

[sandt38 448]

I don't think that is the case at all. He may be output limited by the 3", but it will blend nicely with that 10". The Aura is an amazing sub in many ways, but the one that makes it great in this application is its upper response. A 4" mid and a tweet could give him more output, but personally I'd rather lose a little and have everything on axis like he does in particular considering this is a first attempt at running active.

I am just not a fan of expecting such a small speaker to provide such a dynamic range. I guess it is more a personal preference, but I would never do it. Sure, tuning will be much easier, but the reality of the situation is that a 3 way will work better. As the small driver is pulling such a high workload from the lower register, reaching a fairly high excursion and realizing a rise in Qts where Bl is becoming markedly more parabolic, you are demanding the driver to perform such delicacies as the harmonics or decay from a cymbal crash... it is just not a recipe for good sound quality. I personally feel with all the work J is putting into it, he will be able to get it tuned right. It isn't like so many other active installs I see where people just toss drivers in and set their crossovers and call it active... he is working on manipulating the speakers' behavior through enclosure design and placement to suit his goals. I think he can get it done.