A4ia

The "dick" as you call it, is a phase plug The shop is right... it's meant to correct some of the comb filtering that occurs due to the fact that the cone is not a flat plane. My old home speakers (really nice B&W's) had these and my current Dunlavy's (even nicer mastering speakers) have much smaller versions, but I don't know how much this helps off-axis response, which is what we're talking about... either way, I took a closer look at the specs and it looks like the 136k is meant to be driven harder (like the shop said) as it can handle more wattage... also, I'm guessing that it can handle a much larger excursion, which probably is the biggest difference between the two...

HDClown

he either didn't know about the MBQ adaptors or did and they weren't appropriate size for the 136k nd had to make his own.

MD_Audi

but they don't even come close to working with the 136k focals. The bracket he made was nothing like the MB Quart adapter either. It was a pretty simple bracket that went all the way around the back of the speaker unlike the adapters where the speaker mounted to the adapters and the adapters to the door. The nice thing about the way he did it was the support was very strong, I've heard the MBQ's could be flemsy, and allowed for a deeper mounting depth for the speaker.

D Sealy

....would be much like cramming your Dunlavy's into the corners of the room and running them with a Sony rack system from Sam's with the EQ set to the classic smiley face. This is just my opinion, but if I were you, I would look into the best possible install possibilities before considering exact components. Also, if you are in the area of a large IASCA event, go and listen to some of the sound quality cars there. You will quickly notice that many of the people who love to talk about the cash spent on components have cars that sound horrid compared to some fellows who performed well thought out installs yet spent 1/4 the amount of cash on their systems. The best components will not perform at their best without a well planned install.