Building a new speaker Part 4

This is the last in our series of how we built the AN3 speaker system prototypes and may be one of the more interesting of the four. In this latest video, I give a quick demonstration of how the reference Arnie Nudell speaker's midrange and tweeter sound, then turn around and play the same on the AN3's tweeter and midrange. Even on my crappy little lapel microphone, the differences between the two are evident. With newer driver technology and the luxury of standing on the shoulders of a giant, Darren and I were able to build an even more coherent and musically rich system than the reference we started with. Improving on an existing standard is how modifiers and tweakers of equipment make forward strides in sound quality on existing designs. It is one thing to start from scratch and wander into the wilderness of the great unknown with a new design. It's a lot easier to have a great starting point to begin the quest, which is fortunately what we had to work with. (For those having attended RMAF last year you might have had a chance to hear Arnie's reference speakers). The AN3s are boxed up and probably halfway to Chicago by the time you're reading these words. If you're going to the Axpona show in Chicago, please do drop by the PS Audio room and give them a listen. Ted Smith will be available to speak with folks (he's always a treat) and engineer and loudspeaker designer Darren Myers will be in the room on Friday. On Saturday we'll do a live Ask Paul video. Yes, they are only a prototype, but I think they're polished enough for savvy listeners to get a measure of what they're all about. And one final note. The cosmetics of the speaker have a lot of work left. Their base is too big, the frames around the drivers are ugly, the rears are unfinished, there's no grille, and there will be cables and few boxes hanging off their rears. They are a prototype, after all, so cut them a little cosmetic slack if you can (though we'd love to get your feedback). PS Audio is showing in a fairly big room on the ground floor behind registration. Hope to see you there!