I bought this used pair that was posted (mis-posted?) here, and having received them I wanted to comment on them.
This is a custom design , similar to the Grandeur but with the smaller Revelator woofer in a smaller cabinet. It also uses the RAAL 70-20 tweeter, which is a wide band design with a bandwidth to 1800 hz. Combined with the small Revelator woofer means that both drivers can operate well within their respective sweet spots, a very good place to be design wise.
These have a pretty big cabinet for the Scanspeak 15W/8530 5.5" woofer, being about 9x8x19 and .5 cu. ft. They are not mini-monitors in any way. The first owner of these applied 1/4-1/2" of modeling clay to all inside cabinet surfaces, so the cabinets are now very quiet and heavy- 35 lbs. ea.
I had been using SSRs in my 10x12' office for a year or two, their having bested at least a half dozen $2-4k well known standmounts in direct comparison. The 7" Revelator woofer is very smooth and musical, with excellent body and lack of ugly artifacts. The Fountek ribbon is detailed and smooth and overall the SSR is a very fine speaker.
However, my experience with the RAAL tweeter in the Tempesta piqued my interest in these, and I also find 5.5" mids often blend better in 2 ways.
Having had them for a few days I can say these are killer small room speakers, as good as any I've heard. In the nearfield (about 4', in my case) they offer nearly full range sound that has astonishing balance, clarity, focus, top end extension and air. Bass is very tight and balanced in this room to below 50 hz. In this specialized application they are the best I've heard (I've used over 100 models in my office), and in this room I prefer them to my Volent VL-2, which has too much bass for the room and a peakier top end that is a particular problem nearfield.
I also used them in my 12x16ft bedroom system. They also sound great in there, with ample tight, clear bass and great transparency. My VL-2s normally are in this system, and in this room it is a bit of a tossup, with the Selah being more neutral and monitor-like, and the Volent bass-ier, warmer, and more liquid. Clarity and definition are about the same, with the VL-2 having a small edge in the spatial rendering. In my hard-to-drive living room the little Selahs tend to get swallowed up, as do most standmounts there. The VL-2 is the only 2 way I've owned that has had an adequate lower range in that room, and the retail price of the VL-2 is about double the Selah.
The retail price of the drivers alone is over $1600, so this is not a cheap speaker. But- if you have a small room such as a bedroom, office, or need nearfield monitors in a small mixing or mastering room, AND are looking for sound with no major compromises, these are a real notable option at their very attractive price, which I think is ~$2300 new.
I'm VERY jazzed about these. I've finally gotten sound in my office that competes pretty well with my big rig in overall musical terms. My hat's off to Rick, again.
