[Rick Craig]

Carbon fibre and  Rohacell composite cone woofer + ribbon tweeter = exceptional!

[elessar]

Sounds awesome. I have some questions

Do you have approx dimensions of cabinets?
Are they going to be sealed or ported?
Lastly any idea of pricing? 

Thanks!

[maxboy00]

Yet another great design, look forward  to seeing  this in final form!

[Rick Craig]

Sounds awesome. I have some questions

Do you have approx dimensions of cabinets?
Are they going to be sealed or ported?
Lastly any idea of pricing? 

Thanks!

Both ported and sealed options with the ported cabinet 20" x 8" x 14" (sealed dimensions to be determined later). Pricing will fall in the $1,400 to $2,000 / pair range depending on the cabinet size and finish (includes shipping to the CUSA).

[Rick Craig]

Crossover parts are on the way and I have re-purposed a set of oak veneer cabinets for the design work. Once I'm finished with that I'll be offering the pair for a very nice price. 

[elessar]

Crossover parts are on the way and I have re-purposed a set of oak veneer cabinets for the design work. Once I'm finished with that I'll be offering the pair for a very nice price. 

I am interested already.  keep us posted

[Rick Craig]

Initial listening today. Can you say TONE? 

[JapanJim]

I'm curious now on what size drivers you are using and where this speaker will set itself apart from within your speaker lineup?

[Rick Craig]

I'm curious now on what size drivers you are using and where this speaker will set itself apart from within your speaker lineup?

This is a 6.5" woofer. For this particular design it's really about value, creating something that competes with much more expensive speakers.

[elessar]

This is a 6.5" woofer. For this particular design it's really about value, creating something that competes with much more expensive speakers.

(I am asking this in the most respectful way to your competitors)
Can elaborate, what speakers is the the new 2- way supposed to compete with?

Also does this speaker use RAAL 64-10 ribbon or something else?

[Rick Craig]

(I am asking this in the most respectful way to your competitors)
Can elaborate, what speakers is the the new 2- way supposed to compete with?

Also does this speaker use RAAL 64-10 ribbon or something else?

I'm thinking in terms of not a specific speaker but I've seen 2-way designs in the $3K-$10K range that fall short  - response linearity, driver integration, etc.

The RAAL 64-10 isn't the tweeter and it wouldn't be a good match for this woofer. I've heard the 64-10 in another speaker but am not using it in any of my designs. I'm not sure if it was the implementation or something else but I didn't find the 64-10 to sound as neutral as the 70-10D.

[Rick Craig]

Here's the on-axis and off-axis (30 degrees horizontal) response curves. These were taken with 1/12 octave smoothing.

[Rick Craig]

Here's a comparison of the 1/12 octave smoothing I use versus the 1/3 octave that many manufacturers favor for marketing reasons. The dip at 180hz is from the floor bounce reflection. Room effects start to take hold below that frequency so a nearfield curve (as seen below) is more useful.

[Rick Craig]

Here's why a nearfield measurement works so well below 200hz. Compare this curve to the preceding in-room curves. Here the microphone is only 1" from the woofer's cone so you get a much higher signal-to-noise ratio without the room and baffle effects. This is a sealed box design so the -3dB point is 55hz and -10dB @35hz.

[JapanJim]

Here's the on-axis and off-axis (30 degrees horizontal) response curves. These were taken with 1/12 octave smoothing.

Very impressive!  This is going to be one great speaker at an incredible price!  What will the low end be for a ported version?

[Rick Craig]

Very impressive!  This is going to be one great speaker at an incredible price!  What will the low end be for a ported version?

It depends on the cabinet size and tuning but should be in the 40-45hz range.

[Rick Craig]

Now the vertical response curves. A +/- 10 degree window is the ideal listening axis.

[Rick Craig]

Pricing for the Tono ported version will be $1,575 /pair in the standard red cherry and gloss black finishes (includes shipping to the CUSA). The sealed prototype is reduced to $1,100 /pair as we were able to re-purpose some older oak veneer cabinets for testing.

[elessar]

the graphs look great! Is the port in the front or back ?   What are the recommendations for the placement (wrt back walls).

Also while Verita is at a higher price point, how would you compare/contrast Tono and Verita?

Thanks!

[Rick Craig]

the graphs look great! Is the port in the front or back ?   What are the recommendations for the placement (wrt back walls).

Also while Verita is at a higher price point, how would you compare/contrast Tono and Verita?

Thanks!

The 20-200hz graph above is for the sealed test box and the ported version will go lower (typically a front port but we can mount it on the rear if requested). Placement is flexible as I can modify the crossover as needed.

I've not compared them side-by-side but I'm fairly certain the Tono would hold its' own with the Verita except for situations where the listener wants to use really high playback levels. In that rare situation the Verita's woofer can produce longer excursions. The Tono ribbon is actually more linear than the RAAL 70-20XR and overall the Tono measures better because of that.