Marbles -
I am certainly not trying to be coy about it, but there really isn't much I can tell you at this point. We have a set of design goals and some ideas on how to achieve them. But speaker design is all about balancing trade-offs and there are usually two or three different ways to approach each design goal.
If we are to develop a new flagship model, at a minimum I would like to see greater bass extension, higher sensitivity and even better imaging. But as I indicated in the interview, improving in these areas will be quite a challenge.
There are a few things I do know at this point. First, it would be a ribbon-based design as I don't see any reason to forgo the magic ribbons can provide. Second, I do know it will be expensive. My guess it that it will be at least double the cost of an HT3.
As for drivers, I would guess it will take us about a year to locate and test drivers that will allow us to meet our design goals. Once we find the drivers we are looking for, the rest will be relatively easy.
In terms of cabinet design, we need to take this to the next level as well. A more massive and heavy cabinet will be required, although this does not necessarily mean larger. Some of the things we will need to do will most likely preclude the use of MDF or baltic birch plywood. So there is a very high liklyhood that at least the upper portion of the cabinet will be cast from a high-tech, high-density material we are looking at.
Keep in mind that all of this is highly speculative. If we can't improve significantly on the HT3's, this potential new design will never see the light of day.
I wish I could tell shed more light on this project but, at this point, anything more detailed would be highly speculative. We'll just have to see how things sort out.
- Jim
