[BradJudy]

Bob Smith designed the first two, and the latter is from none other than Danny Richie (Mark Shifter and Daniel Richie).  I suspect they're manufactured at Mark's plant in China, which would explain how they're able to offer their wares at such reasonable prices.

Are you sure?  I've never heard of Mark and Danny working on a venture like this, or even hanging out in Arizona where Mark & Daniel Audio Labs is located. 

[Double Ugly]

Positive?  No, I have no first-hand knowledge.

That's what someone in the industry told me.  It's possible this person (persons? may have been more than one  ) was mistaken, but if they had doubts, it wasn't evident in their tone or choice of words.  Then again, we've all been sure of things that are later proven wrong.

Maybe Mark or Danny will chime in with the truth, whatever it may be.

-Jim

[Danny Richie]

I had spoken to the rep (Loren Charles) about the drivers and use of them many months ago. There is a possibility of allowing the use of the drivers, but there were some concerns that products might be offered using them at a lower price point than the current M&D designs. I was just interested in the tweeters.

Also Mike Garner (Tweek Geek) sent me a pair of the Rubies. I tested and measured them and that was about it. You guys can ask Mike about them. There was some discussion about designing some new networks for them but we decided against it. I did not listen to them either. After measuring them I was not interested in hearing them.

Neither I nor Mark Schifter had anything to do with their current speakers unless Mark built the boxes for them at Sound Art China, I have no idea. He builds boxes for a lot of companies, but I don't have any knowledge of him building these.

[Double Ugly]

I have no reason to believe Danny isn't telling the truth.  In fact, quite the contrary. 

In light of the above, I retract my earlier, clearly erroneous statement.  Not that it was derogatory, mind you... I wouldn't mind having a speaker company with such over-the-top reviews.  Still, truth is still truth, and I honestly endeavor to say only that which is absolutely truthful to the best of my knowledge.

I will carefully weigh whatever this person (or people) tells me from now on, assuming I can remember he/they are. 

-Jim

[Russell Dawkins]

I was revisiting this old 6moons review of the Mark & Daniels products when I came across this in the opening paragraphs:

"Mark & Daniel, founded in 2004, is a young company that set out to revisit the basic design of a 2-way bookshelf monitor. Cofounders Mark Wong and Daniel Lee first set up their drawing board in Tucson, Arizona. Later, they extended R&D operations and labor-intensive manufacturing to Shanghai, China. Mark, a retired American Chinese businessman, is a respectable Zen guru in the spiritual field. He believes that the pursuit of purity in music reproduction coincides with the goal of his soul life. Daniel, originally from Taiwan, was a long-haul telecommunication systems designer/project manager and serious audiophile for many years before becoming the second principal in Mark & Daniel."

Here is a link to the review:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/markdaniel/maximus.html

It would seem the design work on the woofer is seriously respectable. The combination of 6.5 inch size, extreme excursion capability, very good RMS power handling and usable efficiency is impressive.

[cryotweaks]

Hi everyone,

Just to clear the air, neither Mark Schifter nor Danny Richie have anything to do with the Mark and Daniel line.

Regarding subs, you will have a hard time finding one that can keep up with the bass drivers. Once you get up to the Aragorn line, no sub should be necessary.  I just received the Aragorns last week, and have been breaking them in.  Its quite an interesting design, with a "trap door" on the bottom of the speaker that once removed, it couples to the Aragorn "bass extender" stand to lower it's f3 to 28 hz.  I do not have the stand yet, but I could swear I am getting in the lower 30 hz "in room" response.  They are much like the SP Tech (which is one reason I chose the line) in that they have a single driver that is crossed low and covers most of the audio band.  Instead of a waveguide, M&D went with a modified Heil Air Motion Transformer.  It is a type of ribbon, folded like an accordion, where the element contracts and expands to "squeeze" (for lack of a better word) the sound out from between the elements folds.  The HF driver of the Aragorn has 60 times the surface area of a 1" dome tweeter, meaning not much movement is needed to generate serious sound pressure levels. 

The bass driver is quite special too.  Remaining linear at high excursion levels.  Playing extraordinarily deep bass for their size. They traded some efficiency in order to maintain the LF performance even at low volumes.  SP tech did the same.

What is different about the Mark & Daniels is they squeeze this performance out of a much smaller speaker.  So for my customers who don't have the physical space, the M&D is a great way to get big sound out of a smaller speaker. I would put the pair of 8" M&D bass drivers in the Aragorn up against a decent 12" sub for bass extension.  It may not reach the triple digit spl of the sub, but it will go as low in my opinion.

I am more than likely going to have a series of mods available for the Maximus, and Aragorn speakers.  Such as upgraded crossovers, Bybees, and  Speaker correction algorithms for Perpetual Technologies P-1A SOCS (my day job).

I am wating for the new Sapphire to come out, and will probably carry that in Lieu of the Ruby.