A little background...
About a year ago, a customer from NYC called and asked us to design "the best bookshelf speaker possible." He wanted a small speaker but wanted the best sound quality possible. We spent a lot of time talking about the music he listened to and the various drivers we might want to employ. Our custom RAAL ribbon was chosen first. When looking for the right midwoofer, we looked at Seas and ScanSpeak drivers. In the end, we (the customer and I) thought that the ScanSpeak Illuminator would best fit his needs. Of course, it would not be all that high in sensitivity, but that was judged not to be an issue. Sound quality was the main concern.
We finished the project just before an audiophile club had a meeting at our shop. These little monitors happened to be playing when people began to arrive and the first three questions we got were the same..."what sub are you using with these." Of course, there was no sub. People were amazed at the sound quality and the bass extension.
We never added the speaker to our web site for one reason...expense. This customer went all out...bamboo construction, ebony veneer, boutique caps, expensive binding posts, etc. It came to over $4000 and I just didn't think there would be a market for bookshelf speakers at that price. (The production price will be a little lower, but not that much as these are expensive drivers.)
As more and more people heard these speakers, they kept telling me we had to put them on our site. We received the same recommendations at RMAF and the recent Audioholics GTG.
So it is time to generate a name and put the design on our web site.
Here are some pictures...
And a close-up...
The original customer suggested the names "Grand Salk Monitor (GSM)" and "Epiphany." But we'd like to open it up to your thoughts as well. If you have any ideas, let's hear them! We can't offer you a pair of speakers if your name is selected, but you will gain a level of satisfaction knowing your idea was a winner. And we can throw in a hat if you'd like.
- Jim
