I have conversations just like this all the time on the phone, so good to answer here on the website that other may read in the future.
The Aurora and Arcus are both speakers with very specific target goals, and required unusual solutions to meet those goals.
The Arcus - was conceived as a high sensitivity 2-way monitor with excellent detail and resolving capability, balanced top to bottom, and near unlimited dynamics. This would fill a few gaps in the market - the vast majority of high sensitivity stuff available suffers from uneven frequency response issues which makes them very fussy, and only usable with good recordings. The Arcus can handle anything with aplomb because of it's balance, and still manages to take you deeper into the recording with much more sweetness on top than single driver setups. And second - the Arcus is also a speaker that can peel paint off the wall. Seriously, of all our speaker the Arcus has more output capability than any. It's tonality never changes depending on volume, and it never shows even the slightest hint of strain. This of course makes it fantastic in a combo Home Theater/2-channel setup. And it does all of this in a reasonable cabinet size that's stylish and built to withstand a 1 megaton blast.
The Aurora - target with it was to create a 2-way monitor that gives very close to full-range performance and excellent dynamics. The Aurora cabinet and stand were also to be very stylish, and design a shape that hides it's size. The Aurora cabinet actually has more volume than the Arcus (almost 1.5cu/ft) although it doesn't look like it. The curves camouflage it's size very well, just as they do with the Nimbus. The biggest issue with the Aurora was finding a dome tweeter we could live with, most are just plan lifeless and boring after becoming accustomed to our RAAL implementations. It took over a year of testing numerous high end dome tweeters before we came across the ceramic dome tweeter we're using now. It comes from a company much like us, small batch and made by hand, overbuilt to the n'th degree. And then we had to have some custom waveguide profiles made, and did so using rapid prototyping to find one that worked best with the tweeter chosen. End result with the Aurora is a speaker that has authority and impact on bottom, excellent midrange transparency, and plenty of sweetness on top. It's a very balanced speaker that presents itself with authority and class. It also has a very wide sweet spot and is somewhat more forgiving of bad rooms.
With both the waveguides were only chosen to meet our target goals, which necessitated low crossover point in order to blend with larger woofers. The waveguides were NOT chosen because we're controlled directivity zealots, in fact our RAAL designs have incredibly even power response, so there's no need to incorporate controlled directivity. The waveguides just allow lower crossover points with less distortion, those are the benefits and very real ones. Waveguides however also introduce energy storage, which we've tried to minimize as much as possible.
The question I get all the time is how does the Aurora compare to the Stiff Breeze? Well, they are very competitive brothers. The Aurora is better looking and comes with stands, it's also a bespoke design and fully customizable at no extra cost because it's made by hand to order already. The Stiff Breeze comes in a pre-manufactured cabinet that we modify to bring up to our stands, extensive internal mods and addition of our time-aligned and much stronger baffle. Because the SB comes in pre-made cabinets, there are only 3 finish options - and if you want custom finish it adds significant cost. In terms of performance they both have their strong points, the Aurora has authority and weight on bottom and the SB has deeper resolving capability. The SB is easier to place in a room, but the Aurora once placed properly throws a very wide sweet spot. They're both of similar sensitivity and both can be driven with as little as 25 watts.
Like everything in our lineup, the SB and Aurora sound more alike than different. Everything we do sounds similar because it's all voiced by one set of human ears - mine. So with every design it's my ears that decide when they're 'right'. But of course they have different capabilities and different form factor.
Also wanted to say that the Arcus is the most fun speaker in our lineup, those just flat out kick butt! They never falter, and rip through any music you throw at them ... at any volume. They can do delicate audiophile recording, or they can do face peeling metal! They're just a lot of fun
