[Lak]

As I understand, for the last two years, Steve and Robert of Ridge Street Audio Designs have been working on and developing a loudspeaker project. They are now complete. I had the opportunity and pleasure to audition a pair of the Sason Ltd. loudspeakers in my dedicated music room for one week during the month of October 2004.

As per Steve and Robert, “Sason is from the Hebrew language and when expressed as a verb, it is the act of rejoicing expressed in dance. When one reaches the epitome of joy, his moment of ecstasy is referred to as sason, whose root is sas, which in Kabbalah is considered to be the sixth emotion of the heart.”
 
If you’re in the market for a unique new pair of high end loudspeakers that can give the best two-way, or even much more expensive three-way speaker designs (Sonus Faber, Silverline, Dynaudio, Nova Audio, and Proac, including the Kharma Ceramique 3.2 Reference Monitor Speakers, Merlin VSM, JM Labs Diva Be, Revel Ultima Studio, Epiphany 12-12, or Peak Consult InCognito Monitor) competition, you must listen to the Sason Ltd.

The Sason Ltd. Speakers sounded very dynamic regardless of whether I was driving them with my Legacy (by Coda) 200 watt SS amp class A/B, Forte 4A SS 50 watt class A amp, or my Cary SE 2A3 monoblocks (tube) 5 watts per channel class A.  

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the Sason Ltd. loudspeakers sounded extremely smooth, fast, neutral, and transparent, yet still convey the force, speed and robustness of a live performance. On several occasions I had to get out of my listening chair to make sure my subwoofer was not in use because of the tighter, cleaner, deeper sound, with more punch and bass slam. The modified QB3 bass alignment allows adjustment for room variations, thus I was able to adjust the bass tuning as per my room needs.  The mid range was natural and very musical with no signs of artificial harshness. The treble was extended and smooth.

Soundstaging and imaging was deep, wide and expansive. I noticed incredible detail and airiness, with no edginess or sharpness. It seemed as though the upright bass, guitar, piano, cymbals, etc., were palpably present and being played live in my own private listening room.

The only limiting factor I could detect would be the other components in your system. A mediocre or poor recording will continue to sound poor; however, good recordings played with good components sound fantastic!
   
The Sason Ltd. appears to be very well engineered and constructed. I found it gorgeous in appearance - a piece of eye candy.

Due to the weight of the Sason Ltd. (approximately 140 pounds/each) it is advisable to have assistance when transporting and positioning the speakers, however one strong individual could handle the job if need be.

In conclusion, I realize that audiophile componentry is system dependent, and what sounds good in one system doesn't always work well in another. In this case the Sason Ltd. speakers sounded excellent with my tube and solid-state systems. I highly recommend you give it a try if you're in the market for a new high-end speaker.
   
Below is the Features page from their manual of the Sason Ltd speaker. If you should have questions e-mail Ridge Street Audio Designs at ridgestreetaudio@comcast.net or the creator, Steve at: sasonbysteve@sbcglobal.net


Features Overview of the Sason Ltd Loudspeaker:

 Custom premium 6.5-inch Kevlar™ midwoofer sourced from Denmark with specially modified motor structure. Driver pairs matched to within .5 db.

 Custom premium1-inch coated silk dome tweeter sourced from Denmark. Proprietary motor structure and modified rear damping chamber. Driver pairs matched to within .5 db.

 Computer Aided Design cabinet. Genuine handcrafted granite. Wall thickness 1.25 inch and damped. (Each speaker weighs approx. 140 lbs).

 Modified QB3 alignment. Bass alignment: Forced laminar-flow vent and adjustable vent Q-factor for room acoustics, amplifier compatibility with ultimate user adjustability.

 Hardwired crossover to speaker drivers is “direct wired” using Ridge Street Audio Designs ExLGII™ silver optimized custom CordLess Cable™ technology wire harness.

 Pure Connect Direct™ speaker terminals. The ultimate signal transmission uninterrupted from speaker to amplifier cable. Virtually zero signal loss. Eliminates speaker binding posts and their accompanying signal degrading conduction between the crossovers to speaker cable interface.

 Proprietary resonance-free RothBoard™ front baffle; 4 inches thick and special rear cavity contour Computer Numerical Control milled along the rear of the midwoofer to eliminate “cavity resonance”. Isolated and damped tweeter chamber to eliminate acoustical vibration from the internal enclosure air movement.

 Isolated, concealed crossover chamber to eliminate microphonics in crossover components due to acoustical vibration from the internal enclosure air movement.

 Computer Aided Design transfer function in crossover. State of the Art componentry. Acoustically tuned by ear. Loudspeaker crossover pairs trimmed and matched to within .1 percent. Proprietary circuit treatment. Acoustical and symmetrical 3rd-order slopes for ultimate distortion-free musicality.

 Crossover circuitry components are “point to point direct wired”. Eliminates the typical circuit board and its losses for optimum signal transmission integrity between components.

 Custom air core crossover inductors utilizing “low-tension drawn” construction and 10-AWG high purity copper inductors. Proprietary inductor sealing minimizes dielectric interaction.

 Custom film-and-foil crossover capacitors. No metalized-film capacitors in the signal path. The ultimate in signal transfer for not only the tweeter network to tweeter driver interface but also for woofer damping. The ultimate for engaging musicality.

 State of the art resistive elements. Ultra low inductance for virtually zero ringing and ultra low TCR for linear stability. No sand-cast or typical wire-wound resistors.

 Bi-wire crossover architecture for ultimate undistorted signal transfer from source signal to the drivers.

 Premium deep gloss automotive level front face lacquer paint finishes. Proprietary clear coated for resonance control. Optional colors can be user specified.

 High mass polished brass cone points for mounting to stands and adjustable cabinet tilt-back angle to achieve exacting image control of musical soundstage.

 Profiled front face for eliminating typical box shape sound wave diffraction on the listening axis and off axis (room response).

 Optimized tilt-back shape front baffle for proper time alignment between ear, tweeter and midwoofer.

[Steve Rothermel]

Larry,

I appreciate the time and effort you put in to review the Sason Ltd. I also am glad to have met you and hope we can further share in this hobby. The real surprise for me was listening to what the little 5-watt Cary amplifier can do with the Sason Ltd. Very seductive and the bass has unexpected punch!

I really did not know what your conclusions would be and now I’m gratified to see my efforts are on target.

Thank you!

[JohnR]

Granite?!! Got any pics?

[jackman]

Hey, that's what I was going to ask!  Where are the pictures???

[Steve Rothermel]

Hello,

We held off with the pictures until the dedicated stands were completed (and they are) - this week should provide us with the opportunity! Until then, take a look at the Hiderfest pics (that weren't optimum): http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=13534&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

The stands are massive affairs (of course) beginning with a matching natural granite base plate, three pillars (8-inch and two 2 1/2-inch diameter) and a top plate aesthetically matched to the Sason. The pillars are fillable with your choice of sand or lead shot. Got a tip we discovered: try cat litter (I can hear the jokes starting already). Remember, between granite speakers and a granite base plate and the solid brass cones supplied, the issue becomes a matter of rigidity and strength and less about resonances. The feline box liner is low on dust and less messy than sand. It's lighter weight but we found it to be effective.

YOU decide whether to use the clumping type or non-clumping type.

[Steve Rothermel]

Hello, AC’ers!

We give you the Sason Ltd by Ridge Street Audio Designs images here.
For the Gallery go HERE









You decide if this is “eye candy”, as Lak has called it. This is one loudspeaker that can be positioned in the living room or great room and get praises and admiration, instead of reminders that a piece of equipment is invading precious space. The SAP (Spousal Approval Factor) is high.

Natural granite in a wide selection available, with five standard types to suite your taste, décor, and the loved ones sharing your home. Shown here is Black Galaxy granite with Dark Burgundy Pearl face in automotive level deep lacquer finish. Ridge Street can match colors to your preference.

As beautiful as Robert Schult and Steve Rothermel of Ridge Street think it is, the sound is the real story here. The granite cabinet and extremely low distortion drivers and crossover bring a level of transparency unheard by most music listeners.

It takes a unique support to compliment the Sason Ltd due to its high mass and to that end we offer a stand for the Sason Ltd. The stand base is granite to match the loudspeaker cabinet, but other options are available. As mentioned before, the three pillars can be filled.

[audiojerry]

The speakers and the stands look mighty impressive, and I'd love to hear them someday. Do you have a price yet?

Not being critical - just wondering: why did you opt to go with a substantial stand, which I'm sure is not cheap, instead of merely making the speaker a floor stander with a sand fillable cavity? Wouldn't it have been more economical? Knowing Ridge Street Audio, I don't think it was a purely aesthitics reason.

[Steve Rothermel]

Great question.

The Sasons make full use of the 1.25-inch thick granite. The enclosures are built such that removing a granite panel would leave an open box. At nearly 140lb each, you can imagine how much more granite (and how easy you'd get a hernia) it would take to make a floor-stander. We did look at a floor-stand architecture but realized it would be too cumbersome and unstable, due to the shear size. Two massive pieces are aesthetically more pleasing and easier to set up. You may think the total setup is tough to position but it is ridiculously easy because we include large (temporary) footers that make it a snap to slide across a floor. Carpet, wood, concrete - it doesn't matter.

[Robert C. Schult]

Hi Jerry.

As I write this, Steve is on his way back to Ohio from here but he'll give you the benefit of his thinking on this project and why we went with a stand mounted monitor vs. a floor stand version.

Jerry, you can hear these...I think. We'll be up your way the weekend of Jan. 22, '05. Did you know there is an audio society in your area? Probably a little north from you but it is the east side of WI. North East Wisconsin Audio Society is it's name. Website is http://NEWaudiosociety.com. Steve and I will be presenters at the Jan. 22 event. We'll be demo'ing the Sason Ltd's and our Poiema!! Signature offering.

If you can, you ought to make it to the gathering. Or, maybe we could work something out to pay you a visit?

[audiojerry]

Hi Jerry.

As I write this, Steve is on his way back to Ohio from here but he'll give you the benefit of his thinking on this project and why we went with a stand mounted monitor vs. a floor stand version.

Jerry, you can hear these...I think. We'll be up your way the weekend of Jan. 22, '05. Did you know there is an audio society in your area? Probably a little north from you but it is the east side of WI. North East Wisconsin Audio Society is it's name. Website is http://NEWaudiosociety.com ...

Thanks Robert and Steve,
I'm familiar with the new WAS, but I didn't know they started a (pretty impressive) website. I believe the organizer is located in the Green Bay area. I'd like to attend the Jan. 22nd event, thanks for letting me know, and I'll try to make it.

It's unfortunate it couldn't be held at Lokil's home in the Milwaukee area. He's a member of the WAS, and has an incredible listening room. It was purspose built for audio as an addition to his home. It's about 20 x 35 with adjustable bolts attached to studs and floor joists that allow you to loosen or tighten them to change the acoustic characteristics of the room. It would be a fantastic room to demo in. I could try to arrange for both of you to discuss if you like.