Hello AVA Industry Circle Followers, I am introducing myself as an aspiring high efficiency open baffle speaker builder. I am nearing the transition to retirement, I was able as a hobbyist a couple years ago to build open baffle speakers using Lii-Song 15 inch full range drivers and 15 inch woofers based on the Liionidas baffle design. You can easily find a lot of information regarding these drivers and open baffle designs online. I live in Minnesota not far from Woodbury, I have been looking at the opportunity for my next build to use Minnesota built components as much as I can. I have learned that Minnesota has a rich roster of home & pro audio company headquarters including AVA, Bel Canto Design, Danville Signal, Magnepan, Misco and others I have surely not discovered yet. I was struck by "Wayners" recent post about his career at AVA,
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=108681.msg1941690#msg1941690, as I too am at 30 years at 3M Company and have similar reflections on my career and "the many talented and dedicated 3M'rs helping make the products come to life. I sometimes can't believe that I was even a small part of it.....", well said Wayner. I was excited to learn that AVA has been operating in Minnesota for 50 years, in my backyard. For my next project, I am planning to build Perry Marshall's "Bitches Brew" open baffle speakers,
https://evo2.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bitches_Brew_Open_Baffle_Live_Edge_Speakers.pdf. I will plan to pair these with a pair of AVA NP1 Power Amplifiers which are Minnesota grown, highly reviewed by the Audiophiliac (CA1) and are appropriately powered for these high efficiency open baffle speakers. I look forward to this project!