Gosh, I'm surprised anyone knows anything about it, because I really haven't put out much press on it at all. So thanks for your interest.
Yes, it is the new 2.5-way TMM floor stander. Conceived in February, and just now coming to fruition. I have not had time to post the usual info at my web site (specs, response graphs, etc.). No pictures yet, as Jim just put the finishing touches on it the same morning that he hit the road! The cabinet is already in Revision C. If I have time, I can post a 3d cutaway of the cabinet.
Interesting you should ask what prompted me to design it. The secret code name for the project was "My last hurrah", because I felt that this would be my last attempt to do something special before calling it quits. But I became quite passionate about it after all, because it encompasses so much of what I have learned over the years. In fact, it was the Audio Technology TMM 2.5-way that is the real inspiritation for this project. That speaker sounded so good to me that I wanted to see how far "trickle-down" technology would go.
Series 2 has always offered the best performance per price in my lineup, and that has always been the goal for 2-series speakers, even though the woofer has changed 3 times. Series 2 TMM now has the 4th woofer, but what is nice about the ER18 is that SEAS finally put some copper in the motor of their "budget" woofer.
The T25-1 Excel tweeter has been so overlooked by many, for reasons I can't imagine. But since it is discontinued, I will try a replacement tweeter after the show. I am very confident of the 2.5-way network for the dual woofers, though. Even though MTM's excel in dynamics, I have concluded that the 2.5-way alignment is the best overall choice of trade-offs. You get the better room-coupling drive in the Power Region from dual 7" woofers, but this gradually transitions to an MT monitor with essentially 2 point sources (instead of 3). That leads to a deeper more spacious sound stage in the upper range. The +3dB sensitivity remains that of the MTM.
I have also settled on drones as superior to vented designs. There are several advantages from them. So this speaker has dual 7" drones on the cabinet back. Bass alignment is EBS. The slightly sagging response in the mid bass nicely matches the room gain curve of the typical size listening room, as well as shifts the tune frequency (and final corner) down to 36Hz. This adversely low tuning means the speaker creates a little more deep bass, shifts group delay further down, and handles more power to play a little louder. The cone excursion is reduced to clean up the midrange. The speaker can be placed closer to the wall or brought out into the room. There is no low crossover as with a 3-way, so the mid and upper bass sounds quite "toe tapping". I could go on... As I said, there a lot of learned lessons all in the same speaker, even though the styling is a bit pedestrian.
I can't wait to hear how they perform in the small hotel room, and I expect a few grins from visitors on the bass performance.
(BTW I did not intend to post so much on this, and have not recruited any shills to spark this thread. But the timing is 11th hour and I hope that the info provided is taken in the spirit that it is intended.)
One last thing ... The Imperium Acoustics Nicole (=Audio Technology TMM) project was put on hold, but I am trying to fan the embers, as this is too good a speaker to let fade away. The design is solid and received incredible reviews at CES 2007. It is simply production issues that are holding it back.)
