Guilty as charged!
Yes, that is exactly what it means, though “bookshelf” might be a little misleading since it would be a big bookshelf. I would prefer the term “stand mounted” instead.
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The term prototype is misleading. It literally means “first attempt” and many times has no resemblance to the final product.
We make a lot of prototypes for the auto industry. Many (most) times the first hard prototype is a dismal failure for many reasons but you need it done so you can touch, feel, test, etc.
You would think that in this day and age with all of the computers, designers, engineers, artists, etc. that the product would be ready to sell in the first hard prototype stage but that seldom happens as in this case. Props to PSA for even letting the early cat out of the bag and allowing themselves to be raked over the coals. I’m sure the production version will be worth the money.
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The AN series is based on Arnie’s thoughts and designs from the beginning: the servo woofer system, the use of ribbons, variable amplified midbass couplers, in particular. Chris is kind of like Bascom in that that if you had looked up BHK you’d not find a single
design credited to his name. Yet, BHK is one of the quiet people that work behind the scenes which is very much like Chris. He spent many years at Bohlender Graebener (mostly driver design), his father owned and founded Spearkerlab, which many DIY people might
recognize. Anyway, this has nothing to do with pedigree.
And, Steven, we can argue all day about my statement (which I stand by) that the vast majority of loudspeaker manufacturers buy off the shelf drivers (even if they’re dressed up as something different). 
It happens to be true.
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There is a difference between “everybody else” and “the vast majority”. I would have thought the majority of manufacturers do buy off-the-shelf, but that the majority of speakers sold have proprietary drivers. I’m wondering if Infinity manufactured their own drivers? Piega manufacture their own ribbon midrange drivers, which probably accounts for part of the very considerable price. I’ve not followed this thread for a while, but assume it is still a ribbon midrange driver.
Good enuf for me Paul. I do understand the frustration some feel about the length of time for this speaker line, but I also get it’s a new direction for PSA. Plus Octavia… a lot going on there. (And I do remember, quite fondly, Speakerlab. Great stuff)
Just get the dang Sprout speakers out (yes, I’m fixated on those…)
We will, promise. Sprout speakers are pretty high on my list. This week everything stops as Chris is driving a uHaul with all his worldly possessions from Seattle to Boulder. Exciting stuff.
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Indeed, still a ribbon (planar style). I guess part of the distinction is how one defines off-the-sehlf and that’s probably too sweeping of a statement for me to make. Infinity, for example, bought off-the-shelf tweeters from Tonagen of Japan (the EMIT) but
made so many of them for Infinity they gave them an exclusive. Other examples of which I am aware (but not at liberty to talk about to keep things gentlemanly) are taking off-the-shelfs and adding cosmetic changes to brand them. I have nothing against this
at all. Hell, that’s what we did until Chris came along. There are extraordinary drivers available on the market like those from SEAS and Dynaudio for example. Beautiful drivers from all over the world.
My only point in the custom nature of our approach is that we can tune the driver to exactly what fits our needs by starting from scratch. There’s no new technology, just good applications to specific problems that give us a performance edge over
what we might have had.
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I appreciate that the likes of SEAS make bespoke drivers, I think they even do some tweeters for Harbeth. The venerable LS3/5a used KEF drivers, but have been vastly improved on by licensees over the last 40 years. I also appreciate that the AN series is based around the servo approach (which I understand as real time feedback), planar midrange and line stage, so configuration rather than drivers being the USP. I simply contrast that my experience is that USP is more often proprietary drivers. I read all these good things about Dutch & Dutch and then see they use aluminium drivers, which have a reputation for brightness and I would avoid like the plague. It’s a funny old world.
Steven - you’ll be happy to know Paul briefly heard your old Harbys the other day - didn’t really have time to sit and listen, as there was work going on. We make a convert of him yet ; )
IMO one of the most important rules for a speaker design is, to make the speaker disappear within the music and not show that a certain technology (like a diamond tweeter or a servo bass) produces silky or refined highs or punchy or highly controlled bass.
Not rarely this led to speakers that delivered too much or too specifically shaped highs or bass that dominated (even if theoretically in a positive way) the natural sound of music.
One often hears this in demos when manufacturers want to show specific technical strengths of their products.
But Paul’s a bass junkie and Harbeth don’t do slam! They’re not old either, a current model. They keep me happy and I use them with a digital version of servo bass.
I mean “your former” Harbys that I bought from you, not that they’re old. And I have (2) 12" JL Audio f112’s.
Paul is also generally a linesource guy as well, so…its a long row to hoe ; )
They’re on top of the subs for the moment (sacriledge, I know…but I’m moving them to a larger place Monday.
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Yeah, I could see where it would be hard to move from linesource to point source (if that’s the right term…), as I believe in linesource as well…it’s just hard, if not impossible to do linesource in a reasonably affordable speaker. Maggies are as close as I can get.
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Bet that Eddie Cochran LP is a good one!
Classic. As with many American Greats, I got into them by being a British Invasion Fan🤷🏻♂️
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It is ironic how that generation of Brits opened up our ears to music in our own backyard. Sorry for the detour.
I can veer slightly back on topic by saying that Darren was over here and we were spinning the Who, and I played the Eddie Cochran for him. He looked at me and said something like, “That’s the Who…!” meaning he could hear that they were clearly influenced by him, just as the Stones were by Muddy Waters, et al.
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Currently digging Darren’s prized copy of Doc Watson, soon to be featured in promo video for the Pre.
Guess I should post this in the proper place : )
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Mark’s Harbeths sounded great! Loved my time with them, brief as it was.