Thanks for the continued interest. We are continuing to work refining some of these cosmetic elements of the speaker (also in the context of future products and the look of the entire line) but don’t have anything to share, at this time.
Speakers are challenging because they represent a large piece of furniture in a person’s home and so we want to do the very best cosmetically as well.
All tastes are different for sure, but if I could afford AN3’s…ain’t no way I’d put grills over that front…
Luckily most grills are removable, I think AN3 would look good with and without. What ever impact it may have on the sound, no grills no approval from the families CFO. So if grills are what it takes to get the budget approved and more important a happy couple to listen, so be it.
I always wondered about side firing subs. I understand that the lows will diffract but if the side walls are too close etc it might be a problem. I’m old enough to remember JBLs with 15 inch woofers and they looked impressive. Always left the grills off (no cats or kids)
i wonder if side firing subs also means More Need of room correction…as compared to straight firing subs
I have side firing subs (Anthony Gallo Acoustics Reference 3.1’s). IME, setting up the speakers for proper sound staging and direction of the mid to high frequencies is the key. Since my speakers are mirrored pairs (the side-firing “woofers” are on different sides of each speaker), I have some flexibility with the set up. My sense is that if you were to place the speakers such that the woofers were facing each other and very close together or such that they were facing away from each other, but too close to the side walls, then you would have some reinforcement and/or cancellation issues that would be “less then ideal.” I prefer to have the speakers oriented with the woofers pointed in opposite directions, by the way. I have never had forward firing low frequency transducers in a “full range” speaker or separate subwoofers though. I run my set up as a 2.1 system with a down-firing subwoofer via an Anthem AVM 50v 2 Pre-Pro.
FWIW.
PS
No matter how I have experimented with speaker placement and room treatment/furnishings, the mid-range and low frequency clarity is always better when I have ARC (Anthem Room Correction) engaged with/through the Pre-Pro.
Looking forward to your Line Array plans shared. After you are spoiled by your first pair nothing else will do. Love their dynamics and wide sweet spots. Plus the incredible detail. Due to the cost and low wife acceptance factor they are not as popular as one would think. I have three pair Designed by Roger Russell and not willing to give them up until I find something better.
Are you looking at multiple lines of drivers in a signal cabinet or separate towers. I found Gaia Titan isolators are key if all drivers are in one cabinet. Really opens the mids and highs up if sharing cabinet with woofers.
Hi Ken,
This is a common misconception. Keep in mind that the wavelengths that we are talking about are greater than 10’ long and there is no diffraction on a ~10" wide speaker or directivity. The waves don’t freely propagate in the room and are instead supported through the room modes and behave somewhat differently than you are imagining. Also, to Iron’s point, no, there is no difference in the room modes of side firing vs. front firing etc.
One of the nice things in hanging a truly full range speaker is that, with multiple LF sources in the room, modal distribution and overall smoothness over an area is generally better and all of this is a good thing.
I wouldn’t recommend mounting any speaker really, really close to a side wall, because of early reflections and comb filtering issues in the midrange and high frequencies, and this speaker will pose no more placement issues than if we were to front fire the driver.
Yes, I think that done well, there are some really amazing qualities to line arrays or CBT type speakers that solve a number of problems in small room / home listening environments.
I tend to have a number of different views than Roger Russel though. He essentially doesn’t believe in the negative effects of comb filtering, which is think is a confirmational bias of sorts.
Minimizing combing is one of the main reason that I like planars for arrays (they couple very well and have high active area with minimal gaps between drivers). Like anything, it’s the exact execution that matters and people that dislike arrays may have experienced one that may not be representative of what a given technology or configuration is capable of.
Chris, the passion with which you work on the speakers is truly inspiring. Thanks for all the useful information you provide on the forum.
Hi Rodolf,
Thanks for the kind words. This is a dream gig for me and I’m very excited to do whatever I can to achieve the best result possible and am being given a lot of the tools and time to succeed.
I look forward to participating more on the forum and doing some DIY focused youtube videos to engage with the hobbyist / enthusiast crowd on here and talk through some technical concepts and lucidly as I can.
Not to throw a monkey wrench into anything here, but I was curious if any planning or design work is being done for a Stellar series speaker and the Sprout speaker? I know the AN3 is taking 99% of the time and effort, but it would be interesting to know if the line is being developed further.
Stonefree…to do what I please…
Stuff is getting done. Stellar Sub -AN3 speaker prolly eventually…y’know, sorta wait for the Actual AN3, and then the Critical Reaction to That…Sprout Speaker, as much as some would Assume or Wish It, don’t hold your breath.
My 2 cents at this point.
THAT sir would be highly welcome 
Hey Chris, I have been following the progress of the AN3 pretty closely. One design aspect that has never been mentioned, or I missed it, is the construction of the enclosure. It seems that many speaker companies have complicated enclosures. Aluminum, wood, composite, internal bracing, isolation for separate drivers, etc. It seems that the AN3 cabinet started with the black monolith and has pretty stayed this way through its various prototypes. At least, what is the composition of the enclosure. Thanks.
Well, it looks like I’ll be doing some youtube videos and writing for our Copper Magazine here to discuss general topics regarding loudspeakers. A good potential topic is loudspeaker enclosure construction and material considerations, so I’ll try to get that in the queue.
We are using MDF (for the main panels and bracing), hardwood, aluminum, plastic, brass and some TPU for various parts and pieces of speaker enclosures.
Certainly enclosure design and construction play a significant role in sound quality (or rather the resulting resonance and damping characteristics) but there are different schools of thought and research on this which would be fun to discuss a bit, as well as sharing some of my personal philosophies.
@Chris_Brunhaver would love it if you would also discuss crossovers (the passive variety). Things like x-over points in the 100Hz-3000Hz and what if any (when done properly) effects there are in this range since it’s the fundamental human voice range. Pluses and minuses to Zobel networks, various slopes, frequency of x-over based on various driver characteristics, etc.
Also, what do you look for in a driver? What characteristics are important to you?
I have a lot of speaker related questions. Because speakers are cool, that’s why lol.
Hello Chris, can you share and info on the development of the AN2? (And maybe any prototype picture?)
Thank you in advance
Why Not Build In The Option To Drive The Upper Frequencies Actively?.
I have 3-way active speakers (I internally modified the wiring to bypass the crossovers). It would be nice to have an option to bypass the mid and treble crossovers (assuming of course that the drivers represent a normal resistive load). I use PS Audio dacs and amps so have lots of PS Audio equipment.
I was under the impression, all of the PSA speakers would have passive mids and tweeters. (driven by your own external amp). Never heard any mention of making them completely active.