Speakers looks OK, looks like a large vertical peachtree audio amplifier, not feeling the stand. Seems off some how.
Would like to see with grill off, I bet it look much better without the grill
Congratulations
Are the subwoofers servo controlled?
Maybe Paul make front fabric in multiple colors 
Wow. This design does not easily sit in one aesthetic. Is modern, retro,
mid-century, minimalistic, or? Maybe that will be the strength of the look,
that it can blend into a lot places. A grill color selection could help that as well.
The feat seem to pay homage to Herman Miller and you will want to play Chet
Baker with a martini. All-in-all a bold move. Certainly out of the box.
Agree with mid-century, 1957 to be precise, reminded me of the chair legs from this famous advertisement.
I like 1950s furniture, especially Italian, but there is a bit of a clash. (I had the pleasure of knowing the daughter of Gastone Rinaldi, the famous Italian chair designer, who made many iconic designs in the 1950s.)
4 Likes
First experience and gut reaction: Last night on seeing the photo for the first time, what struck me straightaway, why is this black loudspeaker standing inside a walnut newspaper/magazine rack.?
13 Likes
You may have been thinking of this iconic building in Manchester from the 1950s, known as the Toast Rack. The bit next to it is called the Fried Egg.
This line of thought led to the Trimphone, an absolutely classic piece of 1960s design.
This is a style of design I like a lot. I do like the legs on these speakers. Maybe they could be tapered like the Trimphone?
2 Likes
I actually like the look of the speakers. They are distinctly their own.
2 Likes
So far, no. Chris has designed an extraordinary woofer, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. I’ll let him explain the finer details (double Faraday rings, and all sorts of exotic tech). The bottom line is that it’s one of the lowest distortion drivers made. Under 1% without any servo correction.
So, we’ll see. When Arnie and I used servos it was to try and get the woofer distortion under 10%. The good news is that with the servo we could approach what Chris has already engineered without it. The downside to servos is a sonic “restraint” we hear to the slam of the music. If it were possible to have low distortion, high transient response, and uncompressed output without the servo then that would be a God send. So far, looks like that might happen. We won’t know until we get them here and start measuring and listening.
I only have a picture of the 8" midbass coupler, which shares these same low distortion qualities, so have a look at this gem.
No messing around. And this is just the midbass! There are two of these in the upper cabinet, opposing each other. Exciting stuff.
4 Likes
We (the design team) were inspired by chairs. You’re spot on. The idea was to set this apart from the traditional speakers that everyone is so used to. They all sit basically on the floor - they might be up on a small stand or foot - but basically not furniture. Big clumps taking up space in the living room.
The new AN3 look is different and exciting. I think the WAF is pretty high. One of the goals was to be able to run a Swiffer under the speaker. To get it up, off the floor, as furniture is. Much less intrusive.
Great to see the variety of reactions to this new design path. It’s not radical, but it’s also not the same as every other box.
5 Likes
Just my opinion but I think the legs look like something “temporary” or not meant to go with the rest of the speaker. Too much of a contrast for my liking, sorry.
5 Likes
What are the dimensions of this beauty?
What matters to me most is how it sounds but I liked the last iteration look a little better. I looked more like a speaker. Im not sure how this would look in my historic house from 1919. Its a little too modern for me. But it will all depend on the sound.
Wow…there’s sun and rain in my case (sun dominates).
I really like the frame design of the front as well as the grill design. I wouldn’t ever take this dark color, but I can imagine it looks gorgeous in a modern room with light colored maple frame and light or dark grill. Then it’s really a beauty (with different feet and blackened gold rings). Hidden bass drivers would be preferred.
Although I’m sure the clash of styles (speaker/golden rings/feet like Art Deco DIY) is intended and well thought, it’s an absolute no go for me. I’m with Steven here, the feet look like out of the 60’s living room he pictured and the whole modern frame design in combination with the golden chassis rings and feet just seem like a machine out of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film or an iron Sky sequel to me. Fortunately all of that would be easily removable and replacable in DIY by the customer it seems.
So for what it easily could be with some small modifications, I really like the design. I think the grill is needed as the drivers won’t look nice rom what I saw of the incarnations before, I prefer grills anyway.
I wil ask my wife later today what she thinks and I’m in tense expectation. So far she only liked planars (which I don’t have anymore 
).
Ikea Poang chair’s footstool, is what it said to me.
No judgement of whether that is a good or bad thing.
2 Likes
It does have a bit of a 60s look to it (the legs especially), but with some more modern touches. It has that 60s “clean lines” design look. Grills sort of remind me of KLHs. Question: Is the top parallel or angled up? It’s hard to tell from the photo. Aesthetically, the narrow fronts should work well in a lot of rooms. Nice job!
IKEA as an association says it all. No judgment required because a visceral reaction is a pre-judgment. It doesn’t say coherent, high end design. Hire a pro to do pro work.
1 Like