Notable very small loudspeaker companies (other than Tekton!)

“Living Voice OBX RW speakers have a simply magical sound that slowly and insidiously places you into a musical spell.”

Wow that is most definitely quite a description.

Kenny.

Bache Audio has to be on this list.  I am a long term (10+ years) Merlin owner who just replaced my VSM's (VSM-mme with custom Master Bam and Master RC's) with a pair of Bache Audio Metro 001's.  I can say without hesitation that the Bache Metro 001's are superior to the Merlins.  The Metro 001's have more accurate and natural timbre and tonality, and are the Merlin's equal in imaging and soundstaging.  The 001's provide more bass depth and heft, the highs are sweeter, and overall they are more forgiving and sound better with a broader range of recordings than the Merlins.  My VSM's sounded great with great recordings, but as several reviewers noted over the years, they are "ruthlessly revealing".  I found that I was listening to less of my music collection with the VSM's because they seemed to highlight the flaws in less than stellar recordings, and were slightly bright overall.  The VSM's are likely a touch more resolving, particularly in the highs, but nothing is missing when I listen to the Bache speakers, and I listen longer without fatigue and enjoy my listening more with the Metro 001's. 

Greg Belman of Bache Audio was great to deal with.  I was able to talk with him about the design of the Metro 001's before he built them, and ended up ordering the optional cabinet (3/4" thick bamboo instead of mdf), and the higher end Audyn True Copper Max crossover capacitors that he uses in his top of the line model.  I picked up the speakers in person at his shop in Brooklyn, and was able to listen to them before boxing them and putting them in the car. 

Highly recommended. 

Excellent,so nice to have some user feedback on these very interesting designs.I like the ability to customize to your liking and the overall personal service you received.
I would definitely say this new small company has a promising future for sure.

Enjoy those new speakers,
Kenny.

@cellcbern Congrats on your new speakers! The Bache designs look interesting and glad to hear they are easy to work with. Happy listening!

Does Kenrick sound in Japan as "re-builders" of classical
JBL speakers using JBL drivers in many cases re-magnitized and new crossover designs qualify?