Roger Sanders is back

gentlemen:

i spoke to roger earlier this year and borrowed his amp for evaluation with my magnepan 1.6s. i sent it back and chatted with him regarding the design of electrostatic speakers.

he indicated that he might be working with the son of david beveridge to create a full range esl. you will need to speak to him about this project.

Just for an update Rick Beveridge has gone into an agreement with Palmetto Audio/Video in South Carolina and Florida to be the international marketing company for the new speakers. I will be heading the project and everything is being done exclusively by Beveridge in house. We have a room at the RMAF #437 and will introduce the new products starting with the model G3 with matching subwoofer. I spent a few days with Rick in June and I must say the speakers are going to be fantastic. Completely natural with perfect dispersion over a very wide 180 degree area.

Hmmm... Could be interesting. However, I try to stick with lower-priced products - do you think they will sell anything in the sub-5k level? Can't go over 5k... I could see them having a 7k and 15k+ model or something like that. Maybe I'll give them a call!

Sorry to say they are substantially more expensive. Every aspect of the building is done by Rick Beveridge. These speakers are very special as they are nothing akin to conventional electrostatics. The transducers are hand made from pouring the castings and applying all the conductive material. The cabinets also are completely produced by Rick . They require days to build and assemble. Once they are completed they are lined with a special material for rigidity. Rick prepares the diaphragms which are completely different from the constant charge type. Then he applies the finish in a number of hand done styles. It is truly a work of Art. Now he builds and finishes the very sophisticated lens system . Rick’s father spent a great deal of his life developing this totally unique lens. His time spent on work with radar systems and other electronics at Raytheon contributed to his ideas in wave propagation. . He was at one time in charge of the Ballistic Missile Defense System for the country. Very talented indeed. A single pair of the speakers and woofers can take up to a month for us to complete at this time . We are projecting only 20-25 pairs a year when we reach full production.
At this time we are building G3 and G4 with matching subwoofer. The price is $50,000 per pair delivered and set up in the US. It will include electronic crossover and some of the cables necessary to complete the installation. Next we will produce the G2 @ $75,000 and the G1 which will be a full range electrostatic – 2 db at 18 hz. They will approach 9 feet in height and will sell for between $150,000- $200,000 including direct drive OTL amplifiers. These prices may seem high but the time and effort that is required to complete these speaker systems leaves just a modest profit for the artist.
The company is located in Santa Barbara, California and will be showing at the Rocky Mountain Audiofest in Room 437. Joule-Electra and Reimyo will join us in completing the system.
Please look at the website http://beveridge-audio.com
There is a lot of good info but much has changed about the plans for the future. The model numbers are different and Rick has made numerous advances in the design but it's good reading just the same.

Yeah, that is some serious stuff. I was going to say can you make an analog - use as much of the technology as you can put into a 5k set of speakers, but reading through what Beveridge does and how you describe what is being done, it doesn't sound like anything is 'normal' or can be done cheaply so maybe there is no 5k version possible.

But Innersound somehow found a way to make the Isis! So... Something can be done!

There is a thread that Von Schweikert may not do their lower-end stuff (could be bad Rumor) - fwiw I really think these companies should keep doing this. And the Isis was eventually dropped. Makes us with what is actually a lot of money, but seems like a little compared to a lot of this stuff, feel like we can dip into the super-high-end a little bit.

Don't forget, the Boxster saved Porsche! :)...