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. |
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 . Ricks 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! :)... |
It would be something for the future if this product can be produced by conventional means. It is really not likely due to the intensity of the design. As with a fine piece of art a reproduction always lacks the true heart and soul. This is the case if this product was not hands on by the artist. Please make a point to read all the info that will be flowing on the roll out of the speakers . You will get a much better undertanding of why they are so special. Here is a blurb from Audio Asylum from someone who just happened to hear a pair and their comments. Some interesting reading. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORTH EVERY PENNY! Here's my review: 64.12.96.10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Thread: Display Email ] [ Planar Speaker Asylum ] [ FAQ ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by bartc ( A ) on July 06, 2003 at 18:39:26 In Reply to: Re: Correction: approximately $45,000 posted by [email protected] on July 06, 2003 at 17:59:43: I was in the shop with Leisure7, who brought me in to show me these extraordinary speakers and these extraordinary men who make them. You have no idea what these sound like, but here's my best shot: Rick Beveridge is one of 3 surviving sons of the originator, learned to craft these things by hand from his dad, and recently took up reviving them after rebuilding some vintage ones for prime customers. Well let me tell you, now I understand why someone would spend $45,000 on a pair of speakers, because these are beyond belief. (This is by way of apology to Stereophile, BTW.) Some background: They're planar speakers built into georgeous wood custom crafted cabinets about 7' tall, 2' wide and 1.5 feet deep. Each comes with a tube amp driving them directly built into their bases and an accompanying major sized subwoofer. The ones I heard were updated Model 2s, the best of the 6 models they ever made. These sit in the homes of top musical entertainers, because they appeal to people who want to hear music exactly as they make it in real life and for whom price and specs are irrelevant. Well, they are in this case. The key to the speakers is a takeoff on 60 year old radar technology that disperses sound waves throughout a space via multiple verticle wave guides. So here's the review and the real deal. They were driven by a Thiel CDP and somebody's preamp but no main amp since they have their own built in. Ok, first thing we fire up with was Billie Holiday recorded in 1957. I nearly dropped my teeth! Absolute realism on all frequencies, all instruments, all voices male, female and entire choruses! And this at NORMAL listening levels. So the quality of the sound was as lifelike as possible and I'm not exaggerating. We tried this out on all genres of music and even a test CD with rainstorm and rainstick sounds (ever hear a rainstick reproduced correctly?). Everything was as good as it gets. AND THIS IS NOT THE REAL KICKER.... The real deal is that the 3D soundstage imaging is perfect FROM EVERYWHERE IN THE ROOM, BAR NONE. This was in a 25' high 50'x50' or so room inside an old wine warehouse. About the least likely listening environment possible. From 2" back from the front grill forward from any side and any position throughout the entire room, the image was crisp, absolutely rock stable and totally convincing. Yes, there were sweet spots in the room: a plane at any height running front to back perpendicular to the middle of the speaker plane outward. At that plane the image was shockingly holographic! Jawdropping realism, period, and I cannot explain to you just how astounded I was. At that moment I would have dropped $45K in a heatbeat if I had it. OK, so this is already super impressive (or I was hallucinating). We listened totally for 2 hours. Halfway through I asked Leisure7 if I was really hearing what I thought I was hearing or if he had slipped me something in the winery we had come from earlier. He just giggled. Now if I haven't buit this up enough here comes the real shocking truth. We stepped backwards into a side hallway. Rick told me to keep both speaker grills in view until the last spot at which I could see both. At about 60' away off to one side down a hallway the sound was still crystal clear, engaging and the 3D imaging was still working as strong! Then he had me walk back through a doorway into a really cavernous warehouse room where I could only see one speaker. The 3D image was gone but the clarity was just as strong at 75' away! Then he had me walk outside to the open warehouse doorway where I could only see a corner of one speaker. At over 100' away the sound was still crystal clear and listenable and the volume was still at normal living room listening levels - not altered at all! No 3D anymore, but hell, what speakers do you know that can do anything like any of this? leisure7 is telling the truth that he isn't financially tied to the Beveridges. They don't need anything but a listen for you to be convinced anyway. Leisure7 is trying to help them get the word out about the quality of their product, so that they can build their business. I want to add my enthusiastic support as well (still wish I had the $45K to add to the pot!), because these are a couple of men working hard to make dream equipment - their father's dream. They have done a superb job and the audio world will be very much worse off if the Beveridge brothers don't get the shot at spreading their good work around. |
Hi guys, As anyone that has ever dealt with Roger, you know that he firmly holds to the belief that great audio equipment should be available and accessible to all audiophiles. This conviction was not consistent with Rick Beveridges aspirational goals. Of course, as you would also know, Roger wishes Ricks new endeavor to be a successful one for him. Roger has been busy with his new amplifier designs and is doing very well with sales world-wide. He is currently working on a new amplifier design break through that he hopes to release soon! Shout out to everyone and hope you are all swell! Cheers, Angela |
I'd say your memory is quite good to remember that at all! You know, they say that memory is the SECOND thing to go, so you should be in good shape, dude. FYI - I left HP when I moved to CO back in 2003. NOTE - Roger will be at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver this year. More news on that later!! Cheers, Angela |
