Lastest Sierra Tower Status!
I owe everyone a huge thank you for being so patient with us while we prepare for the release of our most exciting product to date. Production of the Sierra Tower has proven to be quite a challenge for us and I have some good news and some bad…
First, the bad…
We were all set to start mass production 2 months ago but at that time we were not aware that several of the components used in the crossover were being sourced from a Japanese company. Our crossover vendor assured us that although the delivery of these parts would be delayed due to the awful situation over there, they would have no problems acquiring them. It turned out that this was not the case and we were offered no assurances or guarantees as to when these necessary parts would be delivered.
With the help of our vendor, we immediately began working on sourcing suitable replacement parts. This took some time as each possible replacement had to be fully evaluated and as many of you know, I would never and have never compromised performance in order to meet a deadline.
And now for the good…
We have selected replacement components for the crossovers and they are now in full production. During this delay and based on feedback and extensive testing, we have also made a few changes to the initial crossover design as well as a mechanical change to the tweeter, all of which have given way to what I consider to be a large increase in performance from the initial prototype pair and the first pair we shipped.
On the crossover, a series component (capacitor) was removed on both the midrange bandpass filter and the tweeter high-pass filter. This had a rather surprising effect on performance as the midrange response is now purer with a bit more warmth and less of an edge. The speaker is now smoother in presentation and the additional warmth that comes through makes it sound slightly less forward. The overall result brings us yet one more step closer to perfect reproduction of the source material.
After a meeting at our facility with our tweeter manufacturer’s (SEAS) head of R&D, who visited us from Norway, we were granted approval of a minor tweak to how an adhesive was being used in the tweeter assembly. It was necessary to obtain this approval prior to implementation in our factory for vendor warranty purposes. The result of this tweak is minor and most likely not audible to most listeners, but it is certainly measurable and provides for a smoother frequency response and more linear off-axis dispersion.
The Sierra Tower sounds extremely balanced, dynamic and “live” – with an incredibly pure and natural sounding midrange. I feel the production delay was actually a blessing in disguise and for those of you patiently waiting; you will be rewarded with performance that actually surpasses all of the initial reports and comments.
And now for the big question, when will we be able to start shipping?
Tweeters, woofers, midrange drivers and port tubes are in stock. Cabinets and crossovers are in full production. Based on the timeline given to us by our cabinet vendor and crossover vendor, we expect to be able to start shipping several pairs per week starting in about 4-5 weeks. For those of you on our pre-order list, expect to see another correspondence from us within 48 hours.
It is important to understand that these speakers are being built-to-order (at least for the first 2 production batches.) For those of you not on our pre-order list but would still like to get in on the first large scale production run, I believe we have 4-5 slots still open but please contact us ASAP.
Please feel free to post your questions and comments and thank you so much for your patience and understanding. Trust me when I say that your patience will be well rewarded with a product that, much like the Sierra-1, will set another standard for performance.
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If you were able to smooth out the mids just a touch, better tweeter / mid integration, all without sacrificing accuracy, I will be very pleased
Originally Posted by merrymaid520
