My prime reference is the concert hall. I attend about 40 concerts each season in NYC, both classical/opera and jazz, an can attest that these speakers come as close to recreating the live event as I could expect. I listen frequently and thoroughly enjoy every session. The Orions outperform the "high end" speakers available today, and do so at a fraction of the cost. The system employs the best drivers and electronics available and focuses the $ spent on elements that really make a difference in sound quality, not expensive interconnects or amplifiers.

The dipole design literally removes the music from the box. After listening to the Orions for 3 years+, I recently had the occassion to listen to a friend's very expensive "state-of-the-art" system, and I was struck with the impression of sound coming from a box. This subtle but critical difference actually is the defining advantage of the Orion design, as is its seamless integration of the drivers and their flawless reproduction of the full sound spectrum.

Dipole speaker designs do not have the air cushion behind the drivers that box speakers provide, which dampen movement of the speaker cone. Some recordings contain spurious low frequency information that, if combined with powerful low frequency music information, can bottom out the voice coil, potentially damaging the driver. While care must be exercised to not overdrive the bass speakers, the Orions can easily reproduce music at full concert hall levels, from convincing delicate highs to awesomely powerful low frequency music content.

The Orion speakers, designed by Siegfried Linkwitz (http://www.linkwitzlab.com/orion_challenge), are a 3-way, floor-standing, dipole design (open front and back) with an active electronic crossover. The speakers and crossover are sold in various stages of completion from plans, parts list, and circuit boards, to fully assembled units ready to plug and play (priced accordingly). I purchased the plans. Each speaker contains 4 drivers, 1 tweeter, 1 midrange and two bass, and is driven by a minimum of 3 identical amplifiers. They must be located at least 4 feet from the wall behind, and 2 feet from side walls when listening.

In general, these speakers provide extreme realism and accuracy in their presentation of music. The speakers disappear into the sound stage created and involve the listener completely in music. Everything is crystal clear, the sound stage has pinpoint accuracy and depth, the instruments/voices sound life-like, and the bass is tight and awesome.

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