Looks like I shoulda read a little further down before I plunked down the mention of what AN is doing this Spring.

Yes, Audio Note makes some very expensive pieces of kit. But they're not statements; they're "what would happen if . . ." exercises which find a niche. It also just occurred to me that in some ways the upper level stuff makes it possible for a small specialist manufacturer to offer the less expensive stuff.

Using the E speaker model as an example: Until two years ago our most expensive E sold for $30-40k a pr. Then, because Peter Q was one step away from a complete, pure-silver-nose-to-tail signal chain, he built a version of the E using what feels like 50lbs of silver foild caps per channel in the crossover besides the silver wire, chokes,voice coils, binding posts, blah blah blah. He was amazed at the sound and took it to the '04 TOPs show in Milan, Italy with no name, no price and no plans to sell it. More than one show-goer tried very hard to buy them on the spot. And so the Sogon speaker was accidentally born. Following the exhibition of the same system at CES '05, reviewers, forum folks et all went nuts. Peter's intentions and ancestry were called into serious question. So were mine, since I had the bad luck to be running the room at times.

I've made the observation (repeatedly) since then that yes, if someone wants a pair, we can build E/Sogon spkrs. We also build 9 other performance levels - sub-models, if you will - starting at $4,300/pr. Kit E's are available at $1,050 (std drivers) and $1,950 (HE woofer, silver voice coils).

I've seen a Ferrari Enzo listed at something $1,000,000 used, but AFAIK, no one is protesting their offering such a car. Doing a little (rounded, calculator-free in-head) math, to offer as broad and egalitarian a range as AN, Ferrari would need to offer a $10k kit car.

Meanwhile, back at the original topic, The IQ1, 2 and 3 retail for $375, $525 and $800 respectively. The 3 is a wolf in sheep's clothing, using the square cross-section titanium cantilever and stylus tip from the $2,650 IO1 lo output mc cart.

Gads, this thing is long. Better quit . . . .