Stereophile: Oswald Mill Audio AC1

I like my loudspeakers to look like loudspeakers. To me, a simple wood box is beautiful. But I was more than impressed by the extraordinary Oswald Mill Audio AC1. Completely hand-built out of solid Pennsylvania ash, it takes about a month to complete a single pair of AC1s. Each speaker uses a single 15" Alnico paper-cone woofer and a vintage compression driver for the midrange. Due to the finite quantity of the specific late '40s to early '60s driver, production of the AC1 is limited to just 25 pairs.

Designer Jonathan Weiss asked me if there was anything in specific that I'd like to listen to.

"Any rock and roll?" I asked.

Jonathan looked down to his stack of LPs, took a long pause, and soberly replied: "Not much."

"Oh well. How about…"

"Actually, I've got Prince. Wanna hear Prince?"

"Cool."

Prince's "Darling Nicky" sounded just as it should: Naughty! This was a speaker that managed to remove itself from the room despite its towering size and attention-grabbing looks. When Weiss informed me of the price of $53,000/pair, it almost seemed like a bargain.

Crazy, I know.

Jonathan Weiss hopes to open an Oswald Mill Audio showroom in New York City by the end of the year. I cannot wait to hear these speakers again.

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Reader Comments

Posted Tue Oct14, 2008, 3:12 PM — By Dave

While there was no digital front end to play MY music, I've never heard a sax this realistic. It was amazing. Wish I had $50k. This, along with the big Van Schweikerts, were best in show IMO.

Posted Tue Jan 6, 2009, 5:24 AM — By stacy

thanks for your article I recently purchased a new vehicle and that consideration, of iPhone integration, was one of my primary concerns. What I determined is that BMW is probably the closest to the "iCar" , the Cheap car stereo you envision. I looked at the X5, which displays iPod/iPhone content on the Nav screen and uses the vehicle's stereo to play iPhone content while also charging it. I couldn't handle the price, so I purchased a Lexus RX350 - I'm currently using a Belkin car kit with clear scan to play iPhone content, and while it's not as good as using the Belkin TuneBase FM with an iPod (there is a bit of static as it's not as sensitive as I would like), it is very nice. Of course, if Lexus were to provide an aux input, I would've had to purchase only a car charger. http://www.ace-karaoke.net/karaoke-player.htm

Posted Wed Oct14, 2009, 8:09 AM — By JoJo John Jnr

Hi there I saw ya post Very well presented In fact I have been Googling for this for ages blog.stereophile.com will see me back again Great effort congratulations! John

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