From the outset, I knew that our coverage of this show would be one of extremes. My sole reporting partner at this year’s Florida International Audio Expo is Jason Thorpe, senior editor of SoundStage! Ultra. So it made sense for Jason to focus on more expensive products. The subject of Jason’s first dispatch was the Oneiros loudspeaker by Oneiros Audio, which starts at $650,000 per pair (all prices in USD)—talk about extremes! After reading it, I knew I had to uncover some more affordable products.
Enter the LC1 loudspeaker from the newly formed Chesky Audio. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because David Chesky has been a fixture in the audio industry for pretty much the entire time I’ve been writing about it—almost 30 years. David is a songwriter, composer, and musician, but also co-founder of Chesky Records, HDtracks.com, and other audiophile-based ventures, along with his brother Norman. Chesky Audio isn’t David’s thing—at least not directly. It’s the creation of his 17-year-old son, Lucca, who, during a high-school internship at the 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics Lab at Princeton University, decided to create loudspeakers.
Priced at just $498 each, so under a grand for a pair, the LC1 is the commercial outcome of that project. With a brown or burgundy painted finish, the LC1 sells for $625 each, so $1250 per pair. Each enclosure measures 10″H × 8″W × 10″D and weighs 18 pounds. I would’ve expected the cabinet to be plain ol’ MDF, but it’s described on the Chesky Audio website as a “multi-layer high-mass non-resonant” material. Whatever it is, it’s reasonably dense.
On the front baffle are a 1″ soft-dome tweeter and a 6.5″ midrange-woofer with a polypropylene cone. Surrounding the tweeter is what Chesky calls “tessellation diffraction control technology,” which is basically a pattern of tiles with no spaces between and no congruent sides. On each side of the cabinet is an 8″ passive radiator to augment the bass. Sensitivity is rated at a perfectly realistic 83dB (2.83V/m) and frequency response at 50Hz–20kHz (no deviations are given). Curiously, I couldn’t find the nominal impedance on the Chesky Audio website, though I can’t imagine the LC1 being too tough of a load.
The LC1 debuted last November at Capital Audiofest, held annually near Washington, DC. I’ve never attended that show, but I saw online coverage of the speaker. Truth be told, I was a little suspicious about the gushing reports because some press members can be overly kind to established industry figures. Lucca isn’t David, but most people who know of David Chesky know that Lucca is his son. But when I listened to a pair of LC1s being driven by a Cambridge Audio integrated amplifier, I was pleased to hear what I perceived as reasonably neutral tonal balance and enough bass depth that the speakers didn’t sound thin, the way many small speakers do.
I was also impressed that Lucca had the speakers propped up on 36″ stands, which was a wise move, because it put the tweeters up around ear height for seated listeners. And this is also a good height for attendees who are standing, as many people are when visiting show exhibits. Finally, I was impressed and surprised about the manufacturing details. When I asked Lucca where the speakers are made, he replied, “I make each one.” So if you buy a pair, you’re getting a truly handcrafted product from the person who created it.
When I finished talking to Lucca, it wasn’t clear to me if he’d continue designing and building speakers. He’s yet to finish high school, and he plans to study electrical engineering at university. If he does follow this effort up, he’s made a good start. It’s one thing for someone as young as Lucca to create a loudspeaker, but quite another to design one with unique elements such as the tessellation pattern around the tweeter and the multi-layer cabinet material—whatever it is. Time will tell if this is the start of something big. It could be.
Doug Schneider
Founder, SoundStage!
