It all started in 1999 just after opening a high end store in Indianapolis, Indiana. A new speaker manufacturer brought a high efficiency speaker and an older Wavelength Cardinal 300B SET amplifier in attempts to convince me to carry his speaker line. The speaker did some things well but was also flawed in a number of areas that kept me from taking on the line. Before he left the store he asked if I would sell his older Wavelength amp as he had a new one coming in. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to get more familiar with the SET sound I gladly accepted.

I hooked the amp up to my reference speakers and once I got my jaw off the floor, sat mesmerized listening to the sound I had searched years for. After just two songs I looked up Wavelength’s contact information and called begging to become a dealer. Once that was taken care of I quickly discovered that my speakers as well as the rest of the speakers in the store were not able to fully satisfy all musical needs with such low power. My next mission was to find one or more compatible speaker lines at the upcoming 2000 CES show. Unfortunately the only thing I was able to find that had the efficiency, compatible impedance, and sound quality was the Avantgarde speakers. I immediately became a dealer and was one of the top dealers in the US but there was still the need for a less expensive and smaller speaker that would be able to reveal the magic these amps had without the compromises.

Since I knew very little of speaker design I was fortunate to get Gordon Rankin of Wavelength to do the initial design that I subsequently spent the next 6 plus years tweaking and fine tuning until we got where we had three designs ready to introduce at the 2008 CES show. Not nearly as soon as we had hoped for but we did not want to make just another speaker. We wanted truly special designs that would be able to take advantage of all of the musically superior qualities of the best low powered amplifier designs while not revealing their weaknesses. We went down several paths, always trying to keep the designs as simple as possible. First we tried full range drivers but they were peaky in the upper midrange, lacked top end air, and had pitiful bass response. A ribbon super tweeter added the top end we were looking for but the aggressive midrange was still there. After getting the upper mids tamed and real extension on top it became obvious that we needed flatter and deeper base for the foundation of the music. Not wanting a complicated 3 way crossover we ended up successfully mating a woofer with a simple three part crossover that would handle all three drivers in a way that is very amplifier friendly. The end results are 8 ohm designs that have a very tube friendly. The Cabernet is a slightly different design as it's ceramic midrange does not cover quite the range of our other full range drivers but it still goes from 80 hz to 5000 hz. It presents 12 ohms in the bass with 6 ohm minimum and just three crossover parts!
Now SET, OTL, push/pull, and low powered solid state amps had tight deep bass, glorious midrange, and a clean, clear top end that revealed the soul of the music. Then there was the long process to voice the speakers by picking cabinet materials, wiring, and crossover parts. Hundreds of parts and cabinet designs were tried finally settling on what we felt best represented live music. What you hear now is the result of this labor of love. The ear was always the final judge on what was used in each design. Measurements were taken along the design path only to ensure we were not creating electrical or acoustical abnormalities. 
Our latest additions (as of July 2009) are Bybee in line Purifiers on both the positive and negative legs plus real carbon fiber front baffle covers. The Bybees were a revelation taking the performance of all of our speakers to even higher levels. Expensive yes, but well worth the cost by bringing the listner closer to the music.

bass response of our more expensive speakers so we decided to give it a subwoofer crossed over below  70 HZ. The Barbera has all the strengths of a single driver but with bass & body other full range driver systems only dream of.

Number 1 Question Since Triode Introduction
Which is better Triode or Cabernet?
I consider the Cabernet and Triode as equals of world class performance but for different applications. The Triode being 99 db efficient versus the Cabernets 93 db efficiency makes the Cabernet the choice for amplifiers 25 watts and above and the Triode for amplifiers smaller than that. This is a general rule of thumb but certainly not appropriate in all cases. The Caberent can provide excellent results with an 8 watt 300B amp but can be taxed if playing large scale music in a large room at loud levels. Conversely the Triode will work well with large tube or solid state amplifiers providing huge dynamic swings and the ability to play at very loud levels. Knowing your tastes and listening habits will be the final deciding factor as well as possibley the size difference of the cabinets. Both speakers having amazing resolution, transparency, dynamics, and soundstaging when mated to appropriate amplification so chose what suites you best or contact us for a consultation.
 
Vaughn Loudspeakers honor the science of rational design parameters but never forgets that the ear and heart are the best tools to measure the succesful design of a loudspeaker. If a speaker cannot provide the emotional satisfaction that great music is capable of providing then the design is not complete. Listen and let us know how we have done! 

New for October 2011 the Cabernet, Zinfandel, and Barbera get powered sub bass systems for dramaticly improved performance. This also makes the speakers much easier to drive, enhances micro / macro dynamics, improves transparency and resolution. By having full adjustment of bass volume and crossover allows these full range systems to work in small rooms as well as providing "big" powerful and balanced sound in large or problematic rooms.
Cabernet and Zinfandel will also be available in original passive woofer design for those who prefer to have all drivers driven by their amplifier.