Hello John, Ben, everyone,

Thanks for the correction about the parallel nature of the HD-X3 crossover design.

Regarding the new ideas for powered towers, here is what my family is specifically are looking for in this area.

We want to have the best of both worlds, by having excellent mains for two-channel listening periods, within a full 5.1 setup for video sessions.  Most good receivers now have a "pure-direct" stereo mode, which turns off all unnecessary video or audio DSP receiver circuitry, and just passes the two-channel output from the CD audio transport DAC's directly to the amplification sections of the mains only.  This REALLY means no DSP, so of course the separate subwoofer is not even used in pure-direct mode.  A good stereo or pair of monoblock amps can be 12V triggered in this application so you are not running all your amps either, only the ones mated with the mains.

This is why a powered tower design makes so much sense to us for quality two-channel listening, in that you have an excellent musical integrated powered subwoofer in the main cabinet and can just rely upon the towers to do all the work - without sacrificing the unquestionable benefits of a powered subwoofer.  Further, you get STEREO subwoofers, with a guaranteed crossover point that is properly designed for the speakers themselves.  Still further, the integrated subwoofers are small enough to be extremely tight and musical, instead of unnecessary home-theater boomy power from a large HT subwoofer, which muddies up good two-channel listening.

We understand that the new 633T's are much better for two-channel listening then the existing 522PT's (according to Ben Fowler) due to the 633's having much better separation, and particularly having much better midrange performance.  This obviously makes sense, as the 633T's have two 6.5" woofers and were designed originally for HD-X3 crossover technology, while apparently the 522PT's were designed with small HT as the primary application.  All the new 633T's are lacking in our opinion is true subwoofer performance, as is present with the integrated 8" powered subwoofers in the 522PT's.  So if the 633's had it all, they would be the ideal speaker for pure-direct two-channel music listening needs as I described above, and also providing excellent performance as the mains in an HT setup.

The American Cherry finish is a perfect match with our living room setup, and we are truly interested in the outstanding cabinet work of the Aperion line.  This is a major selling point for us as well, and easily sets Aperion apart from the other speaker manufacturers.

We would likely be willing to pay at least between $800/$900 per speaker for a powered version of the new 633 speaker towers, if this can be done and they fit the bill described above.

John, you mentioned you feel there is room for new powered tower designs, and that some are in fact already being considered.  Perhaps you would please be willing to share with us what YOU think might be in demand in the market, regarding new powered tower designs in the Intimus line?  Also, does anything I've said here sound in step with what you and your design team were also thinking?