During the last Consumer Electronics Show, I met with Usher Audio and congratulated them on the recent success of their high-end line of finished systems. All the audio magazines and forums had nothing but great things to say about their designs. After seeing them myself, I was impressed by the craftsmanship, sound quality and value of their systems. The discussion quickly turned to ideas on how to increase sales on raw drivers to the DIY market. One idea was to have a famous designer create several speaker kits using Usher drivers.

Due to the existing relationship between Usher Audio and the world-renowned designer Dr. Joseph D'Appolito, Joe was the obvious choice to create the Usher speaker kits. Before Parts Express could develop a kit (custom crossover board, precut baffle, instruction manual, etc.), a prototype of the design needed to be built. For all our hardcore DIY customers, below is a "preview" of the first design by Mr. D'Appolito and the steps I went through to build the prototype. Enjoy! Stay tuned, more designs to come!