"Looks like this is a month of factory tours for us here at SECRETS. I happened to be visiting family in Springfield, IL this week and my son-in-law reminded me that Legacy Audio was located across town. He was able to arrange a tour through their VP, Doug Brown. Legacy handcrafts some of the finest sounding (and looking) loudspeakers around and though they may not be familiar with many of you readers, they have been shown at many audio shows around the country. They make a massive "crown jewel" of a speaker called the Helix, which is a four way, ten driver speaker. The Helix architecture is built around a digital time compensating processor which produces an accurate, coherent and spatially integrated sound that was stunning to listen to."

"The Whispers have four 15 in. woofers and are designed to prevent early reflections by using a directionally controlled array. These speakers are not inexpensive, but a lot of work and research have gone into them. Amazing sound quality! The Focus and Classic are, shall we say, more conventional in size and driver array. The same handmade care and design research are found in them as well."

"The work shop had a CAD operated cutting machine that was used to make precision cuts on the speaker panels."

"Cabinets are made from a special lightweight composite that is about 2 inches thick. Legacy employs around 15 people to put the cabinets together, stain them, assemble the drivers/crossovers and "voice" each and every pair."

Photos by: Jim Milton

"A pleasant surprise, Bill Dudleston, the president and founder of Legacy popped in and gave us a demo. Talking with Bill and Doug gave us an appreciation of their passion for sound and design philosophy. People who do this kind of work do it because they are first and foremost, music lovers. My kind of people."

View the full writeup on Secrets of Home Theater here.