At the very heart of every loudspeaker, the drivers are of crucial importance to ARTOS AUDIO. Thiel & Partner manufacture Accuton drivers for our individual requirements, unique Original Equipment Manufacturer products for exclusive use by ARTOS AUDIO. The decisive factor in our selection of a driver is its coherent behaviour with the cabinet and the crossover filter in the finished loudspeaker. Because of this, unrelated appraisals and general conclusions on the quality of chassis have no validity. For all our models, we are using graphite-coated ceramic drivers made by Accuton – the classic uncoated, white drivers are available upon request. These drivers behave like perfect pistons for moving air, and on top of that they are light as a feather. However, these extremely rigid diaphragms can also produce considerable resonances that objectionably interfere with the original signal, modify it and are a source of coloration. Without perfect filter, one will always hear the driver's diaphragm. Thiel & Partner's exorbitantly expensive Black-Diamond-Tweeter that we assemble in our Diamond-Series loudspeakers raises the bar even higher. Unfortunately, this is the most expensive tweeter in the world costing more than many other complete speaker systems. Needless to say, that we pay particular attention to our crossovers, so that no trace of colouration will persist. An ARTOS AUDIO speaker-system will therefore never present the sound of ceramic or diamond, but solely music. Consequently, it is an invalid assumption that our speakers will sound like other constructions that happen to feature the same materials. The crossover can be regarded as the brain and the heart of a loudspeaker. It “rules” the way of frequencies, influences the linearity and impedance behaviour of the loudspeaker and is responsible for the efficiency of the entire system. At ARTOS AUDIO, we are using oil-soaked silver-gold-capacitors, Zero-Ohm-Foil-Coils of the same calibre, and silver-carbon resistors - only the finest components with proven long time stability. Unfortunately, these components belong to the most expensive in the world as well. For example: the crossover for our reference model HURRICANE costs more than a pair of new MOONGLOW in a precious wood finish. The question of cost for any individual part is meaningless. Only the final result is what counts to us and considerations of cost do not enter into the equation. Our guiding principle is to present our customers with the highest possible degree of reality in music reproduction. Anything less is already available but does not meet our demands.