The rarest skill in loudspeaker design is the ability to merge engineering precision with the art of listening.
Over my many decades in this business, I’ve met a few talented engineers who could calculate diffraction patterns, optimize crossover slopes, and model cabinet resonances with astonishing accuracy. I’ve also met a rare few gifted voicers who could sit down in a room, listen, and instinctively know what needed to change to make music come alive (Arnie Nudell comes to mind). But to find someone who can do both at a world-class level—bring equal mastery of the lab bench and the listening chair—you could count them on one hand. That blend of skill is the difference between a good loudspeaker and one that disappears entirely, leaving only the performance.
One of those rare individuals is our own Chris Brunhaver. When Chris joined PS Audio, I quickly realized he wasn’t just an accomplished engineer—he was a listener in the truest sense. He’s as comfortable analyzing waterfall plots and impulse responses as he is sitting down with a familiar recording to judge tonal balance, imaging, and dynamics. That combination is vanishingly rare in today’s audio world, where specialization often pushes engineers and voicers into separate camps. At last year’s Ascot Hi-Fi Show in England, Chris did a sit-down interview you can watch here: https://youtu.be/uXRTiTXq2E8. Listening to him speak about his design approach is like getting a masterclass in how science and art can—and must—work together.
Why is this blend so important? Because a loudspeaker exists in two worlds. In the engineering world, it’s an electro-mechanical system: woofers, tweeters, magnets, coils, and crossovers, each with measurable behavior. But in the listening world, it’s an emotional translator. It has to preserve the subtleties of a bow on strings, the decay of a cymbal, the breath before a vocal phrase. If you optimize only for the numbers, you risk losing that connection; if you voice only by ear, you may leave uncorrected flaws that reveal themselves in certain rooms or recordings. World-class loudspeakers bridge that gap.
When we developed our Aspen series loudspeakers, Chris led the charge on exactly that integration. The planar magnetic midranges, dynamic woofers, and carefully braced, inert cabinets were all the result of painstaking engineering. But the final voicing—tuning the crossover for seamless driver integration, balancing the soundstage depth, and ensuring tonal neutrality—was done through countless listening sessions with me, Chris, and Darren. That iterative process, bouncing between measurement gear and trusted musical references, is what transformed them from excellent prototypes into the final production models that now anchor reference systems worldwide.
The truth is, the future of high-end loudspeaker design will depend on this dual-discipline approach. As measurement tools become ever more powerful, and simulation software predicts more of a speaker’s performance before a single part is built, the temptation will be to let the data lead entirely. But music isn’t just data—it’s a human experience. It takes a certain kind of designer to keep that truth front and center while still honoring the science. Chris is one of them, and we’re fortunate to have him shaping the voice of PS Audio’s loudspeakers.
For the listener, the result is profound. When engineering rigor meets listening artistry, the loudspeaker vanishes as a source. What remains is a believable, effortless presentation where instruments occupy real space and music flows with its natural life intact.
That’s when you know you’re hearing the work of one of the few who can do it all.
If you have a few minutes, this is worth a watch.
