They were designed by Steve but they weren't made by him :ph34r: . Some of their assembly people assembled them is what he said. Tonally balanced is hard on an 8" for lower freq's but I want to know when I can get some . I'm aware of the weight and dampning effects and even freq response. Can there be no smaller surround to allow more displacment with the same characs? Obvioulsy I'm a noise junky. Hm thats ok he says it sets off alarms. I need a pair like yesterday. When will they be on the site? I'll take four j/k just two for now would be fine. I think both the Jl and these are good. As will be the Si's. Maybe there will be some higher end 8"s later to compete with the JL and others I'm sure these are WAY more efficient then my pair. The RE's are nice but kinda cheap no pun intended lol. I use those in the wife's car until I swap them with DD's these or whatever happens to be the next new 8"s 4.5" deep or less. I shouldn't second guess the surround I'm sure but its just my cones are small enough lol smaller is scarier lol. Later, T