Elusive 1099

Honestly, these probably don't need another review. This design has plenty of reviews already, but if you really want to know about them go to the AVS Forum and there is a TON of information on these. Elusive 1099's? How about unobtainium 1099's. Erich will never have a problem selling these, they are phenomenal speakers! I bought the flat packs at the same time. His packing is second to none. These were fairly easy to assemble. Get the crossover PCB with these to make your life easier. Well worth the few dollars! I put a switch on the rear of the enclosure for the HFPAD which kills a little of the high end if you need to. I did not, but my hearing is not the same as yours. Having the switch in the back just makes it easier to try both ways. Beats removing a driver to get to the crossover!
I wish we could add pictures here, mine came out awesome. I veneered them, my first time ever doing that, and everyone thinks I bought these at a store! I also made matching stands for the left and right to get the tweeters up to the level of my ears when sitting on my couch. That is important. These have waveguides which control directivity. If you get too far above or below the tweeters you will know it. I hear things now in my music I never heard before, they are amazing. And I wasn't using junk speakers prior to these either.
Extremely efficient. No real need for an external amp unless you really, really want to pound your ears or you have a HUGE room and sit 20 feet away from them.

Purchased some used 1099 drivers/crossovers on AVS and got the flatpacks (2 vertical, one horizontal) from Erich. These speakers absolutely hammer. In my space I can easily exceed reference levels on AVR power. They're a little light on the bass, but they have so much headroom that you can EQ some back in no problem. Excellent dynamic range. Flatpacks went together super easily and the fitment of panels was top notch. Absolute night and day difference coming from Fluance SX6s.

I bought 3 flatpack kits but one horizontal for my center channel. I have not ordered a more secure package in my life, Eric is amazing and I used a forward shipping company as I live in Canada. I have not soldered anything since high school 20 years ago so this was fun and surprisingly easy!

The 1099's get insanely loud with very little power, I will probably never listen to a movie at reference EVER. To give an idea, wife and I used to have the volume at around -30 on the old set for movies while the kids were down (Energy RC-70' towers and a Axiom VP150 Centre). Well I swapped to the 1099's and changed no AVR settings and -30 is more suited for daytime listening now, we normally watch around -40 at night.

The first speaker I swapped out was the VP150…..my energy towers vanished, I literally couldn't hear them without putting my head less than a foot in front of them! This 1099 centre was playing louder than the RC-70's and it sounded phenomenal. I watched a scene on Prime "Invisible" with the VP150 sounded good, no complaints. I swapped the VP150 out for the 1099 and watched the same scene and voices popped, they were crystal clear, I heard foot steps that I couldn’t hear before as troops were shuffling around in the background and special effects I can only describe as sounding 'whole" with way more detail provided.

Wife likes that movie dialogue is easier to hear and the few people that I have been able to demo to have been blown away by the performance, what I paid for them AND the fact that I built them which feels nice at the end of the day.

Sounds were hidden before and the 1099’s found them!

I bought 3 1099 flatpack kits, one horizontal for my center channel. Assembly was easy with just some clamps and wood glue. Assembling the crossover was the "hardest" part but there is plenty of info out there on how to do it. Staying patient enough to finish painting and not rushing to hook them up was tough, but everything came out great in the end and the sense of pride of building them myself only added to the awesome performance. On that front:

1) My sound stage, with only the L/R speakers hooked up, blew away my previous speakers. I was honestly more immersed in the movie in two channel stereo with the 1099's than I was with my previous 5.1 setup.

2) My wife, who normally couldn't care less about speakers, loves to watch movies on this system now because the center channel clarity and dialogue is so easy to hear.

Very clear, and highly detailed speakers.
The build process is quite simple. I went with the PCB (and populated the board myself), and got the flat pack kit as well.
Went together very simply with some glue, and brad nails. (and I'm certainly no wood working pro)

I came from some klipsch f30's, so the high sensitivity wasn't anything new.. but the detail these bring is something else.
I've been listening to music quite a bit on these, and have been consistently impressed.
Orchestral performance is great, each instrument sounds accurate, and very clear.
I'm no golden ear by any means, but I know what sounds good to me, and these fit the bill in a very appreciable way.

If you are on the fence about these, don't be.
They look incredible. They sound great, and I can't wait to listen to these more.
..and I'm pretty sure that's the best sign of a great speaker in the end. :)

I bough the front left and right plus the flat pack, after putting it all together, and hooking it up, i realized that this thing is really loud and efficient (I also bought the center)

Color me impressed. I jumped from Klipsch RP160m's to these, and what a jump! I have had these for about a year and a half and they are a joy to own.

I built them into 48" towers for the aesthetic just by adding an empty base flush to the bottom of L and R, with the horizontal center untouched. Flatpacks were especially wonderful to work with. I had no workspace and assembled all 3 in my bedroom, definitely not ideal but it can be done.

I have used them almost exclusively using the high frequency resistor mod, which can be easily connected to an external switch so that you can really check how you prefer it. I had a lot of off axis listening and the 10" SEOS does an amazing job at balancing that out nicely. The klipsch RP center I had did a good job at the time, but this was worlds better for off axis performance. Then again, its unfair to compare something like that to a 1099.

I listen to a lot of music with these, which initially I had been skeptical of because all of the reviews seemed to be primarily for home theater. Even with dual 10's, they do not have much of anything under 70 hz, but thats what the sub is for anyways, so that's not a negative at all. So for 2.0, its really lacking punch, but as soon as you go 2.1 it is spectacular. I am looking forward to building a set of apollo or Helix for a 2.0 bedroom setup and will update this if possible, but I really enjoy the 1099's for all genres of music in my main media room.

Holy hell, I almost forgot to mention the sensitivity on these beasts. So heres an anecdote:
I power them as part of a 5.2 setup using a denon x3500h which can probably give about 80W with 5 channels driven. One night my friend was trying to control his denon receiver in the other room with his phone but mistakenly connected to mine. He didnt hear anything from his speakers so kept turning the volume up. Music is playing from the 1099's and I see the volume going up rapidly on the AVR display (there is usually a slight lag between volume increasing on the display and then the speakers). I frantically reach for the remote as it starts to get REALLY loud, I see it hit 89(of 100, so maybe 50W) as things start to get really painful and I somehow manage to shut it off quickly. I had a slightly painful ringing in my ears for about 4 hours and went to sleep wondering if it would ever go away. Next morning it was all back to normal but that was the day I set a limiter on the volume. Your ears will literally bleed before you get any sort of distortion from these things. I dont see any need for any external amplification unless you'll be listening from 100 ft away in an open field. For reference my MLP is 9 ft away and I was listening on all channel audio, so LCR were all playing.

After listening to these at a friends house a while ago, it was just a mater of time before I pulled the trigger. These are replacing some Fusion10s in my theater. Although the Fusions sound great there's really no comparison. These make the on screen action come to life, and people sound like they're in the room. I just wish there was an 8" version so I could build some for surround use.

I built and used the 1099's for about 3 years in my dedicated theater and I was constantly blown away by the clarity and punch that they provided. I recently sold my house and the buyers made a cash offer on the entire theater and I had to let them go and I will definitely miss them. I am going to go a different diy route on my new theater build but it's in the back of my mind to grab another pair of 1099's just because I would love to squeeze them in somewhere in my new home.

I built my (3) 1099's about 3 years ago. They are located in my dedicated home theater, behind an acoustically transparent screen. These things rule. The build was fun and clean. Great kit.

I cannot overdrive them. Great range and just excellent in every regard. I could not be happier with the purchase. After listening to them extensively for a few years now, if I had to do again I would go the same route.

Great speakers!

I got 3 of these to replace my Fusion 10's. The Fusions were excellent speakers, I just wanted something larger with a little more wow factor. These were it. I actually wanted the 1299;s but Eric talked me out of those and instead I got the 1099s. Im glad I did. I love these speakers and anyone who has heard them really liked them as well. I dont think i will be upgrading speakers for a long time. These are fantastic. Get them while you can!!!!

I didn't expect these to sound so good in our living room but OMG the difference is night and day between these and the Martin Logan MLT-2s that they replaced. Not only are they louder in an effortless way but I can now hear dialogue so well that I have turned off subtitles! Which is amazing for my wife and I. These are large speakers that emit large sound, but in a good way. Without seeing them it is hard to detect where the sound is coming from, almost like a theater.

I have only soldered a couple things my life but these crossovers were super easy and made me feel like a pro. (I am so glad I splurged for the printed circuit boards.)

My favorite parts of the building process:
-The CNCd flatpacks (The MDF enclosure board) fit together like they were split at birth.
-I opted to finish them with WilsonArt laminate from Home Depot so they look store bought. :) But I have seen just as good or better vaneer finishes too as well as durable good looking Duratex coatings.
-I don't know if I stressed out one of the kids or it came with a cone defect, but Erich sent me a replacement free of charge.
-This process helped build my DIY confidence so I might be able to finish off the home theater with a near-field VBSS sometime soon. :)

First I have the 1099’s for my LCR and absolutely love them! I could not be happier! The build was fun and the sounds is amazing. Package arrived expertly package, which everyone on the forum had said but unboxing everything for myself made me appreciate all the work that is put into packing these up. I made the left and right into towers and covered with veneer. The baffles fit everything perfectly and arrived in prefect shape. I also order the pcb boards for the crossover that took all the guess work out the them. Building the crossovers was probably one of the funniest parts of this build. If you are even thinking about getting these don’t wait DO IT! You won’t be disappointed!

I bought my set of 3 almost a year ago and got around to making them. Assembly was easy both cabinet and crossover. There is a reason why people who go DIY don't turn around and buy a set of commercial speakers. These speakers will impress your friends/ family. You can not go wrong with the 1099 elusives.

I'm wanted speakers that I didn't need a separate amp for and sounded great. I'm coming from reference Klipsch speakers and these blow them out of the water.
There's a good community of people that will help you build these and it's pretty easy. I don't think I need to go into detail about the sound of these speakers, if search around you will hear nothing but praise.
The only down size is the size and weight but its part the the specs so you know what you are getting yourself into (even though you tell the wife you thought they were smaller).

My history with home theater consisted of Klipsch and Definitive Technology. Klipsch were affordable but were never accurate and you baked in the crispy highs. Definitive Technology were more accurate but took so much power to get them operating at reference levels. Going after the trinity of affordable, accurate, and easy to drive - enter in the 1099. These super efficient 3-way boxes can be driven by any home audio receiver and is the answer to all of the short comings of off the shelf audio equipment today. Dual ten inch drivers for the punch, smaller drivers for the mids, and horn loaded compression drivers to provide crystal clear detail up high. A 1099 LCR configuration paired with equally capable subwoofers will make your front stage more impressive than any movie theater you've been to. Add in surround and height channels from the HTM or Volt line up and you'll be able to bask in multi-channel Atmos goodness. Forget the celebration of discounted Klipsch gear on /r/hometheater. The 1099 is the real deal.

I bought two 1099s and two sub flat packs last year while hoping that a smaller high efficiency center channel would eventually become available. When it became clear that was not to be, I ordered a 1099 center channel to squeeze into my LCR home audio setup. Having built two previous 1099s, this one went together really quickly. I got the parts on Thursday and had the center playing in my setup by Monday afternoon. I used wood grain contact paper for the top, bottom and sides, and used a duratex style paint for the front and back baffles. The sound matching to the 1099s is impeccable and the entire front sound stage is so detailed. I love this setup and I'm thankful for the opportunity to add a center 1099 to my fantastic home audio setup.

So I get these hooked up and me and my girl watch our first movie with F,R, and center channel. My girl said "you've finally done it!" My mom listened to a song she loves and said she doesn't think it could sound better than it does right now. I haven't heard a better pair of speakers even for music. But with surround sound these things are absolutely amazing! I haven't heard a system that sounds this good and ive been in a B&W shop before and heard some expensive speakers! One other thing... they can get SUPER loud with no distortion at all. Couldn't be happier!

So.... I bought 5 1099's for my Home theater. They absolutely blow me away. I am driving these with an ATI Amp and are super clear, crisp, full of life. They will play loud. Putting them together was super easy. Just use some wood glue and clamps. They are heavy when completed ( a sign of a great speaker). The cabinets do not resonate. There is no flex etc. The CNC work is super and the MDF is very high quality. Not the cheap stuff you see in the big box store. I am going to add some VOLTs for ATMOS next!

Ok I bought this for a center channel based solely on reviews and I could not be happier. This speaker is the clearest most detailed speaker I have ever had to date. I can tell you it is so dynamic when driven with a dedicated amp that it is scary at times just how loud and clear this speaker is. I would not hesitate to recommend this or any speakers for that matter on this site to anyone thanks to the diy community.

I’m new to the HT world and I’m not an audiophile. I have 3 of these as my fronts in my new dedicated HT and we love the sound. We use it for mostly movies. Even at high volumes, these are clear and have a punch. The dialog clarity is great.

Overall, I recommend these to anyone looking for great sound at a reasonable price.

I upgraded from the now defunct AV123's Rocket Onyx 850s for left, center, and right channels that required separate amplification to sound their best. Compared with the Rockets, I found the 1099's sounded pretty much the same with and without separate amplification at my listening volumes (due to the high sensitivity of 1099s). That allowed me to remove the separate amp to save rack space and also remove the slight buzz from my amp at very low volumes. The 1099s sound fantastic for movies - dialog is clear from the center channel (before I struggled a bit with this) and I was able to appreciate new sounds coming out that I didn't hear before from my previous speakers. The 1099's are great for music as well, but not quite as impressive. The 1099's are not forgiving on poorly recorded sound tracks with background noise/hiss. At loud volumes, the highs can sound harsh, but I've heard this can be corrected with a resister modification, or perhaps I'm getting some distortion by not using separate amplification.
I really appreciate the size of the speakers and availability of a matching center channel as this was the biggest speaker that I could place in my current setup.
Overall, I consider this a significant improvement over my previous speakers and am happy with the purchase.

I don't have much experience with many different speakers to compare this one to except Klipsch RF-82 II and Volt 10 LX ported plus a few vintage from Yamaha/JBL. This speaker sound much more softer, unlike the harsh sound from Klipsch. The mid range help a lot in movie scenes compared to the Klipsch with only low and high. But this speaker provided a really good detail in dialogue and the missing explosion and shattering produced by the mid range is amazing. For music, I must go with Volt 10 LX. I think the design of the tweeter for volt 10 sound better for music(subjective) than the tweeter in 1099. But nonetheless, 1099 is perfect for theater set up. Overall, the diy kit is great, plus I learned a few tricks in building it. I finished the speaker in mahogany veneer with a layer of red mahogany stain and a couple coats of Briwax finish. I'll save up some cash and get 1 pair of 1099 or 1299 for L&R channels. As alway, the shipping is awesome and the communication with Matt and Erich were helpful and quick response.

First and most importantly...... THANK YOU to Erich and Ryan Bouma. Ryans design has proven to be an absolutely awe-inspiring speaker. Erich's help with the process and technical expertise every time I had a question was tremendous. He works hard to provide such awesome speakers to us at extremely affordable prices and we are all extremely grateful!

Coming from Klipsch RF7's....The 1099's.........Just wow. I built LCR with a horizontal center and ended up having an Oak Veneer applied by my good buddy Steven Due. Used a mahogany stain and duratexed the front and rear baffles. I could not be happier with how they look in my cabin. As far as the sound, I have never heard anything like these. I have only limited listening time on them so far but every time I turn them on its like I am hearing things for the first time. The clarity, detail, and dynamics of this speaker is something everyone should get the opportunity to hear. Both at low level and high level listening the 1099s are punchy, clear, and dynamic. Turn them up and they begin to dare to you to keep turning the knob, all while never showing any signs of fatigue or creating harshness to the ears. An extremely powerful set of speakers. Your ears will give out long before the 1099s even stretch their legs. I cant imagine you will find a better speaker than these in any price range. I am absolutely in awe of the 1099s.

After owning a set of old mission speakers for many many years I made an upgrade for the first time to a set of PSA MT110 for home theater. I was totally blown away by the difference in clarity and dispersion, I spent days relistening to my old music and really enjoying the HT experience.

It was then really a no brainer to purchase a PSA center to compliment the new LRs. At this point lets just say I was always intrigued by the idea of DIY for a while but just wasn't quite convinced how good they could be and whether I could pull it off especially with the WAF to think about. After weeks of obsessing I decided instead to pin the pin on a pair of 1099s (for the price of a PSA MT210 I could get 2 1099s!).

After many hours of sweat, anxiety and rereading the forums on peoples builds for help I'm more then happy to say I am ecstatic with the results. Considering I any not a DIY person at all. With a duratex paint job they look fantastic and mean >:) and really match the PSA aesthetic.

Soundwise... holy smokes. These are amazing they fill my 4000ft3 space easily and I have a budget Denon reciever. Near completion I was anxious they might not sound any better then the PSAs, but you should have seen the smile on my face when replayed mu music collection again they were noticeably punchier and more detailed. What is this black magic!

Bit of a harrowing experience at first been a first project but no ragrets here.
My biggest disappointment actually is that the 893 is no longer available, as the 1099 is way too big for a horizontal center. The 1099 have been described as bright, and I would agree with this, at least noticeably compared to PSA MT110. I actually liked this, you can modify the crossover to subdue them a bit or just use some eq.

Took a long route of smaller speaker upgrade after upgrade before I ended up with these. I am using the 1099 for LCR and volt 6s for surround. First things first, the packaging was bomb proof, very meticulously done thanks to Erich. I opened everything and it didn't hit me how big the 1099s until I started putting them together. This things are huge....! I was surprised at how big they are. I believe they may be unrealistic for many people in a living room setup apart from the crazy fans like me. I absolutely love the sound and couldn't be happier. I was afraid that they may be treble harsh based on the reviews but I haven't had any of that. They are fantastic for Music and Movies are at another level. I was actually surprised at the amount of mid-bass that they had without the sub, the level of clarity is great. They fill my 3000cuft room without breaking a sweat. I am using a denon 4520 to run them. Thank you Erich. I need to stay away from the forums and hope that I never hear the word upgrade again.

Yeah, I did it. Was it necessary? No. But it was amazing and I have no regrets. Very rarely did I push these anywhere near their limits but when I did I was always amazed at how consistent they were. Always clear, always capable and always coherent. I haven’t heard a lot of comparable speakers because I really don’t think many exist. The 1099s are in their own world of jaw dropping performance.

My favorite thing about these was the big ass grin I had on my face every time I fired them up

I purchased the 1099 two years ago and could not be happier. This was my first crossover assembly, cabinet, and veneer experience. Assembly was cake though I did research, read forums, and asked questions. I am only moderately adept at woodworking/electronics. Erich's components were delivered and famously packaged and selected flawlessly. The audio engineer design spectacular. I read the reviews on the AV forums and took a leap. WOW, I have been impressed. I cannot get enough time listening to the 1099's. I grew up attending live Rock n Roll shows at the Fillmore East and other small venues. I was lucky to hear all the greats in small vaudeville theaters. These speakers bring that sound in my head back. I power them with a simple Marantz SR 7007 and they can blow me out of my 18 x 26 foot room . I have a broad musical tastes and find the 1099's sound amazing for all genres. Jazz sounds amazingly real through these. I appreciate the work of Ryan Bouma and Erich in getting these to the public at an amazing price. Great for a poor by like me!