I did a little research on these. the seller (Moon Audio) is local to me and I have been interested as well. These speakers are actually Blue Ridge Sound Engineering (BRSE) HR-1s. Moon purchased the remaining inventory several years after Blue Ridge closed its doors sometime around 2007-2008? The crazy thing is it appears that Blue Ridge never really got very far off the ground. If you google Blue Ridge Sound Engineering, you will see that their website is still active and all of the technical info and measurements, etc., are still there. The company owner and designers name is Carl Halling and it seems that the HR-1 was sold mainly on eBay for a 1-2 year period frequently sold for under the $2,500 MSRP. There is allot of info about this company on the internet. Many people claiming the speakers are excellent and then we have the usual skeptics that contend that the measurements and claims made seem suspect. So the general consensus is: they are indeed very good speakers (you can see reviews here on Audiogon under if you google Blue Ridge Sound Engineering Audigon), to a few others saying they are decent but slightly forward like a Paradigm, and then we have the other extreme accusations about a possible well-designed White Van scam!
Personally, I dont think it was a scam at all. I believe it was a very intelligent engineer that attempted to start up a speaker company in his garage, but over-extended himself financially when we attempted to market these and bring these to production. In an attempt to get the company off the ground, he may have made some wild claims. This case screams that that this guy simply got in over his head. Lets face it its a tough world out there and very difficult to start a company with all the naysayers, and then we have the fan boys stuck on the well-known brands! But that is just my opinion. If you see some of Carls responses on different forums, and here on Audiogon as well, he seemed very genuine. But you may have a different take on it. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Here are the facts: The tweeter is Hi-Vi TN28, which is $34 at Parts Express, and the mid is Hi-Vi B4N 4, $19 at Parts Express. I know these re the drivers because:
A they look identical
B the owner of the company reviewed both of them (go to parts-express and click on these drivers, then scroll down to reviews and you will see the review by: Loudspeaker Engineer 12326.
Not sure what brand woofer it is. I do find it a little odd that this guy claims that his speakers (the HR-1) sound and measure better than $30k + speakers, yet he is using inexpensive components, but from my small amount of research and lack of technical experience to know any different, it does seem possible that Carl really knows what he is doing and was able to build an excellent speaker with inexpensive drivers.
So am I going to listen to these or buy them? Well, for $650-&800, they are very compelling, but at this time I cant justify it because there is just too many smoking mirrors not sure what he used for a crossover, although the evidence points to the fact that Carl knows his stuff, and the other issue is resale. Perhaps at some point I will bring myself to at least go have a listen to these, but for now, the verdict is out
this speaker appears to be the sum of inexpensive components that may have been executed well enough to form a very nice loudspeaker for the $. But not much more than that.
