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Handcrafted Open Baffle Speakers
Set Your Music and Your Soul Free
Custom Audiophile Speakers by Stephen Merryweather · Elgin, Illinois
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Set Your Music and Your Soul Free
Custom Audiophile Speakers by Stephen Merryweather · Elgin, Illinois
Philosophy
I'm an artist. Whatever I do, whether I'm making art or not, I do as an artist. When I built houses, I built houses as an artist. When I am building speakers, I am building speakers as an artist, because that is who I am.
Sculptor. Musician. Recording engineer. Custom speaker builder.
Over 40 years of handcrafted sound. The medium changes. The artist doesn't.
The Stony™
The flagship open baffle speaker. Real stone on the front and base — dense and heavy, creating a solid launch pad for sound. When the drivers vibrate, the stone doesn't move. Beautiful and effective.
Five drivers. Working through a slot-fired design: the 10" woofers fire through a 2.5" slot, increasing velocity and pressure to project bass that open baffles aren't supposed to have. The Koupler™ waveguide crowns the top — a coherent high-frequency presence unlike any conventional tweeter.
Custom stone and reclaimed hardwood options available — from granite to Carrara marble, oak to cherry and walnut. Every pair built to order in Elgin, Illinois.
Dual 10" woofers · 4" midrange · 1½" AMT · Koupler™ waveguide w/ 1" compression driver
60–80 lbs each · 4–6 week lead time · Custom stone & wood options
From $6,999 / pair
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The Stonyette™
Same driver philosophy as the Stony — minus the AMT — at a more accessible price. The sound is remarkably close: a little less sparkle on the very top, but the core character, the openness, the musicality — it's all there.
Designed as a flat-pack that assembles like a puzzle. Pieces fit together and hold themselves in place. Veneered MDF and solid wood top keep materials affordable while looking beautiful. This is the MADO™ you can ship anywhere.
Custom veneer, exotic woods, and driver upgrades available.
Dual 10" woofers · 4" midrange · Koupler™ waveguide w/ 1" compression driver
Flat-pack design · Ships nationwide · Buyer assembly
From $3,999 / pair
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The Fork™
The Fork is an open baffle dipole speaker designed to disappear. High frequency comes from the top via a 2" compression driver with Koupler™ waveguide, and from the bottom via a center-mounted super tweeter. You hear the speaker as a unit — not as discrete sources. Close your eyes and all you get is a broad, seamless, cohesive soundstage.
A 15" dipole woofer pushes equally front and back. The two pillars rising like a fork aren't just sculptural — they're partial transmission lines, venting mid-bass from the top. All pro drivers, massively efficient, ready for your tube amp or high-end solid state.
15" open baffle dipole woofer · 2" compression driver · Koupler™ waveguide · Super tweeter
All pro drivers · High efficiency · Partial transmission line design
From $7,999 / pair
Learn More →When you close your eyes, it's very difficult to tell where the sound is actually coming from. You hear just a broad soundstage — very wide, very high, and very cohesive.
— Stephen Merryweather
The Kouplers™
MADO™'s most popular product — standalone super tweeters based on the Karlson waveguide. Add them to any speaker system and hear what coherent, wide-dispersion high frequency actually sounds like.
The Karlson slot "does for sound what lasers do for light" — making frequencies cohesive with extremely wide dispersion. Off-axis response barely changes. High frequency sounds the same at 3 feet and 30 feet. Nothing else does this.
The "K" in Kouplers™
A nod to John Karlson, who discovered the waveguide slot in the 1950s. He called them "air couplers" — they couple the driver with the surrounding air. Stephen has taken Karlson's concept further than anyone, developing a double-tube design with adjustable length through years of experimentation.
Why They Work
Conventional tweeters lose high frequency exponentially with distance — you have to sit in the sweet spot. The Koupler™ waveguide eliminates proximity effect entirely. Wide dispersion means everyone in the room hears the full range, from any position. No sweet spot required.
Introductory price starting at $550 / pair
Small enough to ship. In stock. The easiest way to experience the MADO™ difference.
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In the Wild
Craftsmanship
Stephen builds a prototype, listens, adjusts, listens again — until the speaker delivers everything available without reaching for it. Measurements come after, to confirm what his ears already know. No crossover is the best crossover. First-order only. No phase shift. Pure signal.
Every cabinet carries its own history. Custom stone, exotic veneers, Carrara marble — each pair built to the buyer's taste and space.
No box coloration. Sound radiates naturally front and back as a true dipole speaker. Slot-fired bass overcomes open baffle rolloff. The result: spacious, three-dimensional sound that fills a room — the hallmark of audiophile open baffle speakers.
Natural sound that presents the music as though the musicians are in the room. Not a horn — a waveguide that makes frequencies cohesive. Wide dispersion. Less proximity effect. High frequency that sounds the same at 3 feet or 30 feet. No other tweeter accomplishes this.
Hear Them
MADO™ speakers demoed at the Chicago Audio Society meeting, May 2023. Real room. Real audience. Hit play.
Deep Dives
Stephen is a featured guest — sharing decades of expertise on speaker history, restoration, and the craft of getting the best sound from classic and modern systems.
The Sound
Stephen Merryweather has spent four decades recording, reproducing, and refining sound. As a musician, he knows what live music feels like. As an engineer, he knows how to capture it. As a sculptor, he knows how to give it form.
A performing singer/songwriter who played Chicago's legendary Earl of Old Town. He voices with the ear of someone who's stood on stage — not just someone who's read the spec sheet.
Built a recording studio from the ground up in Nevada City, California. Produced albums for local artists including Scott Huckabay and Angelica. He knows how music is captured — and how it should be released.
Trained at the Art Institute of Chicago. "A sculptor or any artist is manipulating matter to their liking. I don't see a difference." The speakers are sculpture that happens to sound extraordinary.
Deep expertise in vintage Altec Lansing, RCA, JBL, and Klipsch. Member of the Chicago Audio Society. He learned from the classics — and redesigned what they got wrong.
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The Maker
His lifelong love affair with sound took off at age 12, when he heard "Take Good Care of My Baby" and fell in love — with music. He taught himself guitar on a borrowed instrument. It was more of an obsession than an interest.
After studying sculpture at the Art Institute and performing at Chicago's Earl of Old Town, he moved to California — where he built a recording studio from the ground up, produced albums, and homesteaded 20 acres with goats, chickens, and bio-dynamic farming.
Back in Illinois, he restored a 1920s Tudor home, started building speakers in an unheated two-car garage — rolling saws onto the driveway to work — and eventually moved into a 6,000 square foot workshop he shares with another cabinet maker. Forty-five years of sound, wood, and art, all converging into air disturbing objects.
I have to have creative input in whatever I'm doing or I'm not happy.
Experience MADO™
Every pair of MADO™ speakers is handcrafted and built to order. Contact Stephen to arrange a personal listening session at his workshop in Elgin, Illinois — just northwest of Chicago. Dim lights, great music, and custom audiophile speakers that make you sit down and stay.