The Airframe and New Corners: Better Because We Listened
- LP
- Mar 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 10
The Variable Nobody Talks: Grill Cloth and Frequency Response
The original Quasar shipped with grill cloth. It performed well — and grill cloth is what every cabinet manufacturer uses, for practical reasons that are easy to understand. It protects the speaker, presents a clean aesthetic, and it works. At launch, the priority was the acoustic architecture: the port tuning, the CNC construction, the bracing, the materials. That's where the real differentiation was, and that foundation delivered exactly what it was designed to.
But as the product matured and the standard for precision got higher, the question shifted. Not "is this acceptable?" but "is this the best we can do?" For a cabinet built on eliminating acoustic variables, having one sitting right in front of the speaker — one we didn't control and couldn't make consistent between units — became harder to justify.
Grill cloth is standard, but, that was never going to be enough of a reason to keep it.
It interacts with sound!
Any fabric placed in front of a loudspeaker behaves as a porous acoustic layer. Even so-called "acoustically transparent" cloth introduces measurable high-frequency attenuation — typically fractions of a decibel to a couple of dB in the upper frequencies when measured on-axis. The effect is often small, but it exists.
What on-axis measurements don't fully reveal is the off-axis picture. Cabinet measurements are typically taken with a microphone placed directly in front of the speaker — the standard reference point. But grill cloth affects off-axis response more significantly than it does on-axis affecting that feeling of spaciousness. At angles, the attenuation can be broader and more pronounced.
More importantly: textile manufacturing tolerances are not audio-grade tolerances.
Weave density varies. Thread thickness varies. Tension during installation varies. Over time, cloth stretches and compresses. The result is that two cabinets, built to the same specification, with the same speaker and the same port tuning, can measure differently at the top end depending solely on which bolt of cloth was used.
For many manufacturers, this is acceptable. For a cabinet built around acoustic precision, it is a variable worth eliminating.
Some players wrote back asking exactly the right questions — detailed comparisons, careful listening impressions, technical observations about high-frequency response. The kind of feedback that only comes from people who listen carefully enough to notice what most people never would.
Those conversations confirmed something we'd been considering since day one: for a cabinet built on acoustic precision, any variable outside our control — including what sits in front of the speaker — is worth solving.
And the practical reality of grill cloth on a working cabinet speaks for itself: it stretches over time, catches on cases and racks, and what looks pristine off the production line shows the wear of real use. For a cabinet designed to last the life of a career, that wasn't good enough either.
The Airframe
We wanted to solve both problems at once: acoustic consistency and real-world durability. The answer wasn't a different cloth. It was no cloth at all.
The Airframe is a rigid, precision-machined powder coated open structural frame that replaces the grill cloth panel entirely. It mounts flush to the baffle, protects the speaker from accidental contact, and introduces no fabric-based acoustic filtering.
Speaker → Air. Nothing in between.
From an engineering standpoint, this does three things:
- Removes fabric-related high-frequency attenuation
- Eliminates batch-to-batch textile variation
- Prevents long-term stretching or cosmetic degradation
The frame geometry provides structural rigidity without adding meaningful weight. Its open architecture allows the speaker to operate without obstruction while still providing physical protection.
One thing worth being direct about: a small amount of edge diffraction is inherent to any structure placed in front of a driver. But compared to woven cloth attenuation, the acoustic impact is negligible — and crucially, it is consistent from unit to unit. Consistency is the point.
If two Quasars are built with the same wood, the same speaker, and the same port tuning, they should behave the same. The Airframe helps ensure that.
Aesthetically, it is a different statement entirely. The speaker is visible. The front is architectural. The cabinet becomes more instrument than box — the kind of thing you put on stage and people ask about before you've plugged in.
Function and identity align.
TPU Corners — Impact Resistance, Reconsidered
While refining the front, we addressed another consideration: corner protection.
Traditional metal corners are strong, but they rust and deform permanently under heavy impact. Once dented, they remain dented — and can transfer concentrated impact force directly into the wood beneath.
The updated Quasar uses TPU corners — thermoplastic polyurethane. TPU is widely used in protective equipment and high-impact applications because it combines toughness with elasticity. Instead of permanently deforming, it absorbs and distributes impact energy, then returns to its original shape.
What makes TPU particularly well-suited to the real world of live music is how it handles not just broad impacts but sharp ones. TPU deforms locally around the contact point and recovers. The corner takes the hit so the cabinet doesn't.
The practical advantages:
- Elastic absorption of both broad and sharp-point impacts
- Reduced stress concentration at panel edges
- Lower mass compared to metal hardware
- No rattle
Baltic birch is strongest in panel form and most vulnerable at edges. The TPU corners reinforce exactly where impact risk is highest.
Durability should not degrade with use. It should remain stable over the life of the cabinet.
Built with You
This is what we think a product relationship should look like.
You play the cabinet on stage, in the studio, on the road. You live with it in ways we can't simulate in a workshop. When you share what you experience — the sharp observations, the honest suggestions, the detailed technical questions — you become part of how the product evolves.
It's worth saying something about how quickly this happened.
A large manufacturer cannot update a product in response to customer feedback on a timescale that matters. Fixed production runs, retail inventory commitments, supplier lead times, and distribution channels mean that by the time a change makes it into a product, years have passed and the conversation that prompted it is long forgotten.
We build to order, in small batches, with direct control over every component. That's not a limitation — it's a capability. When feedback points clearly in a direction, we can move. The Airframe and TPU corners exist because that feedback came in, and because the way Rawrawk is built means it could actually change what ships.
The Quasar's acoustic engineering, CNC construction, port tuning, and glue-only joinery remain exactly as designed. That foundation was right from the start. The Airframe and TPU corners are what happens when you hold every element of a product to the same standard — and when the way you build gives you the freedom to act on it.
Several people wrote to us. Some were brief. Others were deeply analytical. Every one was read carefully.
This is how products mature — not through marketing cycles, but through iteration, measurement, and conversation.
If you have thoughts on what comes next — keep them coming.
The updated Quasar with Airframe and TPU corners is available now.
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