The inductor on the woofer-midrange driver is hand wound and matched precisely to the needs of the driver, the box and the circuit. By winding his own inductors Osborn has the ability to dial in the crossover to the exact point where he wants it - no compromises by using off the shelf inductors with plus or minus specifications. Listening to this speaker is a visual experience. The beauty of the super minimalist design is in the unsullied way the music comes to the listener. A couple of crossover parts, and a couple of drivers just don't have the opportunity to screw things up - it's the closest thing to a phase coherent listening event that the industry has to offer.
Drawbacks are there to be sure, and they include a cap on loudness levels.
Slow roll off rates mean blown drivers, or so I've always been told. Never having had a tweeter blow in a speaker with a first order crossover, I can't personally say, but physics tell me it's true. What I generally hear in a speaker with a crossover such as this is a definite and recognizable harshness that sets in long before the tweeter sets sail for fried voice coil land. But I have found, that due to the additional clarity and power of persuasion that speakers with low order crossovers have, I tend not to turn them up so high. In other words, you can hear everything at lower levels.