Meadowlark Audio

Loudspeakers

Meadowlark Audio was an American loudspeaker company founded by Pat McGinty and based in New York State. Its speakers were named after birds, such as the Kestrel, Swift, Shearwater, Osprey and Blue Heron, and they were known for first-order crossovers and time-aligned designs with sloping front baffles. First-order crossovers keep the timing relationship between drive units intact, which Meadowlark believed made the music sound more coherent and natural, but they demand drivers that perform well over a wide range. Several models also used transmission-line bass loading. Meadowlark speakers were reviewed favourably in the American hi-fi press in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the Kestrel in particular was admired as a well-made, musical floorstander at a sensible price. The company ceased trading in the 2000s, and its speakers are now found on the second-hand market. Its emphasis on time-coherent design placed it alongside other American companies of the period that took a similar engineering-led approach, such as Vandersteen and Thiel.

Notable Meadowlark Audio products

• Kestrel
• Swift
• Shearwater
• Osprey
• Blue Heron