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Design a $60,000 Speaker - Start here

Hi Everyone,

Just thought for interest I'd talk about one of the most expensive woofers in the 10-12" varieties, the Accuton AS250-88-552 CELL, actually an 11" aluminum honeycomb sandwich construction. Retail price at hobbyist volumes: $1,400, each.

In addition to the exotic material, the suspension and motor assembly are also worthy of note, as they leave a very large amount of unobstructed space directly behind the dome, allowing it to behave most ideally like a piston.

So putting this together into say a modest 3 way with all drivers from the same company and of the same level, I estimate around $6k / pair of speakers for the drivers alone. Add the normal markups, and this is a $60k speaker.

Will it sound any good? I have no idea. I just wanted to share with you all where some of these speakers that cost as much as a luxury sedan get their prices from.  Obviously, my estimates are rough, and go up and down. The point of this is just a general expose.

Best,


E

erik_squires
missioncoonery
1,216 posts
 

"Oh, I very much doubt the sound quality of your "cheap Tekton DI" woofers will hang together when driven hard in the same way this driver will perform. At moderate levels you could well be right but there is high fidelity and then there is truly HIGH FIDELITY and sometimes the difference can be as little as 3% at moderate levels or an extra 6db to 9db in clean SPL"


Kenny is the head cheerleader in the Tekton hype on this site,maybe he has a vested interest in the company (so I take his posts with a grain of salt),who knows but most Id say who know anything about drivers certainly wouldn't stand up and shout  for Eminence.

erik_squires OP
16,049 posts
 
I don’t think Monitor Audio and Accuton are comparable in terms of build cost.

Still, I am a big fan of Monitor Audio, and think that their price point is far too low for the build quality and design.

Making your own drivers is also a great marketing /cost cutting strategy. Since you make them, no one can compare driver costs like you can in say a WIlson or B&O or Sony, or an all Accuton speaker. Focal, B&W and Monitor Audio all take advantage of this somewhat. 

Best,

E
erik_squires OP
16,049 posts
 
About Tekton - 

I really really wish people would stop attacking them. I think their price point is good and design innovative. I can point to at least one store brand that IMHO sucks, uses cheaper parts than Tekton and is the absolute darling of Stereophile and many here. 

Tekton offers very good price performance with innovative features. They should be evaluated on their merits.

Best,

E
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@erik_squires   

+1 yes Tekton is excellent value for its performance and so is my Golf R but my Golf R is not a McLaren P1 and I would not begin to make comparisons of that sort as the Golf R is just not in the same league

Also Making speaker drivers allow you to make the very best - not just a marketing thing.




erik_squires OP
16,049 posts
 
While I did want to talk about prices of drivers, and how this drives speaker cost (more or less) I think we need to be very careful in ascribing quality or worthiness to a driver based on this alone.

While Accuton has amazing tech, I have never listened to an Accuton speaker I would love to listen to every day, all day. They are NOT my brand. That is a personal / hearing thing. It may also be who is attracted to building them, but every design I have heard is a little too hot for my ears.

You don’t want to be the listener who trains him/her self to listen for expensive. You want to listen for musical and enjoyable for your listening style and environment. Then you can find amazing values. Monitor Audio is one of those brands, but there are others.

Let me talk about a line of tweeters (ring radiators) to give a good example. The Scanspeak R2605 / Peerless XT25. They are not exactly clones but prices are comparable. The SS is slightly better in distortion. At around $40 - $60 each it occupies a price just above "bargain."

You will find this tweeter in designs (some now old) from Polk, YG Acoustics, Krell, Magico, Sonus Faber, and of course my own two free kits. Truth is it is a fantastic tweeter, at this price point. Compare the best Be drivers run around $500 each, with diamond around $1,500 each.

This is definitely a tweeter you could say "Oh, well that’s crap, it cost under $100" or you can shut up and listen.

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