Speakers that are a great value!


I’ve been researching off the shelf speaker drivers quit a bit lately and smaller speaker companies as well.  I’ve been finding that companies like Fritz, Salk and Tekton offer incredibly well priced products.  I’m finding that with certain models, there really only appears to be small profit margin.  I understand that when you buy large quantities of drivers, you can get a small discount but still.

For instance, I’m seeing speakers that sell for $2000 might have $700 worth of drivers in them.  When you add in $100-$200 worth of crossovers, $100-$200 in cabinets, $50 for miscellaneous components like binding posts, damping material, wiring, solder or connectors you come up to around $1200 worth of raw components. Now add in labor to construct the boxes, possibly put veneer on them, solder and put together crossovers, install drivers and then ship the speakers, the value is really quite good.  I haven’t even talked about obtaining the woodworking tools to do such a product, rent on a building, utilities on that building and the labor costs if you have any employees. 

My point to all this is to open a discussion and to help people understand that there may only be a $400 profit margin on a $2000 pair of speakers.  I think that these are an exceptional value at full asking price and that should be taken into consideration when thinking about buying speakers from these manufacturers.  
I sometimes hear that these speakers are overpriced and that the value is not good and I would tend to strongly disagree!  
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There are speakers that in the way they are constructed and priced represent an intrinsically good value, and then there are speakers being offers in crazy deals that end up representing good value.

Occasionally, the two coincide.

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/wharfedale-denton-80th-anniversary-bookshelf-speakers-pr

I’d like to hear a shootout between $10k Ohm 5015s and 800k Magico M9s.  I see value potential there. 
Hi kenjit,
Any drama needs a great antagonist.
Your inimitable style has certainly injected controversy and drama into many speaker threads.
I must say that your current comments regarding fine tuning being central to a speaker that sounds right is right. IMO, a great speaker needs a brilliant designer to “cook” all ingredients together to make a speaker to sound just right. Drivers, enclosures, crossovers and the “special sauce” to produce a great speaker. But as in food, some love the taste of some and some do not.
And all those objective measurements have little or nothing to do with the subjective feelings of what sounds more “right”.
Steve59  I am interested in purchasing the Von Schweikert VR9 MKII at $35,000 which retailed for about $100,000 versus the new Ultra 55 at the same current price.  The former is easy to drive with 100 watts or less (95 db efficiency) versus the new speaker which needs double that (88 db efficiency).  the VR9 has incredible adjustability to any room (despite my room's superior acoustics) while the Ultra 55 has the latest VS technology and parts/wiring.  So, I will probably continue to purchase used speakers that are "last year's model" than new models.  While the Tektons are a great deal, they are better voiced for single seat listening.  The VRs are voiced for 4 or 5 great sounding seats in the room.