What prevents DIY speakers to become the ultimate?


I am talking about DIY companies (North Creek, Zalytron, GR research and so on)and possible real DIYers.

We can get the best drivers on the market (Scanspeak, Sears and so on) and Ultimate parts (Hoveland, Alphacore and so on).

Why the sounds of DIY is not the ultimate (or at least very closed to the up scale (say..>10K) speaker?

The total brain power (= total # people with good brain)of the DIY speakers may be less than the comercial speakers, but I don't think they are any less stupid either.

The only thing I can think of is the cabinets. Comercial one may have better access to get a better design (computerized and so on), but can't think of any other things.

I know one reason that DIY speakers are not as popular is probably the low resale value, but not sure if it has anything to do with the quality.

Also I have heard a lot about DIY speaker being good or excellent, but never heard the real comparison (i.e. DIY speaker model A is better than Thiel or Dynaudio (an so on) model B or something or at least price-wise. Is it just that they don't have a direct A/B access or just that they are in fact not really that good?

Love to hear more about this.

Ake
ake
I'm interested in making my own speakers as well. I'm not interested in engineering my own- nor am I interested in re-inventing the wheel. I understand that the Thor is a solid design, are there others? Is there a short list of Best DIY kits or designs.
Northcreek notwithstanding, a non-dedicated non-OEM can't buy tight-production tolerance drivers required for superb-imaging, ultranatural response. As alluded above, the best manufactures have custom-made drivers specced within a tight sensitivity window, and even then sometimes pair-match them. (Verity even jeeps a response curve on each midrange for replacement if needed!)
It's a given that Madisound, Solen, etc, get the outer 2/3 or so of a given driver run! I've built a couple of 2 and 3-ways, and once I heard a midrange voicing change of only 1/3dB over 1.5 octaves during a crossover massage, I gave up, knowing that I'd NEVER be able to afford drivers that well matched! This is by far the largest impediment to DIY
ULTRA-high quality production. Though a reseller can sit there and wade through a box of drivers, sorting their sensitivity with a Radio Shack SPL meter, and then selling so-called "matched pairs", that's only going a short way to providing yje standardization required, 'cause you gotta do it with the crossovers next!
Tweeters and caps are notoriously wayward in spectral response. When I heard Verity Audio's midrange, I cried, and now have a couple crates of nice big inductors, caps, resistors, etc., if anyone wants 'em for a dime on the dollar! Spendor, Revel, Snell, and even Boston (!) do a VERY creditable job of pair-matching and building to a target reference with decent precision. Who's going to build us DIY'er some clones to work with? I'll stick to power cords and other non-transducer components....
My hatsoff to those still trying!
Although tempting,I passed on DIY kits...it is hard to justify spending $500-600 on a pair of DIY monitors when you can buy a very good pair of used monitors for that kind of cash...such as the SPendor 3/5,QUad 11L,etc...and be certain of the outcome.. today even $500-600 new will still get you very good sound... w/ alot less headaches...
I spent about $1400 on a pair of DIY speakers, and am extremely pleased with the outcome. I built a set of Voigt Pipe cabinets from oak, and loaded in a set of Lowther EX3 single drivers. The sound is exactly what I was looking for, and the job was quite easy. Didn't have to worry about building a crossover, because I didn't need or want a crossover in my speaker system. Just one, fullrange driver per channel, with point source radiation. No problems, very happy, saved money.