Your advice to speakers designers

The big Tannoys in the Prestige line do have a bit of a dated look to them, but at least they're not hideous, and they sound even better than they look.

I couldn't afford any of the Tannoys that would satisfy me, so I bought old drivers, designed my own cabinets, changed the foam surrounds to "Hard Edge", built outboard crossovers, and they weigh 192 lbs. each, w/o drivers or crossovers. I believe they would hold their own against almost any of the current Prestige line. They don't look too bad either, a bit utilitarian though.  

Regards,
Dan

My advice would be to re-vivify Roy Allison and build me a nice pair of computer speakers to fit in corners.

Beyond that, I'm happy with my Maggies - unless somebody can whip up some plasma

Aesthetics certainly matter but ...
I am just as much  , if not more so , interested in the internal design .
Why not build efficient speakers ?
There are quite a few of us who would rather go the low power amp route with out getting a second mortgage ! There are plenty of affordable low power amplifiers available but high efficiency speakers , not so much .
If the kit designers can do it ...why not the big boys ? They wouldn't have to redesign the whole line , just one or two offerings  .

Sure would be nice !

Take half the time you spend on the enclosure / aesthetics, and invest that in learning about crossovers.

Most people would come away shocked at how little most of today's loudspeaker builders understand about one of the most directly influential components of a speaker

@trelja Amen!

Far too much of what goes on day to day in the speaker biz seems to me to be based on tradition in one way or another - they’re are accustomed to doing certain things a certain way because that’s the way everyone else has always done them...even at times when the design is in other ways an attempt to appear innovative. If speaker manufacturers would spend less time trying to cash in on the latest speaker-design or appearance trends and focus instead on the ceaseless parade of the same, classic, ordinary design blunders I see repeated over and over, maybe then (at least we audiophiles) might be just as well or better served.

Sometimes it seems to me that speaker design is generally seen by manufacturers as something that should be dallied at - to pick from, cafeteria style, the long list of possible design elements - and come away with something that will separate their line or product from everything else out there...you know, you gotta have something to give you an edge in a crowded market - you know, like a gimmick. The idea of just doing what it may take to get everything right in a given design has seemed to have pretty much gone out the window.