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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
soundsrealaudio's avatar
soundsrealaudio
756 posts
 
I wouldn't necessarily start with the drivers. First I would get rid of the MDF. 
soundsrealaudio's avatar
soundsrealaudio
756 posts
 
Ralph
I think the implications of an aerodynamically designed speaker is foreign to most. A major goal of a good driver must be to deal with the back waves of sound. Having them bounce off the basket and back through the paper thin cone is just not acceptable. The designer should make every effort to allow those waves to easily pass all the driver components to reach the dampening material of the cabinet or the cabinet walls. 
I know of two companies that do this. Vivid Speakers and Wilson Benesch. Wilson Benesch Uses a wind tunnel test on their drivers and computer models to make sure they maximize the flow of air. I think this is real advancement in speaker design. 

Jim
erik_squires OP
16,004 posts
 
Monitor Audio seems to have done a lot of work to make this happen more easily in cost effective fashion.

Accuton has completely transformed the definition of motor and coil in their latest mid-woofer drivers. The first driver I posted about has very limited basket at all, and this one, has essentially no basket at all:

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/woofers/accuton-c168-6-990-7-ceramic-cone-mid/bass/

Best,

E
soundsrealaudio's avatar
soundsrealaudio
756 posts
 
Here is what Wilson Beseech is doing. 

http://wilson-benesch.com/products/endeavour-stand-mounted-loudspeaker.html

They are using two drivers in clam shell configuration. The driver that projects music/sound into the room is not facing the listener but rather the speaker. The website shows the woofer but the midrange also incorporates the same technology not the clam shell. This is what real engineering looks like, not just shiny drivers or driver coated with zircons.  

The views I represented above are really my view, and may not represent those of the masses. 


erik_squires OP
16,004 posts
 
Re Wilson Benesch:

This is a 2.5 way speaker system, with an isobaric woofer.  Moderately interesting.

The woofer has 2x the motor strength, and the configuration minimizes asymmetry.  The 2.5 way helps eliminate baffle step issues, and improves sensitivity. The 0.5 way indicates the mid has no low pass filter, and the woofers add additional bass.

As for "real engineering" well, OK then. I think it's creative, and drivers sure look pretty. I have never heard a pair.

I discount ANY literature that claims small drivers are the way to get deep, low distortion bass however, but still, a 2.5 way with 7" drivers is probably pretty well balanced.

Best,

E
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