Notable very small loudspeaker companies (other than Tekton!)


Let's give a shout-out to those very small speaker companies that make excellent products.  I'm thinking of true one-man operations (owner-designer-maker) as well as very small ones (owner-designer + a very few employees).

My nominees: Ryan, Prana, Philharmonic, Fritz, Watkins, Vaughn, Chapman, even Daedalus, Salk, Selah.

Who else belongs in this list?

How do they manage to compete with the "big boys", in quality if not in quantity?


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So the questions remains, how do many of these tiny companies rival and sometimes surpass the likes Revel, B&W and others?  Is it the genius of the individual designer?  A speaker "auteur", rather than a gaggle of cooks.
Of the ones on your list I've owned Salk, Philharmonic, and Selah. They compete by using off-the-shelf drivers (or slightly modified), excellent crossover design and, with Salk, phenomenal custom woodworking.  On the finance side, their R&D department is their own time/sweat, their marketing department is their customers and, finally, they sell direct.
I just bought a pair of Alta Audio Rhea Floorstanders and they were not made in UTAH believe it or not. They were made in Connecticut. Based on what I have heard and read, they make extremely good speakers. $1500 to $250,000 range.

http://alta-audio.com/#collections