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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
 
So what kind of testing is done on the driver material. Both listening tests and tests for distortion and resonance. All these different materials, surely some must be better then others. 
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
I know a few companies use laser technology to be able to read how the cones are responding to various things.  Some are even posted on Youtube for you to see.  
willmacc's avatar
willmacc
80 posts
 
Bump...  Sonus Faber..  the drivers on some of their lesser range look pretty cheap. I dont esp like the sound from the base tweeter they use.
Back to 60k speakers, that 11" accuton is a beast! But why 8 ohm? The parameters call.for a large box, so 2 in parallel to get a decent sensitivity rating wd mean well over 100 litres..
Another option is isobaric, using the excellent SB 9.5" satori woofer. Best ’rear end’ of any driver imo.
steve59's avatar
steve59
1,680 posts
 
Greed makes the world go round, desire feeds it. We control our desire and greed fails. Whatever we buy, its price is determined by what the market will bear and that has nothing to do with value.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
o_holter
969 posts
 
I have an Audiokinesis speaker system (2 front and 2 effect speakers) where most of the cost has gone into the design, cabinets and crossovers - the drivers are quite standard (but selected) pro-sound drivers. Thereby,. the cost of these speakers are kept reasonable.

Formerly I had the Dynaudio flagship speaker, the Consequence, with more costly drivers. In my case (with a quite large room), the Audiokinesis system sounds better, it plays better "with" the room, but this may also be due to not giving my Consequence enough power. Even with a huge Krell FPB600 amp! So yes, I could get good sound, but only at full power, and even then, two Krells would have been better. Good drivers, in an over-controlled speaker, may not be the best bet. On high decibel levels, I got what I wanted, the Krell going into pure class A operation (auto-adjusting) and the speakers STARTING to dance and sing. But then the neighbours came complaining. The Audiokinesis system doesn’t have quite the refinement. But it plays better with the room, and in my context. So I don’t look back.
A plus with speakers with moderate cost or standard drivers is the DIY factor - it is possible to experiment, without spending large amounts of money. I changed to PRV compression drivers in my Audiokinesis system. Not as good as beryllium drivers, probably - but a step up, for low cost.
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