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I feel bad for speaker manufacturers

Think about it. If you were going to start a company that manufactures audio components, which would you pick? Arguably the worst business to get into would be the speaker business. Right? First, it’s painstakingly hard to market a new speaker that can break through in today’s ultra-competitive environment. Second, the development costs are relatively high because you have to invest in expensive cabinetry (at least on the high end) , electronic components, and drivers. And except for bookshelves, you have to absorb or charge so much more to get your product to your customers because of the relatively large size and heavy weight of the product. Third, and again especially if you have any floor standing speakers of any size, which, let’s be honest, any speaker company that wants to make money will have to have, you have to pay to hump these things to shows around the country and likely internationally as well.

Now let’s compare the life of a cable manufacturer. Let me state up front that I am a big believer that cables, interconnects, digital cables, and power cords can make a big difference in the ultimate sound of an overall system. Tires on a car, right? And yes, they also have several variables to deal with: silver, copper, tinned, dielectric, shielding, connectors, cryogenic, etc. But they’re all small, light, and relatively cheap. You can ship your product for next to nothing with almost no risk of damage, and you can travel to audio shows carrying all of your wares pretty much in a medium-sized backpack. Oh, and then there’s this. While speaker manufacturers are lucky if they can retail their products for four to six times their cost of production, cable manufacturers get to retail their wares for ten, twenty, or even fifty times or more of their manufacturing cost. There’s the well-worn tale of speaker manufacturers coming to shows in a rented minivan while cable manufacturers show up in Ferraris. It’s sad but funny because there’s some truth to it. I credit @erik_squires with generating this thread because in his recent thread he made me think about how hard it is to successfully create and market a truly successful speaker today. Anyway, it almost seems unfair, especially since speakers contribute so much to the ultimate sound of our systems while cables, while crucial, contribute RELATIVELY much less. What say you?
soix
janpro
21 posts
 
I sadly agree completely with Soix' post.

Far gone are the days of innovative inventions, these days when OEM-manufacturers came up with a new line of improved drivers once or twice a year, and countless small companies spread up with new ideas about improved response, dispersion, time alignment and minimalized distortion.
Verdicts changed daily, and the self-acclaimed audiophiles had to fight some kind of Laokoon's struggle with the snakes to hold their ground.

In these days (until 1992) I ran a speaker developing and building business here in Germany. My products were easy to integrate in all kinds of living rooms and soundwise stood the test of time- still up to date.

But things have changed, especially when the market split up in two directions: On the one hand the high gloss-/low tech-companies using handsome speakers/drivers of far-east production to take their mass products into the malls and on the other hand these tinkers afflicted with conceit, turning out every little detail of their speaker to show how much better they are than anybody else on the market- and the purchasers clap enthusiastically.

Is there any way out of this mess?

Maybe- but only with regionally offered high-end niche products, not with speakers for amps providing several hundred watts before they come to life. But that requires a rethinking towards listening habits and listening abilities…

Jan
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

"My problem with speakers is that too few suppliers offer something that is unique and beautiful enough to be shown off yet integrated into the living room."

My conversations with clients and reviewers have been exactly along these lines over the last year. Recently clients and couple of reviewers have brought my speakers into their places and have given me the feedback that every speaker designer dies to hear. Unique, logical, cost effective and sexy. It's interesting to have been getting high end home designers calling along with reviewers telling me want they have been wanting me to do. Just really started with the most recent Rev6 craze. "creating a huge soundstage twice the size of my Sonus with such a small box" is one that I don't mind saying because it is published by someone else. The same comments have been made in reference to several super costly HEA brands vs the new Rev line. The instrument looking and sounding speaker is starting to be asked for by private mini show sponsors. We're doing those mini shows now and am excited for the feedback to continue. We have been seeing HEA run it's course of male fatal attraction for many years and the corner is being turned by the smaller size Class D movement and also the streaming revolution. For me this is perfect timing and I believe I'm not alone by any means. Big soundstages with smaller low mass boxes and the move toward tunable technology, pretty darn sweet and it's the industry who is asking for it, that's nice!

Michael Green

http://www.michaelgreenaudio.net/

buckhorn_cortez
81 posts
 
The speaker that made Ann Arbor, Michigan famous!
 Yeah...because NO ONE would associate the University of Michigan with Ann Arbor...it took a stereo speaker to really put the city on the map...sure...
passet02's avatar
passet02
267 posts
 
DCM Time frame speakers oh yes the best .You just made my day . I paid 550 for mine . Hope not getting any dealers in trouble ? Their all dead or in a Nursing Home .by now.
whitethorn
1 posts
 
I’m not sure my comments fit this discussion as it has morphed into other areas. But I’d like to say that a good design is a good design. Many are timeless. Hence the market for vintage audio. I still remember living above the Opus One audio shop in Indiana PA while I was at college and wandering down to hear the large advent loudspeakers. I flipped a lot of burgers to do it, but still was able to afford a pair. Later on; when I was in the USAF, I met John Dahlquist at the Overture audio store in Wilmington DE and later when stationed in Japan was able to afford a pair on a sergeant’s salary (luckily the base exchange shipped them for free). Those speakers are still sought out today and people spend a great amount of time and effort to keep them working. There are still some surprising designs out there that should stand the test of time, the Paradigm Atoms come to mind. There are also those one and done companies that had a hit, but couldn’t continue like Spica and either failed or were absorbed by others. I loved the SC-50 the first time I heard them. Back to the discussion and no more reminiscing. I believe that a good design will win out. Tough though the market is. One current problem for the newby speaker manufacturer is the lack of small audio stores out there to demo your stuff. If you can’t convince the large stores to carry a new product, and no one can hear your stuff on Amazon, how do you get people to know you. Some have gotten around this by offering in home demo time periods with free return shipping, but that is costly to the new manufacturer. But I’m always out looking for the next great thing I cannot live without. As far as the cable argument goes, I’m for good quality, large conductor, and no funny stuff. I got a bunch of AudioQuest interconnects when a local audio store went out of business, they work fine. Digital cables aside, there is no reason to spend a lot of money on those as a one can be no better a one than a one can be, and zero is a zero. And, I build my own speaker cables. Currently I run B&W 802s3 and Matrix 1s in my TV room, B&W 805s in my office, Dynaudio Contour S3.4s in the livingroom, DQ10s in the bedroom, Dynaudio Excite X18s in the guestroom, and a bose lifestyle 20 in my woodshop in the basement. Oh, and there is a pair of Paradigm Atom v5s sitting and waiting to go with my folks when they sell their house and move into the retirement facility.
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