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
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.
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.
60k speakers is veblen goods territory. Anything for home use priced like that is - IMNSHO.
PS. 60k worth of home equipment carries the annual secondary carbon footprint of 20 tons of CO2 ( connected to the manufacture). Add the electricity used for the operation and its carbon footprint.
Not to take away from Eric's thread, but completely related, imo. A question for Eric, and the rest of you. One of the best and significant speakers of all time, especially for the money, were the Dahlquist DQ10s. None of those drivers were costly. Same woofer as in the Advent. Brilliant design, engineering, and thinking outside the box ( no pun intended ). And, a 5 way design. Carl Marchisotto, Jon Dahlquist, and a few others, all involved. How was it they sounded as good as they did ? I could imagine a re-do of that speaker, using the best drivers, best crossover components, a heavier mass box and frame, etc. I had a few pair in my life, and enjoyed them, with larger ss amplifiers. Opinions please. Or, should I start a separate thread ?
I have been told the diamond tweeter in the Tidal Contriva is $10.000.00 at thats not even there top of the line speaker. Im not sure I agree with speakers are the most over priced component' perhaps at certain price levels your correct but have you seriously looked at or heard Tidal speakers, the workmanship, Duelund xover parts, drivers. I cant even imagine how much those xovers cost alone.There are a few other manufacturers that belong at this level.