I’m not the expert here when it comes to this!
Well this is an interesting topic. I had a conversation once with another audiophile who said a box store salesperson told them that "X" brand of speaker were no good because they use "off the shelf" drivers. Hmm I thought, that’s interesting because most speaker manufacturers do. The magic comes in how those drivers are implemented, the design of the cabinet itself ie. bracing, time alignment etc., the cabinet materials used, crossover design and voicing of the speaker. Not everyone can afford to design & build their own drivers.
Salk Sound & Daedalus are examples of small manufacturers who build wonderful speakers but use "off the shelf" drivers. If you want a truly hand built design from cone material up, look at Voxativ. Then compare the prices! Still other manufacturers have driver companies build drivers to their specs. Which is better? I guess you have to let your ears decide.
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Well, at one time a Pontiac, Olds and other "long gone" GM cars had their own engines....then they became the same Chevy engine and chassis with different grills and bumpers..and Wow, guess what happened, imported car sales became very real, so perhaps some American consumers can think for themselves. At one time many of the world's leaders were driven around in Packards and other American cars, but as the film "Tucker" displayed, without anti-trust laws being enforced, many will make different choices. Much of what I feel is/was the true spirit of this countries values/thoughts are in the poetry or book of "The Road Less Traveled" "The Road Not Taken" BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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@whatjd
As a lifelong Michigan resident your words are so true. My father worked at one of those engine plants and I recall when a whole new one was built. Each GM manufacturer had their own unique twist to their designs. Then the idea of a "platform" emerged with chassis and drive train all the same and only cosmetic differences in body style. It did lead to economies of scale but also made cars far more bland. I have no problem with a speaker manufacturer using off the shelf components so long as they are implemented on a creative way or have their own special tweaks.
Loved the poem btw!
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well, are you familiar with cost of entry to an industry? off the shelf drivers could be state of the art vs a small company trying to make their own drivers. its similar to a small company trying to build a jet plane. since many of the established driver manufacturers have been around for decades and have already done the R&D, why bother even competing with then unless you have a significant advantage somehwere? (ie: alien provided materials technology no one else has).
secondly, the box...is what shapes the sound, like a instrument cabinet. body of a guitar, or a chello. significant work involves in the shaping and building of it, which is easier than building the drivers. you can buy 3d simulation software to simulate the internal volume etc, plus if you have good machining or carpentry skills, you can build them. if its just a box, then that Radio Shack, but high end boxes are layers of dense materials from wood to carbon fiber to metal. |
Scanspeak drivers are great, by the way. Not the totally off the wall high priced spread, but really good. |
