Speaker manufacturers or box manufacturers with off the shelf drivers?


This is nothing new, it has existed for decades.  There are several good makers of speakers that make their own drivers and those that build boxes and put ScanSpeak or some other "purchased" drivers in their boxes.  

This is not ment to be demeaning or a put down, it is more of a question.  With so many speaker "builders" using off the shelf drivers...is this simply a "high-end" version of Radio Shack or are these legit high-end products? 

 I do not know if other manufactures sell their drive units to box manufacturers....


whatjd
Ahhh Kenjit....

I worked for a loudspeaker designer, and actually some of what Kenjit is saying has some truth to it. A cabinet with the side walls getting wider to the back, not norrower would actually help attenuate some of the standing waves within a loudspeaker cabinet. They aren’t really pretty looking though, and let’s face it, when showing off a system, looks often so very important to the investor. (understandable)

Mike whom I worked for does not design drivers, and with a slew of world class drivers literally designed by engineers with decades of craftsmanship to draw upon, he doesn’t have to. However as another designer indicated, sometimes the device doesn’t exist for your application (like Arion), then you really have to make it yourself.

**Arion, by the way I heard your amplifiers at our factory, pretty darned good stuff mate!**

Consider the fact that specialists are designing drivers, capacitors, resistors, terminals etc. It might not be a bad idea to source some of the best components that work well together using skill and experience, than to ignore what is out there and try your hand at beating the best that already exists.

MDF is pretty dense, and it’s uniform in it’s performance. Mike, he’s used HD3 (1.6 times denser than MDF) and now uses 4mm sprung steel plates laminated to the insides of his MDF cabinets. The steel plates are electrically connected to the ground terminals, Faraday cage and ground planes connected to the amplifier and then source. Using pure copper screws to absorb the ringing effect of the drivers against the baffle of the loudspeakers. Using copper as the speaker basket would also be optimum, why? Copper’s Youngs Modulus.

Many unknown designers of quality audiophile products simply don’t have the resources to compete with the larger scale manufacturers marketing budgets. However, when you do get to hear a real performer, you’ll never mistake it for the lesser. Some people like to use cars as an analogy, so I’ll use one that makes sense to me. Driving down the highway seeing beautiful muscle cars and sports cars, I never confuse them for being the pinnacle of performance, as I’ve been to drag strips and formula racing, there’s no mistaking it when you’ve really seen it.

No, I have worked with a clever designer who with experience, and the trial and error Kenjit spoke of make stellar devices. I am sure there are many who have invested the time and effort to be great at their craft, who just aren’t the marketing giants the big names are, and their products are known to a local community who are aware they exist.

Not many make there own drivers most have other make to spec. And if a company does make there own it doesn't give them that much of an advantage over using the production and design capabilities of the world's best transducer manufacturers. 
Progression of a speaker company:
1) Make from OTS drivers2) Have OTS drivers tweaked.3) Have driver company manufacture to your spec.4) Buy sub-components from driver companies and assemble.5) Full turn-key

Where you are in that progression is a function of volume, margin, exclusivity (ties back to margin), and business model, both yours and of available driver companies.

OTS drivers can be excellent, but you are limited to their parameters so it can be difficult if building a product family, as large volume companies do, that is "consistent".  Tweaking parameters on OTS can allow you to avoid a trade-off you really didn't want to make, or even change your cabinet size a bit for aesthetic reasons.

Building your own drivers is about differentiation, but also about controlling the margin stack, accepting less "profit" in one part of your operation to support another design decision.

If you have a high dollar high margin product, you may have more flexibility w.r.t. custom design at low volume as well.


Low cost custom MFG in Asia has changed business models as well. Where it may have made sense to bring it in-house before at a particular volume, now that volume is much higher as someone can do a somewhat full custom for you cheaper, similar to how many companies do not manufacture in house any more, at least for most subassemblies, unless really high volume.
@rixthetrick Unfortunately, it isnt as easy as using a bit of steel in the cabinets. If it was, EVERY company would be doing it even in their cheap speakers. The ML1s are horribly overpriced. And get bad reviews. You should read the stereomojo review. Absolutely horrible. There is nothing special about what Mike has done. it is an mdf box with some parts in there and all glued or screwed together. The steel plates dont require a genius to do. I could get some steel plates cut for me and then glue them in to ANY speaker. Do not be duped. 
OTS drivers can be excellent, but you are limited to their parameters so it can be difficult if building a product family, as large volume companies do, that is "consistent".

There are many OTS drivers on the market so there is no limitation of parameters.