Beyond Boutique Speakers

By all accounts Boenicke makes great speakers and has been reviewed by every major publication in the EU but since they have never had real distribution in the US no reviews. I don't think they qualify due to the sheer number of EU reviews plus an established EU dealer network.  Giant EU companies like Canton are the same way in the US.  They have a couple of US dealers and then Accessories4Less which is one of their outlets for discontinued products. 

I don't think they qualify due to the sheer number of EU reviews plus an established EU dealer network.

The criteria is if they’ve had a full review in Stereophile, which Boenicke has not.  That they may be well known in the EU is irrelevant to this thread. 

Well, Stereophile was a suggestion, in large part because their own criteria is that you have to have 3 dealers to be reviewed in their magazine, and it was based on the idea of Audiogon being a mostly US read site.

I’ll leave it to everyone else to help out here, and avoid bringing up the JBLs of another country here. No reason why you can't start a different thread for them.

I think so long as we bring exposure to these ultra low volume makers it’s a win.

Best,

E

Stereophile had at least one article on Janszen loudspeakers
(https://www.stereophile.com/content/janszen-and-exasounds-superb-sound) but not a full review. They have no dealers. All orders are directly through David Janszen.

Many choices go into (or *can* go into) an order. In my case, we got down to discussing cat-resistant front grilles, as well as the possibility of making an active set that supports use of an outboard DAC.  

But here's a (disqualifying?) full-on review in Part-Time Audiophile:
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2016/08/26/review-janszen-valentina-active/ 

The Janszen family has been making loudspeakers for decades but have built only about 40 pairs in the model I ordered. I consider them a boutique company; am still not sure what "beyond boutique" means.  Presumably, it needs to be a real company with an ordering process and standard models with published specs. All that will tend to invite reviews, eventually (if the company stays in business and its products are worth reviewing).

Personally I think way too much attention has been focused on cabinet, style, looks.
My main concern, especially at my age today, is cabinet weight.
AS I’ve mentioned here, my limit on consideration of a speaker choice is 80 lbs max. I can lift 80,,or at least half drag/carry.
I plan to add a 2nd speaker next year, after i recover my paypal debt from investment in a failed tube flipping business.
will be the Seas Bifrost,,, I plan to build my own cabinets out of oak , like stair treads from Home Depot.
I think we need to reconsider speakers and pay more attention to the quality parts in the xovers.
With my new Thor /Mundorf xovers,, I can tell you caps make a huge impact on speakers performance.
I am about to swap out 2 more caps, from EVO going to Supreme EVO, 8.2’s, list at $220 each, so its a big investment, but i’m guessing the nuance payoff will be worth it.

Back to OP, I agree with Erik, folks should look/consider beyond the commercial venue  when purchasinga  speaker.
The 3 cabinet makers Erik posted all offer beautiful designs at a  lot less cost vs commercial labs price bloated  price offerings, not to mention they can be <customized>> to your requests. .
.