Beyond Boutique Speakers

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. .
. 

Defining "boutique" is like defining "craft" in many other industries. Given the nature of the products, they all have to be produced using "hand-crafted" methods. Most companies aren’t public so unless you get a D&B on them, sales are unclear.

I like the idea of "having a personal relationship with your speaker maker" as a defining characteristic.

Incidentally, by any measure I am pretty sure my company fits (not sure if that is good or bad) so please add Verdant Audio to your list.

verdantaudio.com

Tyler Acoustics has many great reviews by owners but very little mention, and by that I mean no mention,  by the big hitter reviewers. He uses Seas drivers and his cabinets look great. I guess I’m going to have to drive to Kentucky and give them a listen!