The survival of the fittest.


I am constantly surprised at the vast number of speaker manufacturers. But many fall by the wayside. Plenty of reasons why they fail, but more interested in why certain makers continue to succeed.

Sound
Marketing
Fit and Finish
Price
Product availability
New technology
Manufacture association
Profit margin
Luck

I realize most of these in combination contribute but if you had to rank them my money is on the marketing and fit/finish, in that order with sound holding up the rear. Thoughts?
jpwarren58
Well let’s see the best one I know right now is Tekton, all made by Eric Alexander. To judge by sound they are the one thing you didn’t mention: value. The are an incredible bargain.

Marketing- no discernable marketing. Unless you count word of mouth, which is excellent.

Fit and Finish- I would classify Tekton as high end DIY. The value is in the sound not appearance.

Price- Covers a wide range from several hundred to around $15k with so many models people actually complain about too many to choose from.

Product availability- another one you don’t explain. If it means available in stores to hear then no, zero. If it means sitting around in inventory ready to ship then again no, more likely a few months wait.

New technology- Mixed bag. To one like me who takes the time to understand then its the first truly new technology in decades. To everyone else its a Bose 901 with tweeters. The technology is there just seems unusually hard for people to understand so we will count this one as a zero.

Manufacture association- lost me. Totally.

Profit margin- yeah it is kinda Job One, as you simply cannot keep making anything at a loss forever. Even Tesla will one day have to earn a profit. Well, maybe not Tesla. Elon is proving there is one born every millisecond. Eric makes enough to go drag racing AND have a track car. So I figure he must be turning a profit there somewhere.

Luck- The classic answer here is you make your own luck. By being prepared. Some of them might seem lucky. I bet every single one turns out they been working at it years if not decades before getting "lucky".

Read through the list again. You said sound leading up the rear? Quite the opposite.

Any chance you are projecting?




The Ohm website says they continue to be very busy and backlogged.  Ohm has quietly been around for almost 50 years now.  Started out as very successful  Tech HiFI house brand, then sold through other B&M chains,  then direct only since the mid nineties or so.   Of course the Ohm claim to fame is the unique Omni Walsh driver technology the company was initially built around.   Today they continue to provide upgrade parts and service for every model they have ever made.   They have a very loyal customer base built up over the years and rely largely on word of mouth and web spots for advertising.  Every model offers excellent sound and value.  A good product + value. + customer service = success.  All hand made in Brooklyn USA. 
It's all marketing obviously. What else is there? There are no measurements to prove performance so it's all just word of mouth and reviews. 

Do not buy high end speakers.