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
@Mahgister: Tannoy made its name (and fortune) in PA equipment all the way back to the 1930s and really got going with military sales in WW2. The domestic audio line is successful, but I think PA equipment still pays the bills. Even so they are on their third owner, in the Philippines. Perhaps that is the secret of longevity; being sold to a larger foreign corporation, viz. Quad is now owned by IAG, and B&W is owned by Sound United.
Thanks for the info....

But i think their innovation (dual concentric) are there after all these years because they are very good also.... A myth in audio is rarely a complete lie....
He had had a couple pairs damaged in his showroom and he had several owners return them and demand warranty repair because they got damaged by a minor incident. I'm not sure if this is the major reason Apogee failed but it was certainly a factor.

Apogee didn't really fail they were bought out by ADS, and they didn't think there was enough profit in the speaker to continue the line.  Apogee didn't charge enough money for most of their speakers. The duetta 2 speaker was only $2300 when they made them.
FWIW, the earliest review of a Tekton Design speaker I found was in 2009 where they won a Best of 2009 award. So they've been around for at least 12 years.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0809/tekton_design_ob45.htm
Yes and it says in the review that Tekton had been around 4.5 years before the review. So call it 16 years. But the OP will change the rules again. That's not "survival of the fittest" see because in that time they didn't survive they grew. Or something like that. Never can tell with these Rorschach type threads.