The Snob Appeal Premium

I am not sure if it was the CF 4 or an earlier number. I was a professional high-end furniture maker for 15 years and know what I am looking at. The Ebay seller who had the CF listed provided a photo of the interior of the cabinet which showed more clearly than the exterior shot that the cabinet was made of strips of solid, quartersawn white oak about 3-4 inches wide. Some of the gluelines had not been throughly cleaned up of squeeze out. I should have bought it then - $1,300.00 as I recall.

I suspect there was a small run of these solid wood boxes as the CF series was not popular anyway with dedicated Klipsch fan because the series did not stick to the "original sound," and building a solid wood box would not have been economical at all.

Klipsch Solid Wood Cabinets

This may explain the CF solid wood cabinet I saw on Ebay.

In my view, we should be celebrating the efforts of those that have commited the talent and resources to produce cost-no-object examples of the best our industry can offer. There are ultra expensive products produced from a multitude of categories that appeal to those without financial or physical constraints. Having exquite examples of products within a catagory we are passionate about (high end audio) should put smiles on our faces that will take plastic surgery to remove.

Most "mortals" operate in a "this" OR "that" universe, where we need to make choices, and priorties need to be set up in accending order. Others want highly competant performance wrapped in a package that appeals esthetically accompanied by a stroke of industrial design genius. Then there are others who have a wherewithall to buy multiple copies of the (ultra expensive) item for each of their homes, and gift a pair (or, two) to friends and family. but still choose to apply a modest, high value competant to their purchase(s) because it is, well, who they are.

Mega expense products don’t always get it right. It could be a rigid design philopsy that leaves them short, or just plain gaps in their knowledge base. It is improper to assign less than admirable intent to a designer/manufacturer when we see (sometimes obvious) areas where resources were misapplied -- in our view.

As we seen in the past, "flagship" products have introduced "newer thinking" that has found its way into the mainstream. So, those "snob appeal" products do, in fact, provide a level of pragmatic injection for the "rest of us."

Lets raise our glasses (and cueing mechanisms?) to acknowledge those who put it all out there to produce the best of the best in our industry. While we’re not all better for it, some of us certainly are.

fyi- I was introduced to the concept of floating/balanced crossovers by a promenent speaker manufacturer years ago, and have never looked back.

I had to read the OP a couple times to understand. Congrats on the Bryston's!  You compared resale value to B&W. Buying used or 'B' stock like you did is the only way to save yourself the gut punch of retail markup. When I consider how much of my money goes to taxes directly and indirectly then how much goes to retail markup I really wonder what we're going to do when we run out of countries to exploit! First world problems baby.

I gather your 'snob appeal' comment comes from B&W having better resale than Bryston speakers. Lets flip it tho'. If B&W started making conventional power amps I doubt they'd carry the same reputation Bryston amps have developed over the years.

We all have our own line drawn as to where we decide how much we'll spend for a specific feature or compliment of features. There's a whole forum dedicated to how a loudspeakers 'spins' are more important than how it sounds. There's experts stating the first dac's are audibly indistinguishable (spell check saved me on this one)from anything else newer that wasn't designed flawed. Some people look at me strangely and ask "so, you just sit in a chair and listen?" truly confused, because to many music is a tool to aid us in our chores, jobs, etc, but not an actual hobby in itself. 

@jtgofish 

Are Hardwood Speakers Really Bad?

There is a way to make hardwood speakers that might be tractable, but the front and back baffles have to be made of MDF or ply. Correct grain orientation of the sold wood panels eliminates contrary seasonal wood movement.

As this maker in the video above shows cabinet resonance can be obviated with damping materials. Also, a great many DIY'ers use wood braces. Granted, these are relatively small in cross-section, so wood movement is not much of an issue. I only mention it because sold wood has it's uses in cabinet construction - it's not automatically some bug-a bear.

Also, solid wood cabinets are easier to finish than veneered cabinets which can be finicky because of the thinner and thinner veneers being used. If the factory finish is something like poly then the strippers needed can soak through the veneer and loosen the underlying glue. If these refinishing process is not the first rodeo and previous refinishing involved sanding the veneer, then you can get perilously close to sanding through the veneer which is a mini-disaster from a decorative standpoint.

Anyone wanting to build a solid wood or mostly solid wood cabinet would also be advised to use a high quality shellac and keep water away from speaker. Most definitely keep alcoholic beverages away from it too, but the advantage of shellac is that it looks great done right and can be easily stripped with alcohol.

Also, if possible use vertical grain wood if at all possible - it moves less and stays flatter. Ultimate wood would be vertical grade old growth macrophylla mahogany. Not cheap and not easy to find. Quartersawn Sitka Spruce might be really good but also expensive.

Somewhere on Youtube there is a video of a European maker whose solid wood speaker cabinets use resonance and tailored crossovers to good effect. I think he was Polish - can't find him though.