The mistake armchair speaker snobs make too often

I am dumbfounded at the number of companies around the world trying to inject their footprint into high end audio market whether it is amps, DACs or speakers.  You are right OP, a small highly specialized market.

It appears to me the only way to break even is to see how high you can drive the price knowing there is a pool of audiophools out there.  Especially cables, power cords, bi-amp all the other useless drivel.

I am remined of the 'Corvette Theory" an economic professor mentioned when I was in university back in the 70s.  It basically stated, "If it is that expensive, then it must be good"

*L*  Personally @dekay , calling an ottoman a 'pouf' certainly ups the snob appeal...I guess...😏  My cats couldn't tell the diff until they got hit with the spray bottle....

...anyway...as one who takes drivers and mods them into Walsh drivers, one does learn the intricacies of accomplishing that....and trying to ensure that, after the item in hand has been baptised with various names and comments it actually performs as desired.
You do get the appreciation as to why a manufacturer would employ 'out of house' drivers, unless said subject did so, more or less from the beginning... 

Doing a recone with surround R&R isn't all that difficult...

A major revamp? 😑 

I do it because a pair of MBLs' requires a lottery win of some substance....not to
mention the means of driving same..
And it's the sort of challenge that has a 'zen appeal' of sorts... ;)

{ Lengthy Exposition Tyme }

Spouse 'suggested' I go 'do something fun'...*!*  "Why not go to this astronomical event, and watch the Perseid meteor shower where there's no city lights 'n all that...?"

(Looked at the event listing....)  "Because it's aimed at the 5-12s' we build stuff for, and allows the parents to drink beer, smoke 'alternatives', and park the kids elsewhere....But...."

*PG pause*    "....PE is having their DIY speaker comp and 'garage sale', which is more my sort of predilection...and I can see the Perseids by just getting out onto the Parkway...."

Done deal/transmission had just been restored on the Focus/could use 800 mi. of 'break-in'...and I could see what it was all 'bout, Alfie....

Which was $70 on Phoenix plugs for my amp, some grille cloth remnant of a sort I don't have, an Xmas surprise for the spouse ('some assembly required')...

...and 4 - 8" 4 ohm woofers foam surrounded with a 'look-alike' cf cone, and a vented magnet structure nearly the diameter of the basket.

Heavy little SOBs'...just the potential ticket for the distrib bass array I've in mind.

Entrants primarily a whole rash of bookshelf sized pairs, some standouts...

The Unlimiteds better as a whole; some nicely done woodwork to be appreciated.

Overall: 5% best of show, 10% not so much....balance in the middle of the curve between....Imho....such as it is and was...*S*

Basically...I spent the event as a spy of sorts....😏 ...and got an answer to my query:

Can one enter more than one category with the same units?  (There's 4...)

"Yes, as long as the entry fits the description..."

(*G*  A few dipoles; a couple of omnis that didn't impress...)

I can enter the Unlimited series; anything @ any $ amount.

The Under $300, anything spent on drivers by anyone.

Perhaps....The Over $300, similar to the <300 (IF I factor in my labor...*L*)

The 'All Dayton Drivers'.....no.

Got a year to get my act in gear....*S*

 

A speaker maker has to sell a pair of speakers for at least 10x what the drivers cost. I’m sorry but the math of getting a speaker out the door, and getting a retailer to make space for it, plus service overhead, yada yada, means you simply cannot sell a speaker for parts cost.

Not to be argumentative, but probably more like 15x (as you note further down): manufacturers get a discount on the shelf price of drivers, and we have to factor in the cost of other materials, of prototypes, of XO components which when used once are often discarded later, and... in all of this, the designers & the builders have to actually survive until they start receiving money for the speakers they designed!

What I am saying is that all vertically integrated speaker makers enjoy financial benefits over those which are not.

That is a logical inference except for the fact that large manufacturers, like Scan Seas, etc, benefit from economies of scale that smaller comapnies (like ATC) probably do not.
Having said that, ATC recently replaced the tweet it was outsourcing with one of its own manufacture -- so there must be a financial benefit there!

(and I, too, am using ATC as an example; in real terms, I find their speakers are bvery good and reasonably priced for the sound they offer...)

 

@jon_5912 

+1!!  I would add that it seems the higher the volume of a product that gets produced the odds of the product having lower quality increase. 

In regards to ATC, I would argue that the consumer is getting a better deal, because the in-house design offers higher value for the same price. My SCM35’s with a ScanSpeak tweeter always sounded hard on top. My SCM40 II’s ATC-made tweeter is far smoother and more detailed.

 

The over generalization here is a bit over the top!