What if we started our own loudspeaker company?

[Deerhunter]

This would be a interesting venture, I'm out. I just don't have the cash for this venture. Unless I win the lotto then I'm in.

I would love to play though, but as stated not able too.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

1. So what do you think you're initial cash outlay would be for something like this?
2. And how long between starting the process to where you actually deliver a finished product?
3. Are you doing passive crossovers or active? It looked like you were going for a passive -- would you just have separate circuit boards for each tweeter you would consider using? I'm just trying to visualize how that part works, especially with a modular system where i had envisioned the purchaser could later swap out sections later if they wanted.
4. What are you thinking the inital part cost for each speaker would be and what final price do you think you'd have charge?

To which I would add styling; the elephant in the room. If you survey the current state of high end loudspeakers, they are almost universally very highly styled and not at all resembling the traditional box of years ago. They have rich curves and complex forms which is what high end customers now expect, and this move toward higher styled products has taken hold in the electronics realm too. In some ways the style is as important as, or more important than the actual drivers /crossover and their design (or the circuits in an amplifier for instance).

The thing is, people who can do this level of styling cost big bucks, and amateurs need not apply. The investment in exotic molding, shaping and other specialized tooling to produce a speaker which is anything more complicated than a simple box will cost a lot of money. Something as simple as a facia which might surround a tweeter will cost a lot of money for the design, tooling of the molds, and some minimum production run of finished parts. You don't even want to know how much the thick aluminum chassis of a high end amplifier costs on something like this monstrosity:

http://dandagostino.com/

This drives development costs through the roof, but that is what customers now expect in high end speakers and electronics. They are as much about style as performance, or more so since they are a statement by the owner and must blend with their high end furnishings. A speaker design which is somewhat less expensive will still be answerable to the same costs/style constraints, just to a different degree, and never totally immune. The speakers below are just a few examples of what this project would be going up against. Generally, anything which is not a simple wooden speaker box is going to exponentially cost more money to produce, but that is what is expected in professionally produced speakers now.

http://www.yg-acoustics.com/
https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/wamm
http://www.calaudiotech.com/
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Speakers/Home_Audio/Nautilus

 

[malsackj]

Maybe it would be better to build the rooms and acoustics allowing the speakers to do their jobs. Better acoustics in the room like Heeman's allow the speakers and room to provide a better experience.
The down side of the room is people and home sales will not understand. And yes Bat you have a great room also. Most of those people will upgrade the system and never look at the room it is in.

 

[Deleted member 133]

Back in the S&V days I floated the pie-in-the-sky concept of doing away with separate loudspeakers altogether and making the room walls (ceiling, floor) themselves the transducers. Through electronic means you would / could place the "speaker(s)" anywhere that you wanted - and move them at will. You could also control the number: from none to essentially infinity. Atmos+++? No problem.

It's simply a matter of developing a wall (material, coating, whatever), amplification, and control software that would sell for a price at least comparable to separate wall / loudspeakers etc. with all the requisite performance characteristics.

And just as these transducing walls could be set to emit sound, so too could they be designed to effectively absorb sound. Speaker and room treatment all in one!

A challenge - but do-able and perhaps marketable in such a competitive landscape.

Jeff

ps. For example, decades ago I recall research into a transducer that consisted essentially of a plate of glass. Properly excited / powered it could produce good quality sound from upper mid through high frequencies. Not saying that's what we'd start with today; just that solutions beyond our standard W-M-T approach could be developed with today's designer materials / coatings / manufacturing capabilities.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Radio Shack used to market a transducer which you would screw into your wall, and it would effectively make your wall a big speaker. This was in the late 1960s.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

.... decades ago I recall research into a transducer that consisted essentially of a plate of glass.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_mode_loudspeaker