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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Building my own speakers posted by Chuck on May 27, 1999 at 08:28:15:
Hi there,>>>I have been perusing some DIY speaker building projects and dare I say it but it looks relatively easy. If I buy a pre-made crossover then it seems to be reduced to a cabinet-building project.<<<
What type of "pre-made" X-Over would that be?
If it is an X-Over that has been optimised by a competent Designer for the Drivers and Box you will be using, the answer is yes.
If you where to buy a set of Drive-Units and an X-Over from Radio-shack, the result would be pretty dire....
>>>>The question is, will I really be able to build a pair of speakers for a few hundred dollars that perform as well as those costing 3 and 4 times that much?<<<<
Yes. A pair of Lynn Olson's Ariels can be build for around $550 in Drivers and X-Over parts. They will perform (if competently build) as well as many $ 2,000 to $4,000 commercial High-End Speakers
>>>If the answer is yes, then why are speakers A. so expensive <<<
Because to make a good one means small series and a lot of hand work. More than 70% of the cost to make a Speaker are in the Cabinet.
In addition, the companies who make Speakers, Distribute Speakers and who sell Speakers all need to make a profit, pay for Promotiona and so on....
Normal HiFi-Gear is sold to the Customer at between 5 - 8 times the amount it cost to make them.... The lower the Overall Price the higer the factor.... So a $ 10,000 (Shop-Price) Speaker-System will have (with R&D, Cabinet making, Driver-Testing and so on) cost maybe $ 2,500 to make, maybe $ 2,000.
A Spaker selling for $ 800 will probably have cost no more than $ 100 to make....
Purely to make a point, a UK made Speaker that sells for about $ 1,300 uses per Enclosure four Woofers costing about $ 6 each in quanteties of a few 100 and uses a Tweeter that costs about $ 8 in similar quanteties....
So all the Drivers in a Speaker (that specific Model, not neccesarily all Speakers at that price-point) carrying a $ 1,300 Pricetag cost the manufacturer $ 64.... The X-Over Parts used BTW, cost less than $ 20....
> Why can't Bose/JBL/DCM/Cerwin-Vega etc. make a decent pair of speakers?
They can. Okay, JBL can (try a few of the better JBL Studio-Monitors). Even CV can (if they want to)....
Bose could not make a good sounding speaker if their corporate live dependednt upon it.... But thankfully Speakers are sold due to marketing and hence the actual sound of a Speaker is (mostly) irelevant to it's sale-prospect in the Lo-Fi Market....
DCM I don't know, being a Ger-man in London (not an English Man in New York)....
Later Thorsten
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Follow Ups
- Speaker-Pricing, design and corporate politics - was: Building my own speakers - Thorsten 10:01:40 05/27/99 (4)
- Re: Speaker-Pricing, design and corporate politics - was: Building my own speakers - MIKE 10:36:34 05/27/99 (3)
- Thanks Old and PC (nt) - MIKE 15:41:37 05/27/99 (0)
- Re: Speaker-Pricing, design and corporate politics - was: Building my own speakers - Old, gray and definitely in the way 11:37:09 05/27/99 (1)
- Re: Speaker-Pricing, design and corporate politics - was: Building my own speakers - PC Dude 12:54:25 05/27/99 (0)
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