Phil,
I have been discussing with others how you can limit the input power to the speakers. If I can do that without causing other problems i am certain that I can guarantee that you wouldn't be able to damage the speakers just playing music. Now of course there has to be some kinds of limits, someone punching in the dome tweeter intentionally or the dust cap is hard to control. I don't think damaging the dust cap would be much of an issue but playing with a Be dome can be destructive. The power amps will have plenty of headroom so clipping will not be an issue. The speakers should be very mechanically over built, they should last a lifetime. Since the cone is not paper there should be no degradation over time. I won't use a foam surround so those problems are a eliminated. I tried to think everything through, this has not been a rushed or short term program. This is taking many years of experience and condensing it down into this project.
I have been discussing with others how you can limit the input power to the speakers. If I can do that without causing other problems i am certain that I can guarantee that you wouldn't be able to damage the speakers just playing music. Now of course there has to be some kinds of limits, someone punching in the dome tweeter intentionally or the dust cap is hard to control. I don't think damaging the dust cap would be much of an issue but playing with a Be dome can be destructive. The power amps will have plenty of headroom so clipping will not be an issue. The speakers should be very mechanically over built, they should last a lifetime. Since the cone is not paper there should be no degradation over time. I won't use a foam surround so those problems are a eliminated. I tried to think everything through, this has not been a rushed or short term program. This is taking many years of experience and condensing it down into this project.
It really sounds like you've done and continue to do a lot of homework on this, which is confidence building in itself (and something you should incorporate into your marketing strategy). Of course none of this guarantees a successful product, but as the old saying goes, success is 10% inspiration 90% perspiration, so the kind of work you're doing can often go a long way.
This would also mean building warranty costs into the price as other succesful companies have done (Bryston and Magnum Dynalab seem like fair examples to my mind), but that can be easily accomodated if the warranty is presented in an alluring and persuasive manner.
As I said, warranty alone could well serve as a distinguishing feature of your product line that might help set it apart from the competition, if you can make it work as a long term business model, but it would have to be presented in a persuasive manner (so that you're perceived as an enduring and trustworthy company rather than some 'fly by night' operation out to make a quick buck).
Phil,
Yes as long as the amplifier is built the way I think it will be done it is based on a design that has shown to have a very long life span. I would expect a thirty year life expectancy without any service on the amp. I will have to talk to the circuit designers what the current situation is with the digital side of things, I'm not sure anyone has that long term life expectancy data base yet. How many hours are current dacs and dsp chips expected to work and what are the failure modes? i will have to add the to the list of questions to ask.
Yes as long as the amplifier is built the way I think it will be done it is based on a design that has shown to have a very long life span. I would expect a thirty year life expectancy without any service on the amp. I will have to talk to the circuit designers what the current situation is with the digital side of things, I'm not sure anyone has that long term life expectancy data base yet. How many hours are current dacs and dsp chips expected to work and what are the failure modes? i will have to add the to the list of questions to ask.
Another idea just donned on me. I know you're already into this up to your eyeballs, but your warranty has me thinking of a way to expand your potential market considerably. You said you hope to produce a line of speakers. If you could produce a competetive, working studio monitor with a lifetime warranty (no hassle with regularly replacing tweeters and such), then that might be something that many sound engineers, amateur and professional, might find very, very attractive!
Phil that is a possibility. I do know musicians who regularly kill there powered monitors trying to push the bass and the level. I won't name names but some of the biggest names in monitors you would see sitting on the top of the mix console.
Here is a pretty interesting look from a very old Motorola radio in the Deco style. I could almost cut out the one section and fit it over my rendering. Of course the dispersion would be somewhat effected but for those who would leave the grill on it may be something I can redesign to be a bit more modern without losing the look.
Here is a pretty interesting look from a very old Motorola radio in the Deco style. I could almost cut out the one section and fit it over my rendering. Of course the dispersion would be somewhat effected but for those who would leave the grill on it may be something I can redesign to be a bit more modern without losing the look.
Attachments
Speaker "makers" are like Mayflies: Short lived and of seemingly inexhaustible supply.
Restauranteurs are similar, most all fail early.. Decade after Decade..yet New Restaurants appear weekly. Hope springs eternal, it seems.
Monitors, or at least those sold/used by alegedly "professional" Studios, as clearly pointed out by Dr Fred Toole,
are amongst the very worst of speakers possible.. in terms of Frequency /DB response and are the Direct reason that recorded music is Sooo Quality Variable
What about this particular Enterprise suggests Success?
A fairly simple question?
Tektronix used to put a 10 year guarantee on their test equipment (if I remember correctly). That's the most I would ever do. When you say lifetime, the first thought that comes into my head is, will the company still be around in 5-10 years? Like someone else pointed out, speaker companies come and go pretty regularly. Will a lifetime guarantee actually be there down the road or am I being deceived?
A "lifetime guarantee" from a company less than a year old is a statement of good intentions, but not a lot more. During the waterbed craze of the late Sixties, it was routine for fly-by-night companies you'd never heard of to offer "lifetime warranties" for their waterbeds. Of course, they'd spring a leak and make a huge mess after a few years, but the companies were long out of business.
On the other hand, if Ford Motor Company or General Electric offers a "lifetime warranty", you'll have to battle their army of lawyers to collect on it.
I guess it would have the most meaning from a company that's been in business for at least ten years with an impeccable reputation for integrity. Not many of those around.
On the other hand, if Ford Motor Company or General Electric offers a "lifetime warranty", you'll have to battle their army of lawyers to collect on it.
I guess it would have the most meaning from a company that's been in business for at least ten years with an impeccable reputation for integrity. Not many of those around.
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Yes it hard for a new company to be taken seriously, I agree about that. Ten years is probably a lifetime to most people for many products. On the other hand some auto companies give some pretty thin warranty coverage. My BMW comes to mind with 36K miles or three years. I could put that many miles on in a year and a half. I wouldn't own another one, pieces falling off the car at 45K miles, purely marketing is selling many of these high end cars. Don't even get me started on any British made car, never again.
That's funny about the water beds, I had mine for 10 years before I finally had enough, never a leak.
Linesource,
I actually like how that speaker concept looks, just a visual cue to make it look deco.
That's funny about the water beds, I had mine for 10 years before I finally had enough, never a leak.
Linesource,
I actually like how that speaker concept looks, just a visual cue to make it look deco.
I like the look of the speaker above from Linesource a lot, but the woofer looks too small for the size of the cabinet. Give it the option of lighting up like an early juke box (with several variations of coloration), and it might sell pretty well. Since it's powered, the juice is already there.
Linesource,
Can I assume you did those renderings yourself? Nice work if you did that, what program are you using if you did render those. Rhino or such? I do Solidworks and to get to rendering is a lot of initial work doing real design, not so simple to do a quick sketch and render.
Steven
Can I assume you did those renderings yourself? Nice work if you did that, what program are you using if you did render those. Rhino or such? I do Solidworks and to get to rendering is a lot of initial work doing real design, not so simple to do a quick sketch and render.
Steven
The speaker rendering from Line is a typical example of how
a successful (good looking) loudspeaker should not look.
Understand this, buyers are far more interested in good looks
than a slightly better measuring speaker.
Learn from the best. Italian school of design is a success however
you look at it.
There is so many ugly designs out there. Why build another one?
a successful (good looking) loudspeaker should not look.
Understand this, buyers are far more interested in good looks
than a slightly better measuring speaker.
Learn from the best. Italian school of design is a success however
you look at it.
There is so many ugly designs out there. Why build another one?
Lojzek,
I think he is just throwing out ideas. For rough sketches they aren't bad for concepts. i love some Italian design and some of it is just crap. Finally Lamborghini has started to change their cars, they have been so dated for so long, so sometime things work and sometimes they don't. Now give me a nice Ferrari design or some of the newer Alfa Romeo designs and I would say yes Italian design is great. We all have our likes and dislikes and you can never satisfy everybody, all you can do is try and find something that the majority of people would desire. I'm not talking about creating like through massive marketing campaigns but something that just viscerally attracts people who wouldn't even know about a product but would just instantly be drawn in and like a design. Pinnafarina has done some excellent designs in many different industries but sometimes they also have gotten some designs so wrong. Nobody is perfect, but as long as you can understand what went wrong and correct it or move on you can be successful.
I think he is just throwing out ideas. For rough sketches they aren't bad for concepts. i love some Italian design and some of it is just crap. Finally Lamborghini has started to change their cars, they have been so dated for so long, so sometime things work and sometimes they don't. Now give me a nice Ferrari design or some of the newer Alfa Romeo designs and I would say yes Italian design is great. We all have our likes and dislikes and you can never satisfy everybody, all you can do is try and find something that the majority of people would desire. I'm not talking about creating like through massive marketing campaigns but something that just viscerally attracts people who wouldn't even know about a product but would just instantly be drawn in and like a design. Pinnafarina has done some excellent designs in many different industries but sometimes they also have gotten some designs so wrong. Nobody is perfect, but as long as you can understand what went wrong and correct it or move on you can be successful.
I would check them with high volume bass heavy music. Just a hunch but if you get some mid heavy or bass heavy music going through your speakers and they hit as hard as you say they do then some mounting methods can make the grills rattle.
I even have a pair of speakers with a wave guide built into the grilles and they said they were designed to be kept on. I was mixing a song and really pushing the volume and having bass can make those even rattle.
I'm not being picky saying it diffuses the high end or anything like that, i am talking about a resonance issue i guess and manufacturers not checking their products with the grills on.
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