Expensive speakers with dirt cheap DIY-available drivers?

[uDIYguy]

I came across this brand today; "Artcoustic". It's not a new brand, so this might be old news to some.

Anyone recognize the drivers in their >$6000 (pair) speakers "DF75-55 X2"?

(Artcoustic DF75-55 X2 On-Wall Speaker System | Home Theater)

I'm a bit surprised by the shameless marketing skills when someone's selling a product with such cheap drivers for such an amount. I mean, it's not like this is the most innovative speaker of the century, putting a 5" deep enclosure on a wall.

I could build close to an exact copy of these speakers at 1/15th of the cost.

Is this very common?

And how do the DIY community see these "manufacturers"?

 

[DF96]

Rules of capitalism:
- anyone is free to take money off people by selling them expensive tat, provided that
- you don't tell blatant lies, but only stretch the truth to breaking point or say something which an ordinary person might interpret one way but a lawyer can prove says something different
- you can tell gigantic lies, but then you may have to convince a judge that this was just 'advertising puffery' which any normal sensible person would know was lies

Of course, it helps if the seller believes that his advertising is true, no matter how obviously it is false to someone who actually knows about such things.

I have no comment to make on the particular speakers you refer to as I know nothing about them; you may be right, you may be wrong. However, if someone puts a $5 speaker in a $10 box and charges $500 for the result then he is free to do so.

 

[Edmond Stuart]

> he is free to do so.
Sure, that is, it’s not against the law to text.
But that doesn't mean it's okay.

 

[Costas Coyias]

I think the guys at Artcoustic are not the only ones who should take the blame. The so-called "high end" is a market with shameless margins too, ranging about 100 - 120%, which exceeds over 200% on cables. That said, those speakers are selling about 5000$ with VAT excluded, so the factory price should be around 2500$. High end audio is a price driven market (the higher the price, the better the sound quality) - and, among others, that's perhaps its most serious sickness.

If somebody will decide to make a very high quality audio product, an amp, a loudspeaker, a DAC - you name it, giving the retailers a descent 25-40% margin, NOBODY will sell it, and that particular product will never arrive to Stereophile for a review. Think about it...

 

[john blackburn]

The fact that you are aware of their product shows how much they have spent on advertising, and how successful they have been.

Add to that their insurance costs, distribution costs, packaging costs and end retailer profit margins to see how much money they have already spent before actually making any products or profit.

I don't say it is right, but everything has a "cost of sale" to absorb.

John

 

[cotdt]

Most of the cost of building the speaker are in the cabinets, not the drivers... oh wait...