Do you Worship the Big Names ?

[JonBocani]

Since i arrived on this forum i discussed with people that compare DIY projects with commercial loudspeakers.

Perfectly normal, you would say...

Well, from the place i come, that debate has been closed a long time ago. The commercial speakers comes with price tags that are unjustified 95% of the time (compared to DIY) and even on the very high-end level (which i'm deeply interested in) it's even worst because the commercial aspect brings tons of compromises that company's must (understandably) deal with.

In my case, i took the DIY road not because of economic reasons but because i wanted something i couldn't have on the turn-key market. And i'm sure not alone in that situation...

But still, do you guys worship any of the big names ? Bower & Wilkins, Sonus Faber, Wilson Audio, etc... ?

Did you jump into the DIY thing to save money or to get results you couldnt otherwise ?

Just curious!

 

[marsupialx]

Magnepan. Great company.

 

[ErnieM]

Those fancy Goto or ALE drivers always looked interesting. I guess that's still diy....expensive diy.

 

[cbdb]

What about genelecs , Meyers and jbls? These guys look like they do a lot of research.

 

[Lojzek]

But still, do you guys worship any of the big names ? Bower & Wilkins,
Sonus Faber, Wilson Audio, etc... ?

Did you jump into the DIY thing to save money or to get results you
couldnt otherwise ?

Just curious!

I admire nicely finished cabinets and it has always been the hardest thing
for me to do in the similar manner. The amount of manual labor hours spent
in one project can be enormous. So much that I wouldn't want to pull that kind
of a stunt for more than twice in one's lifetime.

I started diying speakers because back then I was thinking it would be
nice to have a hobby of some kind and then I spotted a Klang&Ton
magazine.

 

[charlie2]

My opinion is the industry needs R+D with money (big names)

How many big names in the past have sold out for cheapness and mass marketing and hold high status nowadaysbut yesterdays products are high vintage value

The upside DIY can open your eyes to the true cost of something one could not previously afford then tweak it to your personal taste.

with the help of DIYaudio of course

and you can always run past something out of the ordinary here,

and not to forget measuring techniques available to joe public today were industry secret for years, probably are still a few, but in this day n age resources are plentiful till the next big thing

 

[ErnieM]

What about genelecs , Meyers and jbls? These guys look like they do a lot of research.

Yes, there's some good stuff in the p.a. world. Lots of good stuff from numerous companies. I like what I'm seeing from Martin Audio. Their new coaxial series look like they could be real winners for home audio.

 

[wesayso]

I wouldn't call it worship but I do admire what Danley Sounds Labs is doing.
I see Tom Danley as a true innovator. Haven't heard one of his speakers yet but I just love the clever ideas he comes up with and the fact he's on here sharing his thoughts is a big bonus. Same can be said about GedLee and we have a quite a few more on here sharing knowledge.
Those are big names to me. I don't have to agree with everything they say to still admire them. Might not be what you had in mind but where else can we actually talk with people like this than right here on this forum. I must have read all of their posts at one time or another.

 

[Charles Darwin]

Besides Tom Danley I would add Billy Woodman, Andy Munro and Roger Quested to cbdb's list of monitor designers/manufacturers.

 

[Clashing]

For me, the problem with the high end in general is the boring sickness, I mean honestly I can give you 25 brands that use Accuton drivers in a wood/aluminum box with Mundorf or Dueland crossover parts and suddenly it's this massive miracle. The people I have the most respect for would be Alon Wolf of Magico, Andy Payor of Rockport, Micheal Borrenson of Raidho and Emil Podsuzs (?) of Zellaton. I happen to like those speakers but for me, it's less about that and more that they actually have an R&D department, they don't just pop off-the-shelf drivers into boxes made in the Far East with some fancy crossover parts inside. Magico, for example, had their original speakers way over priced but at least they came out with something new and thought out unlike Wilson that charges those prices but fails to reinvest in R&D like Magico. I mean really, off-the-shelf Vifa drivers in a 20k+ speaker is sad. Micheal Borrenson actually built that quasi-ribbon tweeter he uses in all his models for a DIY project. I'm not saying in-house drivers are better, I'm just saying that for the amount of money these speakers go for there better be some hard science and design.

 

[JonBocani]

Did a market survey few years ago, among audiophiles and non-audiophiles, and the most recognized/renown brands of loudspeakers (that were seen as ''high-end'') was B&W and....Bose.

 

[AllenB]

Bose was never big here. We used to see some of the PA wide rectangular ones with the two ports jutting out the front. Most brands at the time weren't as crass as to write their name in such big lettering across the front.