So I came across these speakers but the drivers look almost like or exactly like Seas Excel drivers ... maybe with the exception of the surrounding rubber on the woofer? Retailed for $7k a pair. I mean you could built a pair of sub $1K.
Joseph Audio Pulsar (TAS 203) | AVguide
Joseph Audio Pulsar (TAS 203) | AVguide
They seem to be Seas drivers.
But remember that the old rule of thumb is that a DIY speaker would sell for 4 or 5x the parts cost if it were at retail. So it's not as expensive as you might think.
Anyway, the type of person who would buy that speaker most likely wouldn't DIY. And, just as importantly, a DIYer probably won't buy those speakers. So it doesn't actually matter what they cost, just as long as their market buys them.
But remember that the old rule of thumb is that a DIY speaker would sell for 4 or 5x the parts cost if it were at retail. So it's not as expensive as you might think.
Anyway, the type of person who would buy that speaker most likely wouldn't DIY. And, just as importantly, a DIYer probably won't buy those speakers. So it doesn't actually matter what they cost, just as long as their market buys them.
ShinOBIWAN is developing something slightly similar with that SEAS woofer:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/185810-oh-no-hes-back.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/185810-oh-no-hes-back.html
Bild the speakers in relatively small scale , pay your workers living wage, pay off reviewers (so some DIYer can have an orgasm on a thought of saving a bunch on clonning that thing for close to nothing , without glowing reviews nobody here even consider cloning), pay distributors and dealers 50% and what you're left with ???? No wonder most of cheap speakers have components costing close to nothing and are sourced from abroad and anything little more ambitious has to carry a hefty price or it's a labour of love for manufacturer.
Go ahead and build your own and then have a professional reviewer do a blind fold test to see if they can tell the difference between yours and theirs and then get back to us. Show a video comparing the two, it would be interesting how close you actually got.
You can start here:
Patent US7085389 - Infinite slope loudspeaker crossover filter - Google Patents
It has advantages, especially when applied to a driver with a large breakup mode like you see in the W16 Excel.
So what? And can you? Let's assume you have more than enough skill and knowledge to do it well, or you get your hands on a pair to clone exactly.
Add up all the parts, not just drivers and xover components, but wire, solder, hardware, wood, veneer, finishes, rags, tape, sandpaper, percentage of router bits and saw blades used, electricity, everything.
Now, if it actually looks as nice as the real thing inside and out, take what's left of the $7k and give yourself, say, $40/hr for ALL time spent on the project.
Now how much left? Probably some if you're a good craftsman and you didn't have to do any design from scratch, but I bet it's not an amount to get excited about either, and remember all those tools you used are not something everyone just owns anyway.
Could some manufacturer sell this speaker or something just as good for less than $7k? Definitely, but that's a strange thing to consider unless you ARE a manufacturer. If you're shopping for speakers, do you go around evaluating everything you see in terms of "could this possibly be cheaper?" Probably you simply look at what's available for your budget and choose the product and company that is the closest to what you want.
Dumptruck, I'll second that! I design/build for the love of the hobby and to learn. There is a lot of hours spent by the manufacturer on design, test and evals . I spent a ton of hours which if had to be paid out in dollars would not be worth it. But I enjoyed the heck out of it and the results were pretty darn good. There's something to be said of getting a speaker to sound really good even if it took forever
I think some people take the concept of DIY wrong. It shouldn't be about whether or not a company's product is overpriced because that's dependent on the individual to make that determination. If you think you can do better, than go ahead and prove it. But companies are in it to make a profit enough to keep the company in business and they have salaries, insurance, etc. and they at some point in time started as a DIYer with or without an education in the discipline of speaker design. Some of these companies aren't around forever if they can't make a decent profit. JA, by the way, has been around a while and they make nice products that range from kind of affordable. yes, $7,800 for the Pulsars is a lot of money, but those speakers have compared to others costing far more than they. To reverse engineer an existing design is a lot easier than starting from scratch. But I think DIYers should not try to compare an existing product to some fictitious product based on the cost of the drivers.
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