Where Will We Buy Our Drivers In A Couple Of Years?

[kelticwizard]

It seems everybody is getting out of the business of selling DIY drivers!!

Radio Shack is getting out of the business. Audax is getting out of the business. Focal is getting out of the business.

If Danish Sound Technology, (Peerless, Vifa, ScanSpeak), goes out, we're in deep trouble.

Looks like we had all better download and take the time to learn Speaker Workshop, because the direction this hobby is going, we're all going to be using car speakers in our projects. And they don't usually publish frequency response, impedance charts and phase charts for car speakers.

Looks like we're going to be on our own soon.

Say goodbye to the DIY 8 ohm speaker. From here on in, it's all going to be 4 ohm projects!

[BillFitzmaurice]

Parts Express. Rat Shack was never a source for much, and whatever may happen Parts Express will continue to get the deals. MCM is also a good source, especially for their house brand which offers three times the quailty at half the price that Rat Shack ever did.

[Hybrid fourdoor]

Hey its OK, its only 7am....go back to sleep for another hour...you'll feel better.

How many brands were around 50 years that aren't now? 20 years? 10 years? Turn it around, who's around now that wasn't around 20 years ago?

Hell I'm sure poeple never thought Carver would go the way it did....but alas things hit fans sometimes.

[Hybrid fourdoor]

Besides Audax (other than a couple Aerogels or something) really never intrigued me, plus Focal in my opinion is just too overpriced.

To me the only real powerhouses are as you said Vifa, Peerless, ScanSpeak, and SEAS. Plus you still have the OEM stuff like Dayton and MCM....they'll be around, simply because speakers will still be around.

And Tang Band!!!!

[kelticwizard]

Hybrid, Bill:

Yes, I am well aware of Parts Express, Madisound, MCM, and Speaker City.

It's a disconcerting trend, nonetheless. Focal and Audax were two real bedrock companies that stood for excellent quality at reasonable prices, (well, some Focals were expensive, but others not bad). Additionally, even when Audax changed the line, it usually had some rough equivalent to replace previous drivers.

Yes, Radio Shack's drivers were expensive, and perhaps not the best overall. But I wonder how many of the people in this hobby built their first system with Radio Shack drivers, or got started when they replaced a woofer from their local store?

The omens are not good.

The car speaker market is apparently where the money is. Yes, there will always be some manufacturer willing to sell DIY, but at what price? With companies at the good-but-not-expensive part of the price scale disappearing, and with the gateway to the hobby for many, (Radio Shack), getting out of the business, I wonder if the price for DIY doesn't move upward as the market shrinks. Economies of scale, and all that. Plus, the DIY market might re-orient itself to the upscale.

I don't like this trend.

Originally posted by Hybrid Fourdoor: How many brands were around 50 years that aren't now? 20 years? 10 years?

Radio Shack, Focal, and Audax drivers were all around 20 years ago.

[markp]

The DIY market is small compared to the large quantities used by manufacturers of name brand speakers and it is much more cost effective so sell 1000's of drivers to one user than 2 drivers at a time. There is also the headache that come from the hobbiest asking too many questions about the product that does not come from the majors. Sure, they will sell fewer speakers but they will have much less overhead(employees for dealing with the support, shipping etc..) and make a higher profit. Thats what it's all about. Companies that are good at dealing with the hastles of onesy twosy like DST can turn a good profit and remain in the DIY market. Survival of the fittest.

[BAM]

Perhaps we should write D-S-T and SEAS a letter and ask them if they will continue to offer DIY drivers, rather than making assumptions based on the actions of a couple companies.

[rif]

Is it analogous in a sense to the tube market?

[tiroth]

I think the DIY market will always exist simply because the customers are there. Even if all of the R&D and economies of scale are funded through OEM sales there will always be companies willing to sell "extra" production runs to DIYers, because the markup is probably 100% or better over OEM prices. (Someone here in the industry can probably comment--I'm not talking distributor to retail, I mean 5000 units OEM versus 1 unit retail). Even if the overhead is higher someone is going to be positioned to take care of the market because there is money to be made.

The only way the market will disappear is if people stop buying drivers. I've not heard anyone say there has been a downtrend in sales.

[dwk123]

I think the Chinese/Far-east factor is changing the market. The top-tier suppliers are still responsible for a lot of the R+D out there, but the far-east folks are ripping off/cloning the technology pretty quickly. It's probably the case that we'll see the top-tier guys focussing on high-value OEM deals (assuming they can still compete there), whereas the DIY market will see a lot more supply from the 'cloners'.

This is not necessarily a bad thing - look at the Fountek ribbons and the Usher drivers (though the prices on those rose somewhat when word got out).

Of course there's always the pro driver world as well which seems pretty stable. A good case could be made for the statement that the high-end (big $$$$) pro drivers are the best out there, and there are supplies for at least some of these to the DIYer.