For starters, do you have spare $50000 lying around?
Some kind of work shack?
Novel ideas to stand above thousands offering basically exact same product as you?
Experience designing, manufacturing, selling, shipping, advertising?
Don´t try to go National which which requires way more, but you might become a local Audio Guru so you have a basic customer base without spending Millions in advertising.
As you see, going into Business requires solving a lot of Business type problems, compared to that Acoustic ones are relatively minor.
If you do not have access to basic money as mentioned above, best you can hope is build something cool and hope to sell a couple to friends, you can´t reach a wider audience (let alone convince them) without big $$$$$$.
IF you live in a large City and know some large Audio shop, you *might* try to convince owner your stuff is HOT and carry some of it in his showroom(s) .
Just being realistic and a (Musical Instrument) Amplifier and Speaker manufacturer for almost 50 years now.
And even so struggling against ultra-cheap Oriental competition.
Some kind of work shack?
Novel ideas to stand above thousands offering basically exact same product as you?
Experience designing, manufacturing, selling, shipping, advertising?
Don´t try to go National which which requires way more, but you might become a local Audio Guru so you have a basic customer base without spending Millions in advertising.
As you see, going into Business requires solving a lot of Business type problems, compared to that Acoustic ones are relatively minor.
If you do not have access to basic money as mentioned above, best you can hope is build something cool and hope to sell a couple to friends, you can´t reach a wider audience (let alone convince them) without big $$$$$$.
IF you live in a large City and know some large Audio shop, you *might* try to convince owner your stuff is HOT and carry some of it in his showroom(s) .
Just being realistic and a (Musical Instrument) Amplifier and Speaker manufacturer for almost 50 years now.
And even so struggling against ultra-cheap Oriental competition.
Thanks for the reply.
I've got some of that number but not the whole thing. I'm realizing after every speaker pair I make, I never have the next tool I need to make something even better, so I go and buy that.
I was hoping to stay real, REAL small. Like, sell at a few farmer's markets and maybe in the greater Washington, DC market via word-of-mouth. I understand advertising and especially shipping can get expensive real fast when trying to reach anyone outside of my immediate area, so the tight focus around building small 2 and 3 ways for locals seems about right.
I've got some of that number but not the whole thing. I'm realizing after every speaker pair I make, I never have the next tool I need to make something even better, so I go and buy that.
I was hoping to stay real, REAL small. Like, sell at a few farmer's markets and maybe in the greater Washington, DC market via word-of-mouth. I understand advertising and especially shipping can get expensive real fast when trying to reach anyone outside of my immediate area, so the tight focus around building small 2 and 3 ways for locals seems about right.
The shop will probably want to stock on consignment, and have 50% profit for them.
You'll need to build in enough numbers that you can get some economy of scale going.
Shipping costs and even cartons would kill you.
Pretty much the same as the Wikipedia definition:
"The word bespoke has evolved from a verb meaning "to speak for something" to its contemporary usage as an adjective that has changed from describing first tailor-made suits and shoes, and later, to anything commissioned to a particular specification (altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser), and finally to a general marketing and branding concept implying exclusivity and appealing to snobbery."
"The word bespoke has evolved from a verb meaning "to speak for something" to its contemporary usage as an adjective that has changed from describing first tailor-made suits and shoes, and later, to anything commissioned to a particular specification (altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an individual purchaser), and finally to a general marketing and branding concept implying exclusivity and appealing to snobbery."
One0, I would not want you or anyone else to get involved in some serious expenditure by setting up a company, just to be later troubled with serious funding issues facing imminent bankruptcy.
Rather get in touch with diy loudspeaker parts shops accross US and see if they will consider to take your designs into their loudspeaker kits offerings. But in order to do that you would need to prove your designs worthy of buying. People do that at annual audio shows.
Rather get in touch with diy loudspeaker parts shops accross US and see if they will consider to take your designs into their loudspeaker kits offerings. But in order to do that you would need to prove your designs worthy of buying. People do that at annual audio shows.
There are many here who have had the experience of opening an audio business and then struggling. They will tell you their stories and tell you not to do it. But maybe we should ask them if they would do it all over again if they knew what they know today. Sometimes, it is worth it to experience things yourself. You have to determine whether $50k, enormous amounts of efforts, and an extremely high chance of failure (in the business sense) are worth it to you.
First of all, you are 30 years too late in the game.
But basically two routes are open:
1) is the Kii/Dutch&Dutch/Grimm Audio route: come to the market with a technically state of the art novelty. You must be an expert for that.
2) is the Wilson Audio route: impress your future clients with shining boxes whose internals are worth 1/250 of the price the final user pays.
Furthermore, no matter what crap you might sell, no high end magazine will take you seriously if you offer value for money. Nothing below $ 25.000, will be taken seriously. The best news then is that the magazines which review such stuff never measure anything.
Now my last tip: come up with pseudo techtalk nonsense such as jitter free x/overs, non-conductive internal wiring, vibration absorbing woofer frames and cabinets etc. invariably backed up by so called patent pending claims. Audio is full of patents with all sorts of virtual claims.
Oh, how stooopid: I forgot some babble about nano stuff.
But basically two routes are open:
1) is the Kii/Dutch&Dutch/Grimm Audio route: come to the market with a technically state of the art novelty. You must be an expert for that.
2) is the Wilson Audio route: impress your future clients with shining boxes whose internals are worth 1/250 of the price the final user pays.
Furthermore, no matter what crap you might sell, no high end magazine will take you seriously if you offer value for money. Nothing below $ 25.000, will be taken seriously. The best news then is that the magazines which review such stuff never measure anything.
Now my last tip: come up with pseudo techtalk nonsense such as jitter free x/overs, non-conductive internal wiring, vibration absorbing woofer frames and cabinets etc. invariably backed up by so called patent pending claims. Audio is full of patents with all sorts of virtual claims.
Oh, how stooopid: I forgot some babble about nano stuff.
It's easy to fail and if parts costs for hobby-level tools are killing you, just imagine what actual business-level costs will do! Remember- it's a high-risk attempt. Flea markets will not pay you anything resembling market value for your speakers. You want $500 and they look nice, but those JVCs the next booth over are the same size, $35, and have LEDs! So futuriffic! It's a small and shrinking market that will pay a premium for any kind of decent speaker system. If you can't offer a novel value proposition or an innovative technology, you're done, as a low-capital startup. Can you make a better desktop speaker than a JBL LSR305, for the same price?
Best to make them as a passion and share your projects with friends and family, and make a great webpage documenting your builds (and put full effort into them), eventually you may generate some demand, several have started that way, but it's low risk. An all-in approach is generally heartbreak.
Best to make them as a passion and share your projects with friends and family, and make a great webpage documenting your builds (and put full effort into them), eventually you may generate some demand, several have started that way, but it's low risk. An all-in approach is generally heartbreak.
Have you ever watched 'Kung Fu Panda'? - the punchline is "there is no secret ingredient to special noodle sauce, you just have to believe there is, and your customers will too" - or something like that. It's also very funny.
Most of us will have one truly original idea in a lifetime, very few have ever had more than two. Other than that, it's all about reinventing the wheel using codified descriptive language that appeals to a certain mindset with money.
But it helps to have if not an original idea, at least an original approach to a proven idea that actually works, and even that takes an awful lot of hard work and commitment when many are doing the exact same thing and getting nowhere.
ToS
Most of us will have one truly original idea in a lifetime, very few have ever had more than two. Other than that, it's all about reinventing the wheel using codified descriptive language that appeals to a certain mindset with money.
But it helps to have if not an original idea, at least an original approach to a proven idea that actually works, and even that takes an awful lot of hard work and commitment when many are doing the exact same thing and getting nowhere.
ToS
No need to mortgage your home, keep it real, but buying/getting/kludging useful machines and tools is always a good investment.
I have bought tons (literally) of machines over the years and all of them were eventually free, as in "customers/jobs paid for them" .
I could/can take lots of jobs others can not on theirown, and if custom ordered at the proper shop send costs through the roof, so I end up getting the customer´s order.
I make my own speakers from scratch, had to buy a large lathe, build magnetizers (two so far and halfway into the third), wind own voice coils, all of that gives me incredible price but more important: very fine control over end product, but it was a huge investment and took years, and then it takes a couple years recov erin g investment and start earning.
When I mentioned those 50K $ it´s just a reference value, you´ll allocate about 1/3rd of that to actual first production costs, rest is for machinery/tools you are still needing, workspace, first expenses, some advertising, "moving around", visiting local Expos, etc. plus you need some cushion to survive random "dead" Months.
Most spend 100% of what they have, "sign" for double that ... and then first light rain becomes hurricane Katrina for them.
If you manage your capital with prudence, you have way better survival possibilities.
I have bought tons (literally) of machines over the years and all of them were eventually free, as in "customers/jobs paid for them" .
I could/can take lots of jobs others can not on theirown, and if custom ordered at the proper shop send costs through the roof, so I end up getting the customer´s order.
I make my own speakers from scratch, had to buy a large lathe, build magnetizers (two so far and halfway into the third), wind own voice coils, all of that gives me incredible price but more important: very fine control over end product, but it was a huge investment and took years, and then it takes a couple years recov erin g investment and start earning.
When I mentioned those 50K $ it´s just a reference value, you´ll allocate about 1/3rd of that to actual first production costs, rest is for machinery/tools you are still needing, workspace, first expenses, some advertising, "moving around", visiting local Expos, etc. plus you need some cushion to survive random "dead" Months.
Most spend 100% of what they have, "sign" for double that ... and then first light rain becomes hurricane Katrina for them.
If you manage your capital with prudence, you have way better survival possibilities.
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