Posted by Earl Geddes [ 69.209.137.72 ] on January 08, 2005 at 14:04:41:

In Reply to: Re: Hi-Efficiency vs Lo-Efficiency Speakers posted by manualblock on January 02, 2005 at 11:19:52:

I used to work in automotive audio. This fractions of a penney is very true. When one sells 6 million speakers even a fraction of a penny adds up to some real money.

It is also true that audio today is a pennies business for the drivers. I can get decent woofers from China for a couple bucks. Tweeters - about a dollar. These end up at Best buy, etc. at the price point of $50 - $100.

But then there is the absurdity of The High End where they will package about $100 worth of Seaes drivers into a $30,000 system, because it has "magic" in it or some other thing.

But the truth is that cabinetry IS very expensive. In my own speakers the cabinets now rule the cost as they far outweigh the driver costs. This was not my intent, but it is the practicality. I have spent nearly a year trying to get the cost out of the enclosures to the point where they are practicle. They are no wood, by the way, they are molded out of fiberglass and polyester and/or urethane backfills. To make the highly rounded corners in wood is prohibitively expensive - been there - done that. And making the waveguide into the front baffle in wood is all but impossible.

My 2 cents

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