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| Re: Seven Pi Audition [message #61433 is a reply to message #61431] |
Fri, 20 November 2009 18:57   |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18695
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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Yes, I'm sure you're right. Then again, even though this is a semi-commercial venture it's really all about DIY. On one hand, this is a company support forum but on the other hand, it's really truly a DIY messageboard.
For the longest time, I gave out plans free of charge, actually, still do. I designed loudspeakers for me, to be the best I could make them sound, at various price points to suit my own personal needs. It's a labor of love, and treated more like an open source project than a commercial proprietary set of designs.
My smallest speakers are for bedroom systems and surrounds at very low cost. The cornerhorns are price-no-object statement speakers, designed to make a perfectly uniform sound field throughout the room. And the medium size DI-matched two-ways are for rooms that don't have corners, or where more placement options are needed. They cost a little less to make than the cornerhorns too, but with many of the same uniform directivity benefits.
Through the years, I have offered my speakers for sale, but more as a service, a labor of love, than as a commercial venture. In the early days, all were sold based on word of mouth, people hearing speakers in someone's house. Later, when the internet evolved, the messageboards served to pass the word. Of course, most people couldn't hear the speakers - the exact problem you're talking about - but the DIY'ers could kick ideas around.
On the messageboard, I could describe my process of matching directivity, designing the crossover for mass-rolloff compensation and positioning the forward lobe, and other things like that. Lots of other speakers have been developed in the last decade or so that follow these exact same philosophies, in fact, I'd say the so-called waveguide speakers (that copy my own in every relevant feature) are the latest audiophile craze.
This forum and others like it became a voice for DIY'ers, a place where they can all help each other. In my field of expertise, I think I can be helpful and I enjoy doing it. It's like knowing how to build an engine, and helping guys that have never done it before know the steps and all the little things you gotta know.
For every pair of speakers I build for someone, I sell ten pairs of kits and help a hundred people do their own DIY projects. It's really not about sales, it's about a love of the craft. Really, in all these years, I could care less if people bought my speakers or kits. What I like to see is people enjoying my speakers, and in many cases, they're building the speakers themselves without so much as a penny changing hands.
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