Suggestion For a New Speaker Line

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wshuff

Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« on: 7 Dec 2012, 12:58 pm »
Danny, this will probably be somewhat difficult since you are well-known for providing high quality at exceptional prices, but I really think there is an opening here for you to market an extreme budget line of speakers that focus on maximum impact and slam in very plain cabinets.  These would be targeted at college kids looking to do maximum damage to their hearing by cranking everything to max in small dorm rooms. 

This would be your Whitevan Line of speakers.  There would be the "Leftover Tower" 3-way, the "Extra" bookshelf, the "I'll Throw This In" center, and the "My Boss Said it Has to Go" sub.

You would, of course, sell these out in the parking lots of your local Home Depots, KMarts, and Rite-Aids.  I really think that a Whitevan Line from you could capture the "sold in parking lots" market, and make a lot of college kids slightly poorer but a whole lot more deaf.

Merry Christmas!

HAL

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Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #1 on: 7 Dec 2012, 01:25 pm »
That is what I did with the X-LS's that I had.  Both nephews and their friends in college have them and now understand good music reproduction for everything from music to video games.   They made great Christmas presents!

I can see the unpainted X-LS cabinets now in white or black in a lot of dorm rooms.   

Danny has done a full range small driver design that is very nice as well.   Great for small desks.

The marketing strategy is interesting.    :o

 

wshuff

Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #2 on: 7 Dec 2012, 01:47 pm »
Yeah, I thought about it after coming across the old story where the white van guys tried to sell Danny some speakers.  Then Danny took some home and tested them.  Very entertaining reads.   :thumb:
 

devinkato

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Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #3 on: 10 Dec 2012, 08:26 pm »
Exceptional prices can be found in one of the stickys!  I built a set, and am absolutely amazed for the price.
Original X-LS mini-monitor: $109 per pair.

What I would love to see Danny tackle is some more "desktop" centric speakers.  I think that this is a market that is gaining acceptance with audiophiles and presents an interesting set of challenges - surface reflections, nearfield sound, etc that I would love to see Danny address.  Companies like Bose, Audioengine, Swan, etc all have really expensive computer desktop speakers - I think Danny could make something better.  I love my big speakers, I would just like having something nice to listen to when I'm at my desk.


srb

Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #4 on: 10 Dec 2012, 09:22 pm »
Companies like Bose, Audioengine, Swan, etc all have really expensive computer desktop speakers - I think Danny could make something better.

I have no doubt he could design something better sounding, but as far as cost, $200 - $400 is not expensive for speakers that contain amplification, and in the higher end of the range, remote control.
 
Steve

rajacat

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Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #5 on: 10 Dec 2012, 09:41 pm »
Perhaps a partnership with diysoundgroup. Buy 12" SEOS waveguides in bulk. I'm working on the SEOS 18/BA750. The SQ of these group buy waveguides is reputed to be excellent and the very low price a super bargain.
http://www.diysoundgroup.com/forum/index.php
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1291022/hey-guys-we-need-a-little-rallying-here/6120#post_22685960

devinkato

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Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #6 on: 11 Dec 2012, 01:04 am »

I have no doubt he could design something better sounding, but as far as cost, $200 - $400 is not expensive for speakers that contain amplification, and in the higher end of the range, remote control.
 
Steve

Very very good point - I think that's a big reason you don't see many DIY attacks on the "studio monitor" genre as well.  The integrated amplification is certainly handy. 

However - I think that it's been a very slow proliferation, but a steady one where the class D amps are getting to be affordable, decent sounding, and reliable, not to mention small.  These smaller amps could match very well with a Danny creation and sound great without driving up cost too much.

wushuliu

Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #7 on: 11 Dec 2012, 01:28 am »
Perhaps a partnership with diysoundgroup. Buy 12" SEOS waveguides in bulk. I'm working on the SEOS 18/BA750. The SQ of these group buy waveguides is reputed to be excellent and the very low price a super bargain.
http://www.diysoundgroup.com/forum/index.php
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1291022/hey-guys-we-need-a-little-rallying-here/6120#post_22685960

I'm willing to bet those guys have a different set of criteria for sound quality than Danny. And after hundreds of pages there is still very little feedback on any of those designs aside from the designers themselves - which seems to be par for the course for most of the waveguide/constant directivity diy crowd. And they're not that cheap. The cheapest kit will set you back about $400 incl. cabs.

rajacat

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Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #8 on: 11 Dec 2012, 03:24 am »
Actually there have been a number of completed speakers but not from the proposed kits. The full kits are still a work in progress, Jim Bagby is one of the diy group volunteer crossover designers and he's done work for SalkSound, CSS ( Creative Sound Solutions), TC Sounds, Eminence, Meniscus, and others.

I don't  like your snooty attitudes towards the diy group concerning sound quality. The basic speakers aren't supposed to be absolutely top of the line but have some compromises  so as to make very good sound available to the average audio lover not a well-to-do anal obsessive so-called upper crust.

On the other hand, there is no reason why the basic 12" waveguide can't be tweaked to the max with the best parts available and a high end cabinet. There are also the larger SEOS units which aren't particularly cheap but have promise of producing very high end sound. In fact, the specs. compare favorably with the Geddes WGs. If you check the specs out and look at the waveforms you'll see what I mean. I'll probably get a little obsessive with my SEOS 18, Accoustic Elegance TD15M, BA750 mindsp actively crossed two ways.

Back to the subject at hand. What I was suggesting was that Danny could use the diy soundgroup wave guides for a new economy price line. Many on the AVS forum aren't interested in assembling their own kits and would probably patronize a builder of an economy priced complete speaker from an established builder/designer and be willing to pay extra.


wushuliu

Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #9 on: 11 Dec 2012, 04:00 am »
Actually there have been a number of completed speakers but not from the proposed kits. The full kits are still a work in progress, Jim Bagby is one of the diy group volunteer crossover designers and he's done work for SalkSound, CSS ( Creative Sound Solutions), TC Sounds, Eminence, Meniscus, and others.

I don't  like your snooty attitudes towards the diy group concerning sound quality. The basic speakers aren't supposed to be absolutely top of the line but have some compromises  so as to make very good sound available to the average audio lover not a well-to-do anal obsessive so-called upper crust.


Not snooty, just calling it as it is. I've tried to find comparisons and feedback between those type of designs incl. Econowave etc., and the greater diy speaker community and have come up with very little so far. It's an insular crowd, and tends to have certain viewpoints. And honestly there is an aversion to talking about sound quality other than 'it sounds great!'. Yes, nice waveforms and measurements. Hopefully once the DIYSG kits are out in force, we can start to get a real sense of how they fare.

I am listening to a JeffB RS180 MTM design now...

Danny Richie

Re: Suggestion For a New Speaker Line
« Reply #10 on: 11 Dec 2012, 04:05 pm »
Regarding wave guides.

Fellows I wish it were that easy. If you could just buy a wave guide and mount a tweeter in it and get good results that'd be great. The truth is that it just doesn't happen. The diaphragm of a tweeter is loaded by its rear chamber and that has a lot to do with its response. The wave guide also adds loading to the front side of the diaphragm. This usually adds too much diaphragm loading and the response goes all over the place. Sometimes adding one means you have to change the other.

There is also a cancellation in the throat that must be dealt with, and different tweeters react differently to that as well. So what works great for one tweeter doesn't work at all for another.

Chances of buying a wave guide and a tweeter that works good with one another is about one in a hundred.

So basically the tweeter needs to be designed using the wave guide or the wave guide needs to be designed around the tweeter to get decent results.