Affordable vs. ultra expensive speakers - what's the difference?


Candidate 1: Affordable at about 3K

 

Candidate 2: Ultra expensive at 50K.

 

So what's the difference?

andy2

Showing 3 responses by rixthetrick

Currently I DIY my speakers....not the ’box’, the driver itself.
As is said: Priceless.

@asvjerry - I’m guessing you’ve gone straight from internal speaker wire to the tinsel leads for the motor? I have been told that Bybee clarifiers that magnetically attach to the magnets can do some pretty great things too.
I’ve personally tried Bybee bullets with one end clamped and soldered on the tinsel leads and my ribbon internal wire on the other end for bass drivers.
My tweeters however, the terminals disappear into the motor housing - I am not fighting that fight.
You’ve tried blu-tack as a gasket ?
I love it, until I try to remove the driver Then it’s all #$%&#@**. I’d like to read more of your experimentation mate.

BTW - none of the above would have been revealed by measurements. In all cases, the speakers were essentially full range and measure well.

@mgrif104
I am very confident that if you had the time, the right tools, and simply had to know how specific things like: cabinet resonances, energy dissipation of the cabinets, the measured frequency responses of each driver relating to the crossover points, anti-phase measurements of the crossover interaction with drivers, the measurable noise introduced by electrical components in the crossover circuit including PCB and inductor placement.. (please don’t try to read this out aloud) all affecting the performance of the voicing of the loudspeakers in question, you could measure differences.

What I’m trying to say is, there are honestly really measurable and quantifiable reasons, when taken as a whole, that can be used to indicate why one pair of loudspeakers are more convincing in reproduction of music than another.

I do not say this to offend you, but to inform you that real engineering differences between the designs and materials are the reason for the sonic differences, and that these differences with current technologies, are in fact measurable.
Knowledge is used to create better sounding equipment, I’m convinced of this.

 

Blutack makes for a really good gasket actually, it just requires a little brute force and ignorance (perhaps less of the latter) and I would have thought a brutish barbarian of an audiophile like you, might enjoy the sound and the challenge to swap them out for the hell of it?!!?? Ha

Seriously, that marvelous blue putty really helps, particularly on tweeters, in regards to ringing (or removing ringing).

@thyce - your line of thinking sits well with me. Introspective and reasoned.

@ghdprentice  - It's interesting that you had a mind for value and delayed gratification when you were young in your career. I've been trying that out
later in life, unfortunately I didn't have particularly good role models for that
sort of thing. Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Dave Ramsey have transformed my way of thinking - it's paying off!