Nigel is employed by a corporation and he is looking to develop a bookshelf speaker to compete with Brand X, only a better sound at the same price. After looking at some driver specs, he sees something interesting: if he fiddles a little here and there; uses this particular driver and reduces the crossover to 2K he can produce that speaker and get the better sound at the price point.
Nigel sends the design documents upstairs. A few days later he gets a call from Engineering saying great job! But... make one small change, if you don’t mind. Increase the crossover frequency above 2.8K.
Nigel is disappointed -- the crux of the design is that lower crossover frequency. Nigel asks why and Engineering informs him that they contacted the driver manufacturer and the verdict was the longer driver excursion at the lower frequency will increase MTBF by over 45%. The accounting department determined that the extra warranty cost involving labor, stock of replacement drivers etc, will lower the ARR to less than 3% over 10 years, so the project isn’t feasible. The price increase to be doable will price it out of the market.
Morale of the story: if it’s not your money then you don’t call the shots.
Nigel sends the design documents upstairs. A few days later he gets a call from Engineering saying great job! But... make one small change, if you don’t mind. Increase the crossover frequency above 2.8K.
Nigel is disappointed -- the crux of the design is that lower crossover frequency. Nigel asks why and Engineering informs him that they contacted the driver manufacturer and the verdict was the longer driver excursion at the lower frequency will increase MTBF by over 45%. The accounting department determined that the extra warranty cost involving labor, stock of replacement drivers etc, will lower the ARR to less than 3% over 10 years, so the project isn’t feasible. The price increase to be doable will price it out of the market.
Morale of the story: if it’s not your money then you don’t call the shots.