Notable very small loudspeaker companies (other than Tekton!)
Let's give a shout-out to those very small speaker companies that make excellent products. I'm thinking of true one-man operations (owner-designer-maker) as well as very small ones (owner-designer + a very few employees).
My nominees: Ryan, Prana, Philharmonic, Fritz, Watkins, Vaughn, Chapman, even Daedalus, Salk, Selah.
Who else belongs in this list?
How do they manage to compete with the "big boys", in quality if not in quantity?
Tyler Acoustics, for sure. I've had Linbrooks for ten years. They are very precise, good soundstage, slightly warm (but I like it), they fill a room, and they're not highly directional.
Bass below 30Hz, Highs beyond audible (for me).
Excellent prices--the drivers are all Seas, believe it or not. If you like Joseph Audio speakers (which at $7,000+ I consider more than they're worth), you need to listen to Tyler's. I also admire Volti Audio products very much, although that's a very different kind of speakers. But they have gotten expensive, and Greg won't sell his multiple product items separately, only by a full set. Both of these are built by hand by the proprietor.
And a +1 for Silverline, that I'm very curious about but have never been able to hear (but have received recommendations from people whose ears I trust).
Two boutique brands I own and recommend: Vinnie Rossi - practically one man show, with innovative concept (modular approach), extremely good sounding and unbeatable customer service. Boenicke - also one man show, with innovative approach to speaker design that defies common perception (small speakers, big sound) and that provides life like tone. Both brands review by 6moons.
It wasn't until I decided to replace my original ProAc Tablettes about 8 years ago that I realized how many speaker manufacturers there are... way more than I imagined, and many are outstanding, with excellent and intriguing design skills behind them.
As with kdude66, I'll add a vote for Lawrence Audio- certainly excellent designs and hand-made construction on a small scale. I think they make tube amps as well. Taiwan based.
Perhaps one of the smallest and least know is Fidelity Acoustics, out of the Vancouver BC area. I've heard these on several occasions, and sometimes in side by side comparisons with some very mainstream brands. Wonderful tonality, clarity and life. I know that they work very hard on crossover designs, which I have come to regard as a critical part of a loudspeaker. The RFM-2 is a two way, transmission line that looks quite ordinary, but is remarkable in it's sound.
+4 on Daedalus. I've known Lou for over a decade now and he has been an vital partner in my audio journey. I'm on my second pair of Daedalus speakers and Lou has supported my DA-1.1s with multiple upgrades as he has advanced his craft. Lou speakers are artisan masterpieces. His latest designs (the Apollo series) offer cutting edge performance--they are among the very finest speakers one can buy yet Lou has managed to develop a model range and pricing structure that is accessible to a wide range of audiophile households. As a result, pride of ownership among Lou's clients appears to be among the highest in the industry. Most of us are committed to Daedalus for life--either staying with our initial purchase and upgrading as new design elements are introduced or moving up in the line as new models become available. What I hear most among Daedalus adherents is their passion for music, their appreciation for Lou's honesty, integrity, expertise, craft and that they never tire of listening to music through their speakers--everything sounds so "right" and so "real".
David Counsell at Viking Acoustics- striking set of horn speakers. I look forward to trial the unique Berlin R Type II’s soon. He has produced unique horn designs and secured wonderful customer reviews. Beautiful woodwork. http://www.viking-acoustics.com/products
Very small company. Various models to choose from. These do what speakers are supposed to do, without any fancy extras that do not make the sound more accurate. Phase coherent - first order crossovers of the highest quality. http://nsmt-loudspeakers.com/Model-15
Another for Reference 3a, I haven't listened to any of their speakers than are less than sublime, especially for the price, the DeCapos are amazing, reproduction of piano, my thing, is about as close to real as you'll get out of a small monitor with a good suporting cast of electronics and subs.
The OP already mentioned Vaughn Loudspeakers,but I would like to add that I’ve been recently looking at a couple of his designs and talking to him about a possible custom built speaker that uses the Dukane plasma tweeter’s that he rebuilds and modify’s the pwr supplies.I mainly want something similar to his signature speaker but I don’t want any drivers on the back of the speaker that operate as bipolar’s.
Anyhow he has recently retired from his main gig of owning and managing a flooring business in California and he’s moving back to his home state and going to concentrate his time to building speakers full time.
He’s just a super passionate fellow and just a true gentlemen to deal with and he has some new ideas going fwd.
Speaker Art. Bob Gross is an incredible designer, however he was lousy at marketing his speakers. The Super Clef competes with speakers costing multiples of the paultry $1300 he charged for them and his Proklain ll while not the most attractive speaker is one of the top two-way standmount speakers ever made regardless of price. It’s a shame that he is retired from the business.
Here’s one that their speakers aren’t well known and almost classify for this thread,because from what I’ve read about them,one guy has designed them all. They also make a whole series of different drivers,sold individually or to other speaker manufacturers which is bigger and separate from their speakers.
Here’s a link that lists them all with current USA pricing,
Lots of great suggestions here. Keep 'em on coming. There are all these interesting companies under the radar. Perhaps one of them will be the Next Big Thing.
I am thinking about getting into providing very good sounding small speakers for very acceptable prices. Once I fully finish these, I think I am going to offer couple variations of them.
+3 on Daedalus - Lou Hinckley is a craftsman - beautiful wood cabinetry and excellent sonics; also takes the time to communicate with you; and will not ship his speakers until he is completely satisfied with the quality of his workmanship
Source Loudspeakers in
South Windsor, CT.
John Sollecito has been building great speakers at a affordable price for over 30 years. Bought my first speakers from him in 1980.
My top two have already been mentioned, but a hearty "2nd" to Danny Richie at GR Research (for DIY’ers), along with Brian Ding at Rythmik Audio, co-designers of the best OB/Dipole subwoofer in the world, and Bruce Thigpen at Eminent Technology, whose TRW-17 Rotary Subwoofer is one of the true innovative and breakthrough loudspeaker designs of the past 50 years. His LFT-8b Magnetic-Planar Loudspeaker and ET-2.5 Air-Bearing Linear-Tracking Tone Arm pretty good, too ;-). A genius? Name me one other company owner who has designed and built a SOTA arm, subwoofer, and loudspeaker (ever heard the LFT-6?). Arnie Nudell? I don’t believe it was he who designed the Infinity Black Widow arm. Pretty good ;-) speaker designer, though.
“So the questions remains, how do many of these tiny companies rival and sometimes surpass the likes Revel, B&W and others? Is it the genius of the individual designer? A speaker "auteur", rather than a gaggle of cooks.”
I will answer this question,after many yrs in this hobby and seeing many small companies come and go.It’s almost always the “genius” and extreme passion that drive these individuals to design and build something different but also something very good as well.
The ones that truly make a name for themselves and sustain for the long haul make the difference with solid engineering and go to extreme’s in customer service to make sure every customer is a happy camper.
Most that sustain don’t overwhelm their customers with multiple designs that look basically the same and are based on so-called hype and over the top statements and marketing. They only concentrate their efforts on a couple of designs at a time and they nail their design in overall Implementation before they start selling them,meaning that every customer that buys a pair gets the same as the next guy and they aren’t producing just some kind of work in progress speaker that the buying public foots the bill for.
Then as they build a solid customer base they may come out with new and different models that exceed their previous efforts and they do this while being truthful to their customers and not over promising a delivery timeframe that will never be achieved.
You can generally tell when a company isn’t going to make it in their own country,especially the USA,is when they concentrate their marketing strategies in other countries such as Europe and Asia and their sales drop tremendously in the USA.
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