Obscure companies making excellent speakers?

fly under the radar because advertisement just too expensive or not viable.

I don't think I have ever seen ATC advertise although they are longtime supporters of the Audio Engineering Society and have published peer-reviewed engineering papers on speaker technology, which is a form of advertising if you think about it. ATC management and design staff are bona-fide degreed audio engineers rather than DIYers with a passion for audio that became gifted at cabinet making and went into business from that route. One of the few small companies that make their own transducers instead of sticking to wood work and third party parts assembly.

ATC is a UK company based in rural Gloucestershire (presumably for access to lower cost labour and skilled crafts people). They tend to sell speakers by word of mouth and have have barely began to penetrate US markets in the last ten years; they remain a name that the majority of North American Hi-Fi dealers and audiophiles have never even heard of. They fulfill a small niche for Studio precision/reference sound at realistic SPL levels/dynamics of live music but with audiophile precision rather than PA sound (PA or live event sound reinforcement is a much bigger market as JBL and Bose can attest to). Recently, ATC have began installs in exclusive night clubs/Jazz clubs and high end concert halls such as the Disney Concert Hall in LA....again a niche market. They also have made home studio installations for some well known musicans/artists.

Outwardly the speaker is so understated that it looks more at home in a pawn shop than a high-end boutique.

Amfibius,

I agree - they are plain and ugly looking. They make only a few models - basically different box sizes and limited by the fact they use their own drivers (apart from tweeters which are often of a cheaper variety). Rather than spend money on cabinetry they seem to devote their energy to transducer R&D and active designs that change only once in a blue moon. In essence one of their strengths is the sound barely changes between small to large models (just gets progressively louder/greater dynamics) and from one decade to the next (making the same transducers for 20+ years). They certainly make it difficult for a reviewer to get excited about a new product!

I think ATC was fair game for "obscure". About as bizarre as it gets in an audiophile world which seems to be a constant sea of change; where companies come and go and seem to either completely change designs every few years or offer hundreds of choices which often sound very different....clearly a fashion/aesthetics driven world in which ATC, with a handful of staff, is very much out of place.

I agree with Duke that they may not be obscure enough in the sense that was perhaps intended on the thread (meaning relativley unknown) - they certainly have amassed a loyal following which allows them to behave with relative impunity towards industry norms (aesthetics/marketing/dealer networks/attractive price point usually being quite a bit more important than the actual sound...although their newest consumer range looks like an assault at a lower price point for better value).