@roxy54 I was thinking of Totem, but because it is such a "ONE-DESIGNER" shop, it feels boutique. Vienna is not so much
What's your favorite boutique speaker maker
Seeing a few discussions recently about Fritz made me curious about what other artisan speaker shops are out there.
I'll cast my vote for Louis at Omega Speakers in CT. His high efficiency full range Alnico drivers, impeccable craftsmanship and very reasonable prices make a compelling option. I've had some very nice speakers over the years but these put a smile on my face like no others could. My search is over.
No affiliation with him, here's a link to the ones he built for me the beginning of this year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7RE-f7JiW6/
I'll cast my vote for Louis at Omega Speakers in CT. His high efficiency full range Alnico drivers, impeccable craftsmanship and very reasonable prices make a compelling option. I've had some very nice speakers over the years but these put a smile on my face like no others could. My search is over.
No affiliation with him, here's a link to the ones he built for me the beginning of this year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7RE-f7JiW6/
162 responses Add your response
@roxy54 + 1 - especially Dynaudio.... |
https://www.avantgarde-acoustic.de/en/products.html https://sonneraudio.com/ https://www.gato-audio.com/eu/loudspeakers/bookshelf.html https://www.dynaudio.com/home-audio/evoke/evoke-10?c=walnutwood https://www.marten.se/products/ https://www.buchardtaudio.com/shop https://www.josephaudio.com/products https://totemacoustic.com/ https://www.salksound.com/gallery.php https://soundkaos.audio/soundkaos-audio-speakers https://amphion.fi/ http://www.diapason-italia.com/en/index.html https://www.canton.de/en/products/reference-k/ http://www.vienna-acoustics.com/ https://www.indianaline.it/tesi-vinyl-series/ https://www.trenner-friedl.com/index.php?menu=product&sprache=en&second=pharoah https://www.zuaudio.com/new-folder |
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Everything in the high end is boutique. What is sold at Wal-Mart, the local TV/hardware store and the rest of the chains is what most people use to play "their music". Where most people get their boombox type of thing is also the place you can buy a toaster and a snow shovel. High end audio is a very small part of electronics sales in this country.....Not much in the way of "high-end" comes from Taiwan or Wal-Mart. Even whatever Sony makes that could be considered "high-end" is a very small part of their business. Yamaha is first a music company, but the average American thinks of them as a motorcycle makers. "The company was originally named Nippon Gakki, which translated means 'Japan musical instruments'. It was changed to Yamaha Corporation in 1987. In 1887 Torakusu Yamaha created his own version of the reed organ before starting his own business in Hamasatsu." If you look at the logo on the side of a Yamaha motorcycle there is a symbol with three crossed tuning forks. |
I'm curious as to why no one has mentioned Tyler Acoustics. Have any of you owned a pair of his speakers? There are very few reviews out there for them and I would like to hear what the Audiogon community thinks.Tyler speakers had been discussed extensively about 10-15 years ago. Not much any more. I've owned Linbrook signature systems. Very good for the money, and the maker is a really nice guy. Their used speakers don't come for sale as often these days. |
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I used to own Chapman T-7 speakers. Chapman Audio is still in business and he is a speaker genius. I wish I could afford them now. Things have gotten more expensive and probably better over the years. Used to be my reference when I was in the audio cable business along with Coda electronics. Den old days. |
Ophidian Audio UK .Micro-monitors.Minimos (ver1).Interesting engineering approach .The soundscale these put out given its dimensions http://www.ophidian.co.uk/ is unique. ( No affiliations) |
+1 for Salk! I love my Supercharged SongTowers! I worked directly with Jim through the selection and build process - he sent me pictures of my speakers being built at various phases of construction and was extremely responsive throughout the process (and years later when I sought advice on hardware to reattach the plinths after the original bolts were lost in a move!). I ended up with a gorgeous pair of hand built speakers that I've been enjoying for 7 years now - they continue to improve as I upgrade all of the other components in my system (currently simplified to an ELAC DDP-2 for streaming/playing files stored on a NAS feeding via XLR an older 3 channel Krell amp where I'm only using 2 channels). To my ears they are very detailed without being harsh or fatiguing in any way, image to the point that you sometimes feel like you're awkwardly staring down the throat of vocalists and can precisely and separately identify different instruments in space, and have surprising bass extension and weight for the driver and enclosure size. I also purchased a matching 15" sub built at the same time that Jim fabricates using Rythmik electronics. When properly dialed in to match the mains, the combination is enthralling! |
Viking Acoustic in Sante Fe. The difference between a boutique company and a well known brand is the personal relationship that you receive with the boutique company. I ordered a pair of Grande Voix speakers from David Counsell who is the owner of Viking. You get to design exactly what you want and then you have ongoing discussions during the build process. It also helps to have a master cabinet builder. |
...Not sure if this company is a 'boutique speaker maker', but the German company Manger Audio manufactures some (really!) impressive 'Speakers, their flagship S1 active floorstanders, which use a novel architecture for their drivers (called that 'Manger Transducer', as well as a damping technology called the 'Star Damper', as well as built-in Class-AB amps for both the (full range) driver and the twitter, are really impressive 'Speakers, which, admittedly, don't come cheap (retail price in the US is about $24,950), but then again, consider that the 'Big Boys' in the field, such as the Magico M3 ($75,000 sans an optional dedicated stand, at $9600, and (if for some unexplained reason) need to be augmented with subwoofers, they cost $22K each...The same goes for companies such as YG Acoustics, Giya Audio, Revel, Focal, MBL, Wilson-Benesch, and the list goes on and on...So, taking into account the price of these, the Manger Audio 'Speakers are a great VFM proposition! And, the company manufactures a full line of other, less expensive, but equally impressive 'speakers. |
I would add George Short of north creek music systems sadly he closed up his business. He moved on to Wisdom audio as chief designer. Over the life of north creek he sold thousands of kits ,fully built , crossover parts and licensing of designs to other manufacturers. I own his manifest speaker a very fine design . But he had many designs from floor standers to book shelf. Marc |
Please accept my vote for Magnepan. In my small house I pair 0.7s with a par of DWMs. Each DWM I wired the two 4 Ohm elements in series for 8 Ohms and connected the outputs of the Hammond 1642SE transformers as follows: 0.7 negative to zero, 0.7 positive to 4 Ohms, One DWM negative to 8 Ohms, same DWM positive to second DWM negative, second DWM positive to 16 Ohms. The 5 k primary of the output transformer to a heavy duty transmitter triode such as the 833A to easily drive it all. It is more than enough power and it sounds most like a live orchestra in the opera house I went to before the plague. Other Magnepans might be ideal in a bigger room. |
I would define <<The New 21st C Boutqiue Speaker>> Has the xovers external, so you can see exactly what you are getting. And the components are from high tech labs, Like Mundorf, Miflex, Jenzen. Drivers from Scandanavia, like SEAS, Scan Speaker and SB Acoustics. http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Ellipticor-3.htm |
My favorite is Sound Labs ESL
^^^^ some audiophiles, reject planars/panels as <,true high fidelity speakers>> I find they are <<disqualified>> to be included in the genre <,speakers>> THey are ina category all by themselves... why you ask?? The power requirements are<,ridiculous> 100+ watts.. Just crazy. + they are pin point directional,, the so called <,sweet spot>> + they are too heavy. No I find they are disqualified to be mentioned when discussing <<speakers> |
