Why pay so much for super high end?


Most speakers costing $50,000+ use Seas, Scan Speak or Accuton.

In DIY forums most speakers designed use bargain drivers and usually are only 2.0 designs not bookshelf or center speakers to complete a surround system.

I’d love to have a Scan Speak 11 speaker system for atmos with 3 way bookshelves, center and floorstanders.

Why aren’t the designs out there and why are you guys pissing away all your money.

Personally I won’t get an upgrade from my speakers unless it’s of this caliber and neither can I afford nor want to donate money to these thieves.

A 3rd party 11 speaker atmos scan Speak system would be nice but I’m not spending $250,000.

Why on earth aren’t there designs out there for this and why do you all piss away your money?

I don’t get why hi fi isn’t all DIY even honest factory direct companies mark up 300%.

Unless you pull in $1+ million a year and don’t have any time I don’t get it.

Are you guys lazy?

Someone easily could design a great crossover and cabinets for everyone and the days of paying over $3,500 for a pair of loud speakers if you got some time or know a friend who could build cabinets would be over. I know of people who could design cabinets that rival $100,000 speakers and cost less than 1% than that.  Someone with some experience could easily design a diamond, beryllium and soft dome and various versions for various tastes.

I don’t get it. Speakers are so simple.  Crossovers cabinets and drivers.

You guys just throw your money away I don’t understand it why?


funaudiofun

Showing 15 responses by randy-11

if you buy the most expensive Maggies you will have a hard time getting much improvement on that

OTOH, they may not fit your room


Let's say you spend $30,000 on speakers... that will get you a full frequency range of sound, as well as some other things.

Then you decide to upgrade - what would you get at the next level above that?
it is one thing to buy some cone based drivers and build an enclosure by copying the R&D of an established and eminent manf.

it is something else to hire a bunch of engineers and acousticians, but them test gear, including laser interferometers, and spend years to improve on an existing design of cones in a box

and something else again to create speaker based on ribbons, electrostatics, or a gas plasma

choose your level and how much time you want to invest for the $$ you will save (I suggest the cones in a box for any single individual)

Just remember, Edgar Villchur died for your sins
He's a genius, no question.  But... does the $15,000 Carver ALS sound better than a somewhat cheaper Maggie?

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Legacy - I have heard they sound good, but no experience.

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Why would sound waves go thru the molecules of carbon fiber??  The post above gives good info on some advantages of panels (dipole radiators) but when I saw the analogy of sound waves to microwaves (much shorter wavelength and EMF, I almost tossed my latte...)
more like patting each others big phat speaker cables to feel good about themselves...

but I am sure that people would be able to distinguish different speakers over $15,000 in a blind test - it's less clear that one is better or would be preferred
There is a special iPhone anti-vibration mount on sale now for $3,200 that will make that $26 speaker sound a LOT BETTER!
some people spend less money on what makes them feel good than others -- they take advantage of reductions in market value caused by low perceptions by most buyers

examples include mispricing of stocks and the Porsche 996 
BTW, I could see 5 figures for an entire stereo system being a reasonable markup - that's $10k.  Not 6 figures.

yes, there ar other consumer products with outrageous markups - but most of them are known for the sort of exploitation identified by Thorstein Veblin

audio is supposed to be about sound quality
I dispute the notion that only right-wingers can fall prey to "insane incorrect hobby"
Wrong.

I have chosen to ridicule flat-earthers, birthers, and (quick) creationists along with other sub-scientific trolls because I have learned a lot about abnormal psychology through experience with them.
observation requires a set of controls, or just woo-woo

most are not doing blind listening tests and are just victims of confirmation bias

another confounding factor is that changing cables often breaks up corrosion, which could have been done w/o using a different cable