Montreal Audio Show - anyone hear the FR30’s?

What is new technology in speakers these days?  I don't know of any major driver type that wasn't around since the 1970's or much earlier.  Even something "exotic" like a plasma tweeter was something invented in the 1930's.  The only more recent development is DSP applied to room analysis and speaker equalization/control, and the most innovative example of that is the B&O speaker that utilizes multiple drivers and wave cancellation based on DSP analysis of the room to control the dispersion pattern of its drivers.  It, by the way, costs way more than $30k.  

The bottom line is performance as compared to peers.  It has nothing to do with technology employed or the cost of components and manufacture.  If someone can use cheap parts and build something great sounding, more power to them (and profit) and one would be a fool to get something that sounds less satisfactory just because of an analysis of cost of manufacture.  

I have not heard the speaker so I cannot comment on its sound, much less its worth.  How many criticizing it here have actually heard it in a reasonable setup?  

on DSP analysis of the room to control the dispersion pattern of its drivers. It, by the way, costs way more than $30k.

The bottom line is performance as compared to peers

Exactly! Let’s be open minded here..

Some say that up to 50% of what you hear at sweet spot is the room.

If that is true.

Or if it is only 30%.. I guess it is dependent on if it is near field or more further away from the speakers to your sweet spot as a factor.

Let say if it is only 30% is from the room. Like reflections bass peak/nulls and so on..

When DSP correct most of the room interaction (talking from experience and doing it right now) . Not only can you correct the room You can adopt curves that compensate our hearing sensitivity that is different and varying over the whole frequency range (research since 1933 and incorporated in ISO 226:2003. But the cool thing you can tailor made it for your own personal preferences!)

(Of course you should fix the room in the physical domain first but that is far from the goal.)

Then you all understand that when it is the biggest component physical and has one of the biggest influence in your whole system.

Then naturaly with that big advantage that few speakers has we would get best in class performance and easily outperform it peers:

The bottom line is performance as compared to peers

Real question: Can someone explain why speaker manufacturers can’t be bothered to create true 8 ohm speakers at say, at least 90 db efficiency?  It’s just driver choice and engineering

That part of speaker design seems unforgivably lazy to me at the high end (let’s say $5,000+ speakers). Can’t these folks create something that lets users be more creative on their amplification?

Not everything needs to work with a 10 wpc SET - but why can’t makers build speakers that can run on amps weighing 40 pounds, instead of 100? - huge customer problem, hi-end is dying because of it (hi-end is still dying. TTs and headphones are healthy). No one wants to deal with that nonsense any more. It’s part of why the industry can’t attract younger enthusiasts (anyone who thinks the problem with hi end and young people is cost, are kidding themselves. 30 and under have crazy spending power.  Go to a watch auction sometime and see people spend real money. Go try and buy a 911 GT3 and find out lead times)

Sports car makers don’t try and sell 5,000 lb cars anymore 

Please, thoughts and explanations appreciated!

Perhaps it is not that easy to build a high efficiency speaker without incurring some other compromises or added cost.  A lot of the efficiency loss is in the complex networks that are used in some crossovers.  But, all those added elements are there for a purpose--smoothing out response, accounting for anomalies around the crossover point, accounting for baffle-step loss and diffraction, accounting for floor bounce interference, etc.  I once saw an advertisement for a YG Acoustic two-way that showed the crossover and it blew my mind--way more than a dozen capacitors, something like eight inductors, and I don't know how many resistors; their is a lot of power being burned off there (but, I sort of like the sound of that YG speaker).

From the speaker builder's perspective, it is easier to disregard efficiency when balancing other considerations because that is someone else's problem.  It is up to the amplifier manufacturers to supply the goods that can play these speakers.

I agree with you, by the way, but, I personally want WAY more than 90 db/w efficiency.  Something closer to 100 and 7-16 ohm nominal impedance would be nice for the kinds of amps I own.

And when one of the speaker manufacturer’s main businesses is higher power amplifiers, even less incentive, perhaps even negative incentive