How do you value R&D? Building and testing Prototypes. How many Drivers may have passed through their hands in the process of choosing what to use? Turning on the lights in their shop?
In the DIY world, I see a lot of people looking for the best buy for their dollar; always hoping to find $20 drivers that will do the job of $100 drivers. In fact, $100 Drivers are generally regarded as Premium Drivers.
The art, of course, is in the integration you achieve. But that is selling Skill and Technique short.
What else happens in the DIY world? People don't account for internal wiring, screws, glue, saw blades and router bits, clamps, damping material, sandpaper, paint, soldering irons and solder, the cost of XO components when used instead of a DSP Amp...
Anyway, let's not forget the need of a business...
any business venture... to turn a profit... hopefully.
Finding the right recipe to build a successful Speaker Design does not happen overnight, nor does turning a profit.
So once you add in the cost of all the gear required to design and build the Speakers, test them, market them, ship them, pay staff, put food on your own table..................
Where does the balance point occur?
People complain about the cost of JTR Speakers. Why? He's selling you 2 pair of Coaxial Compression Drivers that retail near $1000 each, and your getting 4 Large Woofers as part of the package, along with everything else. Jeff has to pay a guy to build his cabinets, who in turn has to pay a crew to do the labor, sharpen tools, replace tools, pay their overhead...
Just as Sigberg has to do.
Questioning the end cost to consumer based on the retail price of 4 Drivers and two Amps is far and away one of the most foolish things I've seen done. And it's not just here where this happens. I've seen people try to pick apart the pricing for BMR Monitors and Towers AND so much more!
There simply isn't anything productive to be gained in these endeavors.
If Sigberg was trying to save money, perhaps they could order finished cabinets from the same company Sonus Faber does in China. Not all of their cabinets come from there, but some do. Maybe he could get ICE amps instead of Hypex to make these more affordable, and use the same crappy Celestion Drivers you find in the Volt 6 that measured like @$$ on Erin's bench.
The thing I'm seeing, in the bigger picture, is a business that is trying to break into a notoriously difficult field, and do it in style. Everytime something new comes along, there's a crew of detractors complaining about Perlisten and Buchardt and Arendal and Dutch & Dutch and so forth and so on.
But B&W, KEF or Focal can charge $15-25K for Speakers and people are saying, "Cool. I wish I could buy that," and leave it at that.
*shrugs
All I'm trying to point out is that there is a lot of misplaced energy taking time to complain about the premier design... their first Speaker... being offered by a new company which has two Subs and this SBS.1 available while working on a second design. Rather than Support a new effort and design concept and the potential it may bring, the pricing and shipping policies get questioned and criticized.
There's a reason why included Review Threads in the Drinking Game... And this is a perfect example.
I've been joking about this for far, far too long. It started up as an idea in my head after AH was inundated with people buying lower-tier B&W Speakers and coming on the Forum to find out why they sounded like @$$ once they set them up in their home. :) After that, there were... other topics of...
forums.audioholics.com
*steps off soapbox
Edit: I just want to be clear, this is not addressed at any single post or AH Member.
