Who's making all these drivers?

[RickH]

Just a little factoid. Truth be known,there really arent that many prime manufacturers of audio drivers. Most mid fi manufacturers have components brought in from various mnfrs. and then assemble the components at their facility. The equipment necessary to manufacture audio drivers would make it financially impossible for most speaker companies to make their own drivers...HOWEVER....there are some very large and/or high end folks that want to monitor every phase of manufacturing in order to maintain the highest consistency and quality possible. Some of the popular prime driver mnfrs. currently supplying the audio industry are: Scan Speak, Vifa, Peerless, Pioneer,. There are also a number of "off shore" companys manufacturing some "cheepie" drivers for multi media systemns etc. It is also not unusual for a speaker manufacturer to contract out to a driver mnfr. to produce drivers to a specification given by the speaker mnfr. Usually if someone is manufacturing their own drivers,they will advertise it as this is a testament to a companys committment to high quality..(usually). Nuf said.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

One of the reasons my Cambridge Audio speakers are so excellent is that the drivers were designed by them from the ground up. No off-the-shelf components here.

 

[codexp3]

Paradigm, B&W, and Dynaudio make their own drivers. I think all three are among the best!

 

[Seth=L]

Paradigm, B&W, and Dynaudio make their own drivers. I think all three are among the best!

In their respective price ranges. OEM drivers aren't all bad either.

 

[Soundman]

One of the reasons my Cambridge Audio speakers are so excellent is that the drivers were designed by them from the ground up. No off-the-shelf components here.

This is a tough case to make. I do not doubt that speaker companies that make their own drivers make fine speakers. But just because the speaker company doesn't directly make the drivers doesn't mean they don't make speakers every bit as good as companies who do. I believe the design of the speaker and how the speaker manufacturer implements the drivers into their design (crossovers, etc) is every bit as important as the quality of the drivers themselves. There are many speaker manufacturers who don't design their own drivers, but they've done an excellent job implementing the drivers into their speakers. I don't think it matters if someone else manufactured the drivers. Many companies have them built by another company, but they are custom built according to the speaker manufactuer's design. It's an intersting discussion, but in the end good speaker companies will make sure they have everything right before bringing the product to the market, IMO

 

[billy p]

Wow

One of the reasons my Cambridge Audio speakers are so excellent is that the drivers were designed by them from the ground up. No off-the-shelf components here.

you sure are singing the praises of these speakers. Something about your posts and some of the recent threads over at AVS make me wonder about you. However, as far as building a speaker from the ground up I concur with that part of your statement and do believe that companies that design their own components have a distinct advantage.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Paradigm, B&W, and Dynaudio make their own drivers. I think all three are among the best!

My understanding is that B&W's Kevlar drivers are made in Asia (a least in 2005/6 they were). Don't know about Dynaudio, but if Paradigm made all of their own drivers I would be shocked. Never owned a pair or pulled one apart, but it would be a surprise to me if it were true.

Canton makes and engineers their own drivers in Germany. It's been awhile since I asked, but within the last two years Canton told me that they make and control everything in Germany. Not sure if that's still true or not, but that's what I was told by the President of Canton NA.

Phase Technology makes literally EVERYTHING in the USA themselves or within their parent company, MSE Audio Group. Even the voice coils in their crossovers are hand wound by Phase Tech/MSE employees here in the US. The cabinets, if I remember correctly are made in KC, MO by Induction Dynamics, another memebr of MSE

Phase Tech owns a lot of driver technology patents and OEMs drivers for a great many companies.

If anyone has info to refute my statment about B&W's Kevlar pieces, I would be interested in hearing it. Or, if Paradigm actually does OEM their own drivers that would be good to know as well.

If I can think of any more , I will add to the list!

 

[bandphan]

i think you will find that comapnies that claim to "make" their own drivers would really be saying that they "design" their own drivers. I think that to much emphassis is placed on the driver alone and not the cabniet/speaker design .

 

[codexp3]

My understanding is that B&W's Kevlar drivers are made in Asia (a least in 2005/6 they were). Don't know about Dynaudio, but if Paradigm made all of their own drivers I would be shocked. Never owned a pair or pulled one apart, but it would be a surprise to me if it were true.

Well then call yourself shocked. Why are you guessing in the first place? This is the INFORMATION age, if you don't know then look it up.

"Paradigm designs and makes thier own drivers, cabinets, hardware, and more."

http://www.paradigm.com/en/pdf/reviews/centers/cc290_review_39.pdf

This article is reprinted from Avrevolution.com

Paradigm has always manufactured their own drivers. Dynaudio does as well. You can add JL audio to the list.

 

[bandphan]

http://audiotools.com/drivers.html

 

[Joe Schmoe]

you sure are singing the praises of these speakers. Something about your posts and some of the recent threads over at AVS make me wonder about you.

They are truly stunning speakers, especially for the size and price. Unfortunately, I am still torn. My Mirages have a "big speaker" sound that no bookshelves can emulate, along with unique soundstage/imaging. On the other hand, the Cambridges are superior in many ways, especially detail and transparency. This makes settling on a permanent favorite difficult.

(Oh, and AVS is a completely different forum. There is no Joe Schmoe there that I am aware of.)

 

[fredk]

I agree with Soundman. There is more to good speakers than drivers and there are other options to custom drivers than making your own.

As an example from another industry, take a look at camera lenses. There are only three or four manuacturers world wide. For years, Nicon had some of THE best lenses in the industry, yet they never manufactured a single one. They did however do all the R&D and specify design, coatings and treatments for the lenses manufactured for them.

You can add Axiom to the list of companies that design and build their own drivers.

Fred

 

[Joe Schmoe]

My Mirages have a "big speaker" sound that no bookshelves can emulate, along with unique soundstage/imaging. On the other hand, the Cambridges are superior in many ways, especially detail and transparency. This makes settling on a permanent favorite difficult.

More A/Bing has convinced me that the Mirage soundstage/imaging trumps all other factors. My next upgrade will have to be within the Mirage line (unfortunately, the next step up is the OM15s, which are over 4X the MSRP of my 350s and never on sale.)

 

[tom67]

Subcontracting

I'm almost suspicious of any company who makes all the components, and provides all the labor of their products....most companies making quality sophisticated products subcontract portions of both materials and labor to achieve the best product at this point in time. A good example is the building trades.....the best contractors know they cannot keep the best specialists in every trade on staff and subcontract virtually everything...I see this as plus and not a minus...

 

[emorphien]

I know that a number of speaker manufacturers make their own drivers, and in many cases they are very good. I don't think it gives them any advantage over buying from the very excellent dedicated driver manufacturers though.

 

[Sheep]

I know that a number of speaker manufacturers make their own drivers, and in many cases they are very good. I don't think it gives them any advantage over buying from the very excellent dedicated driver manufacturers though.

X2. It's not who made the driver, it's who designed it.

SheepStar

 

[Soundman]

X2. It's not who made the driver, it's who designed it.

SheepStar

Exactly.

 

[sparky77]

People need to think a bit further outside the box when it comes to audio. It was already debated for who manufactured what for recievers and amplifies,and, well, sherwood manufactures for a lot of companies and manufactures the recievers to the specs put up by the hosting company.... and who would you guess manufacturers the speakers for most of the so called high end companies, and I'll give you a hint, they're listed in my sig....