There are over a thousand speaker “companies” out there trying to do biz. How can you possibly navigate through the forest to find the right tree?
We can help. By understanding how products are built, it’s not as complicated as it might seem on the surface- to find truly exceptional performance for your investment.
North America & Europe
For openers, I want speakers to be made with the TLC and consistency you’ll only get from North America or Europe.
There is a distinct advantage to having every driver built to a reference standard. It pays off in sonic performance and reliability.
Vendored Speakers
For openers, I’m not interested in vendored speakers. Anyone can buy parts from a vendor, screw them into a box and call it Model One, Model Two etc.
These parts are generic from warehouses like Parts Express and Madisound. Regardless of the name on the box, if it’s a conglomeration of parts out of a bin, no thanks. Even if some of these sound good, they’re all similar. Very little distinguishes A from B once you understand what is behind the grill cloth. Once you’ve studied the prime manufacturers of drive elements, you’ll see the SAME ones used in a plethora of brands.
Chinese Imports
Almost all speakers below about $3k are made in China. They’re just ordered via clicks on a computer. We’re not interested in these. They’re not made with the same TLC as what we do in N America or Europe. Nor do we want to support these skunks with our money.
By and large, far east imports are comprised of cheap drivers, cabinets and crossovers- that sound boxy and inconsistent- in sonic performance or reliability. You can do better for not a lot more.
We’re fortunate to deal with outstanding family owned companies from N America and Europe. We don’t need mass produced Chinese speakers.
North America & Europe
I want my speakers made in North America or Europe due to the TLC that is typical, expected and readily available from these manufacturers. These companies are capable of building products, in quantity, to a REFERENCE STANDARD.
Reference Standard
Top tier companies like Bryston, Magnepan & Klipsch Heritage make sure the speakers they ship out the door perform precisely as their Reference Standard prototypes do. It is only possible to do this with demanding manufacturing techniques and QC procedures. It takes time, discipline and attention to detail- none of which are in the wheel house of monster production houses or a guy assembling parts in an industrial park.
Bryston
Let’s start with Bryston of Canada. James Tanner, Bryston’s CEO, is Bryston’s lead speaker designer. He has created a broad line of speakers that are derivatives of his Model T.
Bryston’s drive elements are made in house, in Canada, by Bryston. They are built to a precision standard. Every driver that comes through production is graphed to be sure it performs within a very tight window established by Bryston’s Reference Standard. This window of variability is so tiny that variations within this window are imperceptible.
Most companies buy hundreds of drivers from companies like SB Acoustics, Vifa, Seas, Eminence, Scan-speak or whomever. The range of performance is widely varied due to mass production. Companies that care will actually graph all these tweeters (for ex) and make sure MATCHED tweeters go into paired speakers. While that’s thoughtful, if you ever need a new tweeter, you’d better plan on buying a MATCHED PAIR, because just getting one off the shelf- will leave you with a right and left speaker that produce different “colors.” Further, the crossover created for said speaker, is designed for a certain standard of drivers. If the individual drivers that land in your pair of speakers aren’t just like the prototypes, your crossover can be flat out wrong for what landed in your boxes.
Let’s consider this reality even further. Suppose a speaker has multiple tweeters, mids or woofers. There is precious little chance that all of the drivers within this prospective speaker will be in sync. If you have 3 tweeters and they’re not built virtually identically, when you play a piano key, you’re guaranteed to get spiky peaks or a sound that has unmusical artifacts, which is distortion. With Bryston you’ll have no such worries. Even if you do need a new tweeter 20+ years down the road, IT will also perform within a gnat’s fanny of the Reference Standard.
Magnepan
Magnepans are made in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Magnepan is a patented technology. There is nothing else quite like it. They are made by skilled craftsmen, one at a time in a work shop. There is no mass production going on at Magnepan. When you order Magnepans in a finish we don’t have in stock, it gets put on the schedule. You’ll have to wait 4-12 weeks. But it will be worth the wait!
Klipsch
Klipsch makes its Heritage Series with amazing dynamic range and power in Arkansas. When you buy a K Heritage model you’re sure to get speakers of remarkable consistency and low distortion- that will play ball with modestly powered amplifiers.