"... I started a post asking why is it that speaker companies like Salk, ProAc, Devore, Harbeth and so many other smaller companies charge so much for their speakers when they only build their cabinet and outsource the speakers and drivers to Scanspeak, Vifa, Seas, and other companies. The obvious reason is they dont have the capital to higher engineers and build it all. I got all kinds of very good reasons why, but no one was able to give me the number one reason. It was because they are not a "Virtical company" which can give you a better product at cheaper prices while passing down the best technology for their top lines to some of the lower lines

Devil's advocate

While this is true to some degree the alternate argument to this is that these companies are buying drivers from some of the best driver specialists in the world. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel when companies like SEAS, Scanspeak, Vifa, etc are making the best drivers available.

These companies like the brands you list have to pay for the drivers which is an increased cost; however, they also don't have to pay the massive costs for the machines to build the drivers or the employee cost to have the drivers physical built. Instead these makers can spend their time designing loudspeakers and not drivers that again are already likely available by driver maker specialists.

The argument that in house drivers are better is a specious one. If they were making the best drivers in the world all other speaker manufacturers would beat down their doors to offer to buy them.

In house driver manufacturer on the one hand does mean more control but that to me is marketing blather and causes the end user potential problem. Why?

1) you make the driver and you can now charge the customer any sum you want - whether the driver is worth it or not.

2) many of these companies change models every 2-5 years. They may now re-tool for a new tweeter or woofer. If they do they won't make the old ones. If that happens and your speaker breaks lot's of luck getting a replacement.

3) in house doesn't allow for price comparison. 3 speaker makers all use the same woofer and tweeters you can ask why one speaker costs 4 times what the other costs. In house the tweeter may cost $3 to make but they can charge $400 because there is no "competitor" who uses the same drivers.


The notion of trickle down technology is also pure marketing. B&W is a prime example with their tube tapering metal dome tweeter on top technology. It's all very impressive.

They come out with a CDM 1SE speaker with a metal tweeter on top. It has ringing break-up behavior and doesn't integrate with the stiff Kevlar midwoofer. It sounds worse than the AN AX Two for half the price using Vifa drivers (paper and silk).

So B&W trickles down their better tweeter design in the new CDM 1NT - which is a marginal upgrade but still has the same problems - price goes up and the AX Two still sounds better.

B&W trickles down more of the 800 series into the new 705 which is better again but still has treble issues and still doesn't integrate properly and still has problems with the Kevlar woofer. Price goes up and it still sounds worse than the AX Two. It looks a lot better I'll give them that. I am using B&W as the example because the CDM 1SE and NT were speakers I planned on buying back in the day. I was a week away from purchasing them except I got laid off. Bad to get laid off but not bad to avoid buying those speakers. (B&W is a prime example of vertical integration and make their own drivers etc etc.)

The B&W tweeter creates it's own problems that a cheap ass AX Two Vifa tweeter doesn't create. The Vifa won't have the power or extension but it also has none of the nasty issues B&W's tweeters possess.

B&W sells them and then has the upgrade coming in the next line or the trickled down version. They even admit that the model up reduces ringing of their lower model. It's perpetual built in upgradeitus. The initial wow factor treble is wearing and you want the model up. The interesting thing is when B&W was interested in sound reproduction instead of the pure marketing of style over substance that they're into now they used to build good sounding speakers (Matrix and DM series). Indeed, I picked up a Hong Kong English newspaper the other day about home decorating and what do I see - a full page advert for B&W 800 speakers. It reminded me of seeing Bose and Bang and Olluffson in such magazines. Credit B&W for following some of the most profitable companies and realizing that Harbeth, ATC, Audio Note, and Devore Orangutan looking speakers will not sell in numbers no matter how good they sound. People want sexy curves, high gloss finishes, and whatever space age mumbo jumbo you can possibly throw at them.

Devil's advocate commentary over.

Now having made the above point I do not have any issue with either approach - I really don't care about whether they make the drivers or not. Some speakers I like do some speakers I like don't. Same with amps - some amps are OEM from other companies but it doesn't make it worse or better.

Speakers IME are more about the overall design than the specific drivers. 1-2 less expensive drivers with spot on cohesiveness beats 5 ultra pricey drivers that are all over the place even if each driver in the 5 way costs more than entire first speaker costs in total.