trotsky wrote:
Joseph Oberlander wrote:

Bob Morein wrote:

From http://www.madisound.com/silverflute.html,
In single quantity:

Model
W20RC-38-08 8" driver $26.60 each
YAG-20 ribbon tweeter $27.50 each

Multiply by two, since Greg is promising to deliver a pair of speakers,
though I'm not sure I believe him.
Cost of drivers: $108.20, probably less than $100 if he's getting a
quantity
break.


Add in cabinets. $200 for the pair since he's not making them himself.

$300 for a pair. 4 times markup.




That's on the low side of what's typical in the industry. Thanks for
pointing out how good a value my speakers are, Joe--I owe you one.

Well, To be honest, your corssovers and cabinets per pair are probably
costing you $200.

So figure $300 per pair.

My original complaint was that while $300 seems a good deal to you,
the major plyers can get the items in such large quantity that their
price is closer to half that - About $150-$200, so if they take a $175
speaker(their cost) and mark it up, say, five times, they are selling
YOUR SPEAKER for $875.

Purely economics of scale.

Therefore, if you want to compete, you have to adjust your markup
to factor in your competition's cost to build the same thing.
That is, unless you can offer something they cannot, like a special
cabinet design, finish, another driver... SOmething to set you
truly apart.

ie:
$175*5=$875(their cost/markup)
$300*?=$875(your cost/markup)

That's the rub with being a small firm - you have to eat potential
profits to remain competetive with the major firms until you yourself
get up to their size.


P.S.(marketing advocate mode on)
If it was me, I'd ditch the current design you have and go with a
3-way. It may not sound much better, but people will probably pay
for a bookshelf sized 3-way speaker. I see very few these days.

Think of it as that gimmick you have to make yours different.
Maybe up the size of the speaker an inch or two in each dimmension
and add a 3-4 inch midrange. Gimmicks are good. Every speaker
designer needs one or else you end up being Energy - boxes with
drivers in them. Hopefully it makes the sound better, like NoRH's
speakers are, or do something unique like Mirage's omnipolars.

Athena makes a superb 3-way bookshelf(S3, IIRC). It's small and
sounds very nice - much better midrange than most 2-way speakers.
I'd buy a pair if I was making speakers and work until I had a
simmilar sounding pair. Pass on the savings as most people don't
want to spend extra money for it being modular.

Also, I'd do the oddball shaped port or use two ports or... The idea
is, again, offer them a perceived advantage or design difference.
Of course, you want the sound to be the same, just appear diffferent.

A perfect example is Ovation. They make nice acoustic-electric guitars.
Their plastic body models look and feel different and that allows them
to carve out a small niche. In reality, a Martin of Guild with good
pickups will sound better, but some people swear by the Ovations.

They needed a specific identifying feature and they found it.
Personally, I think plastic sucks for guitars, but from a marketing
standpoint, it's a good thing for them.