The problem with PLC


Firstly what is PLC? PLC stands for the PERFECT LOUDSPEAKER COMPANY. It is a hypothetical speaker company that would manufacture a perfect speaker and sell it to the public. 

Now here is the problem with this idea. Imagine a genius somewhere invents a perfect speaker. It can do 20~20Khz with 0.01% distortion at all levels/frequencies. It is as flat as a pancake and has CTPRT or Custom Tunable Polar Response Technology. 

Now he decides to put it in a plain unmarked cardboard box and put it on the market. No dealership, no marketing. Stereophile calls PLC and asks for a sample to review. PLC agrees and sends them out a pair. The selling price? $700 a pair. 

The review would go something like this. ''Here we have a newcomer to the speaker industry. The PLC speaker One designed by expert tuner, Master Kenjit CEO of PLC. A budget speaker. Looks very plain and ordinary. Sounded a bit flat. Not highly recommended as it did not sound very special. But nice first attempt. Suitable for college students on a budget.''

Measurements:

Perfect from 20-20khz. We have never seen anything like it. ZERO resonances. Impedance flat as a pancake. Miraculous. But didnt sound very good, so we cannot give it a Stereophile recommendation.

 

Now with a review like that few audiophiles would buy it. But lets say an audiophile takes a chance and buys a pair. He listens to it for a few months and decides its not quite right...

PLC speaker does not manage to sell enough pairs to continue operating and closes down a few years down the line. 

Now this is a hypothetical situation but this is EXACTLY what could happen even if the PERFECT speaker came along and put on the market. Unfortunately there is a saying which seems applicable that you should not cast pearls before swine. 

If the speakers had a beautiful gloss finish, were priced at $50K a pair and was sent out to all the high end dealers, and all the youtube reviewers were paid to provide excellent reviews, then it would be a totally different story. 

And therein lies the problem with perfect speakers. 

You need perfect audiophiles that understand perfect sound before you bother inventing perfect speakers. End of story. 

kenjit
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Audiogon is fairly good at providing a highly visible platform for high performing under the radar audio equipment. That alone will help the success of the perfect speaker company as long as it sounds good. If it measures good but sounds sucky then it will be a hit over at the tin ear measurement forum...

@kenjit  If a really good loudspeaker were to be produced, it would sell like crazy. Price is irreverent, performance is everything. Judging from my experience with bargain priced loudspeakers, I think it could happen, but who is going to buy a 500 dollar loudspeaker and match it with 5000 dollar gear?