The “Off The Shelf” Lie

But are in-house drivers or FPGA digital converters really “better” than the best drivers from Scanspeak or Vifa? 

”BETTER” could be used objectively (measurable) or subjectively (opinion), the latter would give marketers wide latitude. 

@elliottbnewcombjr

I do not mean to be insensitive to those afflicted with Celiac Disease. My point is that 99.5% of us have no reason to worry about gluten except that seeing it on cereal boxes may trigger some of us to purchase. I should have used something like "organic" as a better example of food marketing jive talk as it relates to HiFi jive talking.

The speaker drivers are really not that special. They aren't some 'space age' technology. They are a simple device with minimum working parts. The basic design has been used for decades and easily modified especially with todays CNC capabilities available for close tolerance machine work. So yes, Scanspeak can make as good a speaker as anyone can. All the same materials are available to all the manufacturers. So no, it's not rocket science.

Scanspeak does not make drivers anything like those Richard Vandersteen manufactures himself, nor does anyone else. 

Danny Richie designed the planar-magnetic driver he incorporates in some of his speaker models, having it manufactured for GR Research. It is an improved version of the no-longer available NEO 3 tweeter. Scanspeak makes no such driver, and never has.

Both Magnepan and Eminent Technology manufacture their own planar/magnetic drivers, but p-m’s are not "normal" ("cone") drivers. I consider the ET LFT (Linear Field Transducer) driver superior to any and all cone drivers.

And then there are electrostatics, all of which are far more transparent than the vast majority of cone drivers. Scanspeak does not make an electrostatic driver, nor does SEAS.

I'm a ESL Speaker user for 30+ Years and have heard numerous ESL Speakers over the years, along with Panel Types Speakers from the main Brands.

As for Transparency they are without doubt the design that easily holds that mantle.

My most recent purchased Speakers of a Cabinet Design and with a non typical compliment of Cone Drivers have been through the quality on offer the successor of my ESL's.

The New Speakers are equal if not more Transparent than owned ESL's, but the design extends in making a impression with Room Coupling and coherence across the frequencies in a way the ESL's could not produce as a naked Speaker in my listening space.