Recently, I acquired speakers that are bespoke and unique in design.
The speakers are designed by a professional drive-unit designer who is working for Companies with global broad market exposure and who is also a Consultant to companies producing Speakers that also have broad market exposure globally.
Secondary to the design support, another individual who works as a Consultant to a UK Company and has worked on speakers worth over £100K was involved at the latter end of the speaker production. This person offered their support with the final voicing of the Speakers, using their software/hardware to finalise the crossover values of the speaker.
On becoming the owner of the above speakers and knowing the build story, I was able to make contact with both the above individuals to learn a little extra about what I had bought for myself and if the Cabinet Structure or Crossover design was able to be improved. Only because I was 'jaw-on-the-floor' impressed and needed to inquire whether furthering the good impression made could be an option.
Both, when contacted, were very helpful; to the point, their IP was not being encouraged to be shared. I was given valuable info and learnt that the design is absolutely optimised and the Builder had not made any decisions for the build that could be suggested as being a compromise to the end performance.
The first person referred to above made it known that the design intent was to have a front baffle produced from a material with particular properties and is used in the uber-expensive end of the speaker market, especially selected by a few Companies as their absolute material as a baffle and mechanical interface.
I myself have an interest in materials for a very long time and was fully on board with the discussion about the value of select materials used as a mechanical interface.
The speaker builder did not adopt the proposed material and produced the Cabinet from materials they fully understood and used internal bracing designs unique to their builds that are historically produced in large productions.
The speaker designer made it known when they were to sit in the room with the speakers following the support offered from the second individual referred to; they stated there was no doubt in their mind they were listening to Speakers that were equal in their performance to the most expensive speakers they had been able to work on, but were careful not to mention Companies or Brands. It was also stated that they were not convinced that if the design intent Baffle was used, there would be anything added to the performance; it would have been simply a material of improved properties for the role.
The second individual referred to reiterated a statement previously put on writing, that the Speakers surpassed in performance £140K speakers they had very recently assisted in designing, again no referencing Companies or Brands.
My own evaluation of the materials used for speaker cabinets has now changed.
I do believe there are materials with intrinsic properties that make them attractive selections for the role as a mechanical interface. Companies will adopt these materials, as their usage will be less labour intensive to create a structure suitable for the role it is selected for.
I also now have the opinion formed that is different to previous thinking. I propose that materials are able to be selected with less attractive intrinsic properties and if used to produce a certain type of structure, with a design that is correct. This material usage and design will equal or outperform the more efficient material in performance.
Even though certain Companies selects a material with very attractive intrinsic properties and are very willing to make this known in marketing spiel, they do not usually reference the quality of the overall structure that is produced from it. I suspect one reason for the material selection is a necessity to reduce labour costs.
To keep labour costs down, there is the strong possibility that the material being used is not used in a design for the structure that optimises its performance; hence, lesser materials used in an optimised design can be the more attractive route to a desirable mechanical interface.
I am not in any doubt that this is the outcome with the recently acquired speakers. The builder knew their stuff and optimised the structure with materials they fully understood. Myself being an ESL person for over 30 years, these cabinet speakers are more ESL like in their end sound than ESL's.
Thumbs up to the builder and designer.