# Driver quality and cost



## Paul P (Dec 5, 2009)

Noob question...

I've been surfing diy speaker builds, driver manufacturers and parts suppliers with
the intent to build something interesting in the not too distant future. Something
that strikes me is that most drivers used in diy projects are really not all that 
expensive, some are downright cheap. Which makes me wonder where the cost
is in a commercial speaker.

For instance, the Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 sells for about 3500$/pair. Two drivers 
and a box. I have no idea if this speaker sounds good or not but for the price I sure
hope it does. How much of this price can be attributed to the drivers ? Does an
expensive speaker like these use very expensive drivers or do you pay mostly for
the development that went into integrating the drivers, crossover and enclosure ?

I'd like to know if it's possible to buy some reasonably good and not too expensive
drivers and then go about building different enclosures and fiddling with crossovers
until I finally reach a high-end sounding design, or will I have to spend a lot of
money on the drivers themselves if I want high-end sound ?

I can't see even the most complicated enclosure design costing all that much in
materials to build (if woodworking is a hobby like it is for me). But I can't afford
to spend a lot of money on the drivers. Maybe several hundred dollars, certainly
not several thousand.

I'll most likely be limiting myself to a two-way/driver design.

Paul P


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## evilskillit (Oct 7, 2008)

This has been discussed at length. If you search around I'm sure you can find the topics but I'll try to quickly recap.

The drivers in a commercial speaker may account for 5% of the cost of the item as there are many other things that go into the cost of it.

R&D, Design, Prototyping.
Drivers, Cabinet & Finishing materials.
Labor for building, finishing, packaging and shipping.
Employee benefits, insurance, vacation, sick pay & taxes.
Advertising and marketing.
Markup from materials provider to builder, from builder to store and from store to you.
Profit margin & keeping shareholders happy.

Your cost is drivers & materials, marked up once from manufacturer to you, maybe twice if you get em from a big box store. And your time, which if you enjoy yourself really didn't cost you much. However if you hate building things and are short on time that can begin to offset the savings of DIY.

Most people say DIY designs sound as good as speakers costing 5-10x as much.

I built these for $200 for the pair and they sound as good as these which according to the review have an average cost of $1300.00 tho my friend got his pair for just under $1000.00


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## Paul P (Dec 5, 2009)

I was hoping this would be the case. Makes it worth it for me to invest in
some decent drivers then have some fun experimenting with the enclosure.
Thanks.

Paul P


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

A couple of quick notes, I think the reason a lot of people pick inexpensive drivers is simply because they are inexpensive. The more expensive drivers will normally be better, but there is a case of diminishing returns. The other thing to consider is the crossover costs. This can easily be a third of the cost of the drivers depending on how complicated the crossover is.

All that being said, if you already own the tools, and don't take into account your own labor, I would put say a comparable commericial speaker is 2x-5x the cost of the DIY project.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

JCD said:


> A couple of quick notes, I think the reason a lot of people pick inexpensive drivers is simply because they are inexpensive. The more expensive drivers will normally be better, but there is a case of diminishing returns. The other thing to consider is the crossover costs. This can easily be a third of the cost of the drivers depending on how complicated the crossover is.
> 
> All that being said, if you already own the tools, and don't take into account your own labor, I would put say a comparable commericial speaker is 2x-5x the cost of the DIY project.


Not entirely. There are many low cost drivers that are more useful than the expensive ones. For example the Dayton RS series is very good.

A great enclosure is far more important in my experience than a phenomenal driver. For example the Infinity Primus drivers are among the best in the world. The enclosures aren't.


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## JerryLove (Dec 5, 2009)

Shipping costs of a heavy speaker aren't irrellevent either. Then there's the number of steps (costs tend to double with each step). Parts supplier to integrator to distributor to dealer to you.


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