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Where do speaker manufacturers get their drivers?

post #1 of 15
12/29/12 at 8:56pm
Thread Starter 
Where do speaker makers get their speaker parts? For example, do polk and infinity get their drivers from the same place but just make their own cabinets? Or do they all have their own proprietary drivers they make in a secret vault somewhere?smile.gif
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post #2 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:07pm
Im curious as well.
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post #3 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:16pm
some build their drivers in house and some buy from places like scan speak, seas, hivi and so on.
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post #4 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by callas01 View Post

some build their drivers in house and some buy from places like scan speak, seas, hivi and so on.

How do you know where a particular company buys there (or if they make their own)? Just take the speaker apart?
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post #5 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:32pm
I think you'll find many speakers are designed in the USA and made in China. Of course they don't advertise it.
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post #6 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:36pm
It depends. You can generally look on the back of a speaker for it's information. More experienced audiophiles and/or DIY builders can see a speaker cone and identify wether or not it's proprietary. A lot of speaker manufactures use other drivers not made by them. Larger speaker companies generally make there own, such as klipsch, martin logan, B&W, etc.
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post #7 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

How do you know where a particular company buys there (or if they make their own)? Just take the speaker apart?

some companies will say were they buy them from, some will not. some companies that build their own will design in europe, usa, etc., and build them in china, some will build then in house where theyre located, say france, demark, usa, germany, etc. Im sure an email or phone call would be an easier way to determine where they get them.
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post #8 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:43pm
I think Eminence is the only large scale OEM that manufactures in the US, so it is actually possible to get a speaker that's almost completely made in America (not sure about xover components)

http://www.eminence.com/about/the-eminence-factory/
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post #9 of 15
12/29/12 at 9:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanca3 View Post

It depends. You can generally look on the back of a speaker for it's information. More experienced audiophiles and/or DIY builders can see a speaker cone and identify wether or not it's proprietary. A lot of speaker manufactures use other drivers not made by them. Larger speaker companies generally make there own, such as klipsch, martin logan, B&W, etc.

But even then they have to get the parts somewhere unless they have the entire infrastructure. The don't mold metal and create magnets or create the cone do they (I have no idea)? I don't know anything about the electronics. Maybe that is small enough they can do that all inhouse but the driver itself I don't see how they could do it. OTOH, I guess they are big companies with the big bucks so maybe they do have a giant factory somewhere....in China.
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post #10 of 15
12/29/12 at 11:03pm
here is the company of the speakers I own, they build it all in house. the wire comes from an outside source but everything else is in house, dont knwo what every other company does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-dLuJ34Wlc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVPGx3lsg5A
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post #11 of 15
12/29/12 at 11:36pm
Add http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN0tmyyC0ak

I believe JL manufactures in the US (or did until some point recently: as I understand it, some or all production moved off-shore).

Last I checked McIntosh (they do make speakers too) was building in the US.

Paradigm is in Canada: but I believe they build their own drivers and it was locally at one point.
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post #12 of 15
12/30/12 at 6:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

Or do they all have their own proprietary drivers they make in a secret vault somewhere?
They'd like for you to think that, but they don't.
Quote:
unless they have the entire infrastructure.
A few sources do, most don't. The vast majority of manufacturers who 'make' their own drivers actually just assemble them, from parts sourced primarily from China and Taiwan.
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post #13 of 15
12/30/12 at 8:12am
Thread Starter 
Then there must be a boatload of speaker manufacturers. Is there? I know about the big boys but there must be tons of mom and pop speaker makers trying to get noticed out there.
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post #14 of 15
12/30/12 at 3:43pm
Back in the 70's there were many mom and pop speaker makers but not so many successful ones anymore.
Edited by gferrell - 12/31/12 at 3:24pm
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post #15 of 15
1/1/13 at 11:24am
Hello!

Some highly respected brands like Totem, which is located in Canada, import drivers from respected makers... Denmark for a bunch of years I think.
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