When i lived at home with my parents i remember my dad rebuilding a pair of kef q55 speakers. He made sure to use the same dimensions and internal damping but with much stiffer cabinets and less resonance in the panels. When he finished they sounded flat and boring. We came to the conclusion that kef must have worked some magic with the cabinet resonance being an intended part of the sound. When he put the components back in the original cabs it was clear that they were more lively and exciting to listen to. It was pretty interesting to hear. I really liked those speakers. I’d love to hear the Kef blade.
The Blades have always interested me but unfortunately I’ve never had the opportunity to hear them. Re my Kefs they are an odd shape, friends are often surprised that they’re part of my second system. I think they were pretty good value.
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This prompted me to look up the weight of my ATC SCM 19s and they are 1kg heavier than those floor standing KEFs.
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You only need to watch you tube vids on atc speakers to see just how big the drive units are compared to others 
The magnets are massive in comparison…
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Yeah they are huge. The motor assembly is almost as big as the basket and cone.
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The other interesting issue here is the number of expensive speakers with blingy looking drivers and cabinets that have very poor quality crossovers. The type and quality of components used inside a speaker make a real difference to the sound quality achievable but given the price multipliers involved (VAT, markups, dealer profits, etc) a high quality crossover can add significantly to the final price so many manufacturers take the out of sight out of mind approach. And of course us music lovers come along and are persuaded to pay small fortunes for speaker cables to connect to these cheap crossovers.
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I was going to reply saying something similar. As an example, one well known capacitor manufacturer sells an 8.2uf capacitor starting at 4GBP going up to 500GBP at the top of the range. In my experience, building speakers with different quality crossovers is like having a window with glass that gets clearer the more expensive the components get. The 4GBP cap is like frosted glass.
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Well said. The handicap is: I (we) need (too much) space to correctly accommodate the “elephants ” that can reproduce the full range.
It’s got nothing to do with the cost of manufacture, and everything to do with supply and demand.
I don’t begrudge a manufacturer in any industry charging an apparently exorbitant fee for a different finish. If they can make more money from someone wanting a fancier finish, fair play to them.
With Hi-Fi, I imagine that the basic marketing behind it is first to get a consumer to like the product, then charge them a premium to get the colour they want.
Some veneer finishes will be so much harder to do though. The extra price will be justified in some way and not just inflated for the sake of it. Unusual timber grains will be hand picked to be matched and may need many more sheets as opposed to one sheet with something more simple like maple. I looked into more exotic veneers and for example, Birdseye maple would have cost me 4-5 times what the maple did, but also it wasn’t available in paper backed veneer, only raw, meaning it would have to be treated completely different in order to achieve a perfect lasting finish. This will definitely cost much more to construct. Some of those nice ATC veneers must be so pricey.
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It’s reassuring that the responses have generally supported what I thought to be the case, that something big and cheap is very likely to be made of poorer quality materials than something a tenth of the size but the same price. I was really wanting to find out whether my thinking was misplaced.
I’m sure it’s easier to sell a £1,000 speaker that’s three feet high with lots of shiny drivers than it is a pint sized box that looks totally unassuming, to the casual purchaser anyway.
The laws of physics comments are interesting. Obviously you can only achieve so much with a small box, but the T10 and Linn Kan are the same size sealed boxes, yet the bass is far superior on the T10. I’m no speaker designer but the choice of drive units, crossover design and cabinet structure must be making a huge difference. So it’s stretching the lawns of physics as far as possible. I was listening to Marc Johnson’s new solo double bass album yesterday and the sound was phenomenal, way beyond what you’d imagine possible.
Obviously it’s not as extended as a large speaker, but in the choice between a small and large speaker, both for the same price, it has to be a balance between quality and quantity I suppose.
The biggest contrast on small bookshelves with bigger sound that I ever encounter was the. Xavian XN250. And the quality ….
But they where expensive. ( for the size)
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Sun’s out, so I’m off to stretch out on the lawns of physics.
Roger 
Oh yes, those Xavians were awesome! I almost twisted a friends arm threatening too… if he would not buy these to go with his Linn Classic at the time. All their designs were more than slightly inspired by Sonus Faber.
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Indeed sir.
Roberto Barletta ( Xavian Boss) is , for me, like Michael Börrensen or Paul Tyler:
A elite speaker designer.
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I’ve not heard of Paul Tyler; do you mean Stewart, ProAc’s sadly deceased founder?
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Yes, you’ll find the lawns of physics next to the gardens of chemistry.
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Paul Stewart Tyler
( is full name) 
By the way HH , regarding close to wall speakers,did you considered any frontal bass reflex like PMC 25.21 or Audiovector QR1?
( independent of signature sound/taste)
Do you believe closed box are better, design wise? Or each case must be evaluated?
Growing a chemical garden was my introduction to chemistry!
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My enjoyment of this hobby starts with music,but I also enjoy swapping speakers and electronics. I have owned many different speakers in the last 10-15 years. Active floorstanders, passive floorstanders, and many different bookshelf speakers from Dynaudio,Focal,and now Kef LS 50 Meta’s.
I enjoy them all really,as long as you have excellent gear in front of them,the sound will satisfy you.
I must say though,two driver,two way floorstanders are my preference.You get bookshelf accuracy,with deep bass.
Currently my Peak Consult speakers tick all the boxes for me. They are relatively unknown,hand made in Denmark,and weigh 165 pounds each.
I also really like my LS 50’s,for looks,price and performance they are hard to beat.
I use them in home theatre/gaming,but swap them with the the Peak’s now and then,shaking my head in disbelief at how such great sound can come from a Tiny single driver.