Dexx Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Over the past 20 years China has had a huge impact on the cost of consumer electronics. TVs, amps, dvd players - all have dropped in price massively. However the cost of half-decent speaker drivers has changed very little. Sure you can buy really cheap and nasty drivers for a few dollars. But I'm talking about speakers that actually sound ok and have moderate power handling. I would have expected some chinese company to have produced quite respectable copies of quality European drivers for a small fraction of the cost. So in case ive missed it, does anyone know of an Australian retailer who sells reasonable (not top-of-the-line) 8" woofers and/or dome tweeters for a low price? Ive seen such parts listed on American sites, but postage is a killer. By 'low price' i mean $20 for a tweeter and $40 for a woofer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L J T Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 I just purchased my drivers from Essential Audio. Also have a look at Jaycar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocky500 Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) Some drivers and tweeters that seem to be of very good quality and price are the "SB Acoustics" Should be available locally in Aus but might be a little more in price. Also maybe HDS Peerless drivers. Edited September 12, 2012 by rocky500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Don't know if you'll get a decent woofer for $40. I recently did the electronics for a new DIY pair of speakers for my brother-in-law that required 8" woofers. The cheaper ones either lacked bass extension (not an issue if you're using a sub-woofer as well), or didn't have suitable TS parameters for use in a vented box. We settled on the Peerless P21WO-39-08 from WES Components in Sydney, but they were $109 each. For tweeters we chose Scanspeak D2606 at $55 each, but we considered the SEAS H0737 from Aranmar Acoustics in Melbourne which were great value for $35 each and are a good SPL match for the Peerless Woofers. In the price range you're looking at, have a look at the other offereings from WES Components. There's some great value Dai-iChi drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aslan Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 You get what you pay for. A decent 8" woofer for $20 to $40. Sorry they don't exist. All you will get for that money is low power handling, low performing rubbish. $80 will start to get you into 'decent' territory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexx Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 $80 will start to get you into 'decent' territory. Exactly my point. 20 years ago a decent DVD player cost $500+. Today a $100 DVD player sounds excellent. Same deal with TVs. A 42" Plasma was $10K 10 years ago and $1K today. Yet speaker components havent dropped in price... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehtcom Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) You're comparing prices of products now, to when they were first released. Example, a single Jensen 12 inch coaxial speaker cost $135.00 in 1950, that was about 8 weeks wages for the average worker in 1950. In todays money that would equal ~$10400.00. Cheers, Earle. Edit. Spelling. Edited September 12, 2012 by ehtcom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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