Some Speakers Are Worth Listening To
Peter: It's not that the "Blue" isn't a good speaker, as many regard it as the best, but that a guitar speaker such as it is a bit of a distortion generator and doesn't need exotic new speaker materials and shouldn't be expensive to manufacture. Eminence charges a fraction of the cost for their alnico speakers, and some like them just as well as Celestions. I noticed that the other Celestion guitar speakers have experienced a tremendous price increase in the last year. Part of it is the weakness of the dollar and the strength of the pound and Euro. Other people have told me that England is just plain expensive these days. The French make some of the great audiophile speakers at fair prices (Audax and Focal), and you would think they would jump in and give Celestion some competition in the European guitar speaker market. Vifa and Peerless of Denmark are also renowned as value leaders in quality loudspeakers. They build true high fidelity speakers with cast frames and high-tech cones and speaker coils for a fraction of what Celestion charges for low-tech distortion generators that people just happen to like a lot.
Bob: if 10" Eminence bass drivers cost $244 each, what would you have to pay for an SVT cab? A pair of cabs would be worth more than many autos that Bassists would use to haul them in. Acme gets around $600 for a bass cab with 3 high fidelity drivers installed (I think that at least one driver is a French Audax), and Avatar will sell you a pair of cabs at that price with Eminence speakers. If Celestion could reasonably explain their pricing structure, then I assume they would. In their website info, Eminence says that loudspeaker pricing is a crock among many manufacturers.
Celestion is a large speaker company, and if anything, a small company like Weber SVT should charge more due to lack of manufacturing scale, but they don't. They take small private orders as well. Personally, I would try a Weber speaker before shelling out $244. I have a rack full of American electronics, and I find I like the American gear the best anyway. Does anybody out there have experience with Fane, Weber, Jensen or Eminence alnico speakers? Most of your American private label guitar speakers will be made by Eminence anyway. $195 ($295 list)for a Celestion G12M Greenback is getting way ridiculous.
Bob: if 10" Eminence bass drivers cost $244 each, what would you have to pay for an SVT cab? A pair of cabs would be worth more than many autos that Bassists would use to haul them in. Acme gets around $600 for a bass cab with 3 high fidelity drivers installed (I think that at least one driver is a French Audax), and Avatar will sell you a pair of cabs at that price with Eminence speakers. If Celestion could reasonably explain their pricing structure, then I assume they would. In their website info, Eminence says that loudspeaker pricing is a crock among many manufacturers.
Celestion is a large speaker company, and if anything, a small company like Weber SVT should charge more due to lack of manufacturing scale, but they don't. They take small private orders as well. Personally, I would try a Weber speaker before shelling out $244. I have a rack full of American electronics, and I find I like the American gear the best anyway. Does anybody out there have experience with Fane, Weber, Jensen or Eminence alnico speakers? Most of your American private label guitar speakers will be made by Eminence anyway. $195 ($295 list)for a Celestion G12M Greenback is getting way ridiculous.
I just happen to own an excellent pair of Celestion Vintage 8 speakers that would work nicely in an acoustic guitar amp. They were the latest production before that model was dropped. Bought them new in 2003. Used very little in a 12 watt amp. The magnets are huge and the sound is tight. 8 ohm impedance. They do not distort until ear bleeding practice levels. Anybody can buy them both from me for WAY under $244.