Speaker innovation idea

Ghostman

Ghostman

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I've often wondered why there isn't the same type of retail setups for guitar speakers that they have for Home Audio. Meaning, if you go into a Home Theater Electronics shop, you can usually find a selection of speakers that you can demo and A/B against the others. Especially in Car Audio, you can change the speakers with the same source to hear the differences.

With so much reliance on how guitar speakers sound, all we have is YT videos and buying them out to try. I'm surprised no large chain stores are doing the same type of setups.

Thoughts?
 
Far Rider said:
Could it be that guitar speakers require a break in time, and with the vast selection to choose from, that dealers just don't have the space to setup cabs to test? I'm just spitballing.
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Places like GC and the few Sam Ash I stepped into, there's more than enough space to set up a display. If Wal Mart can have a speaker display, I'm sure these places could as well.

Just another idea I would use if I ever opened a guitar shop. Right after NO GIBSON, NO FENDER!
 
Ghostman said:
I've often wondered why there isn't the same type of retail setups for guitar speakers that they have for Home Audio. Meaning, if you go into a Home Theater Electronics shop, you can usually find a selection of speakers that you can demo and A/B against the others. Especially in Car Audio, you can change the speakers with the same source to hear the differences.

With so much reliance on how guitar speakers sound, all we have is YT videos and buying them out to try. I'm surprised no large chain stores are doing the same type of setups.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Guitar speakers don't sell that much or that often. It's not worth the investment to stock speakers.
Not unless you got huge mega traffic of customers...
Speakers might sit for years before somebody comes along and buys it.
The shipping is high and the mark up on the price is low.
And so musicians are prone to use any old speaker when they need one, instead of buying new ones.

My philosophy is buy a really good speaker (like an EVM or JBL etc) and then you don't buy any more ever.
You got speakers that work forever...now you see why sales of new speakers are slow.

But Hi Fi is different.
Some teenager is going to blast 3 sets of Hi Fi / car Speakers to hell in 1 year....and so they always need new ones.
And the new ones keep getting trashier and cheaper. UN-like guitar speakers.
 
syscokid said:
The same speaker in a combo will more than likely sound a bit different in a dedicated 1x12 cab. Is the cab open or closed... it'll sound different too. Multiply all this to all the different speakers that are out there... :run::BH::run::BH:
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That's true, but think about the same issues for home and car speakers. The placements are never even close to how they will be used, but it gives one a concept of the tonal variations between them.
 
Amp Mad Scientist said:
Guitar speakers don't sell that much or that often. It's not worth the investment to stock speakers.
Not unless you got huge mega traffic of customers...
Speakers might sit for years before somebody comes along and buys it.
The shipping is high and the mark up on the price is low.
And so musicians are prone to use any old speaker when they need one, instead of buying new ones.

My philosophy is buy a really good speaker (like an EVM or JBL etc) and then you don't buy any more ever.
You got speakers that work forever...now you see why sales of new speakers are slow.

But Hi Fi is different.
Some teenager is going to blast 3 sets of Hi Fi / car Speakers to hell in 1 year....and so they always need new ones.
And the new ones keep getting trashier and cheaper. UN-like guitar speakers.
Click to expand...

I've never sold raw guitar speakers so I don't know the margins involved. However, I am in the home, car, and pro speaker market and those margins are insanely high. One of the most profitable items sold except for accessories or services.

Funny thing is, although some might say the sales would be low, it's the number one item guitarists change out in their amps except for tubes. There's always tons of internet traffic about how speakers sound.
 
I mean, why couldn't the same or similar setup be used for pickups as well, going through the same speaker, on some kind of rotating carousel? Then you can quickly ABC test. setting up such a device would be cumbersome, but the variations we have in our home audio, nevermind all the compression in internet A/V - are we really hearing what we are hearing? Buying stuff online is convenient but often a real crapshoot. Try buying leather over the internet. I swear about half the time I am surprised by what I get, sometimes happy, quite often not. Unfortunately where I live I have to do that a lot.
 
Celestion used to do this. Quite a while back as I remember, like in the '80's, but they had 4x12 cabs with 4 different speaker models and a switching matrix that would allow you to play through any single one or a combination of any two. I saw these setups in a couple different shops but it seems to me they didn't last very long. It might be a good idea to bring back in the right kind of shop.
 
Some of the best investments in tone on my end have been the speakers..relatively inexpensive but huge results. get that amp paired well....priceless
Clear type for true amp reveal
ones that color on purpose
ones that sit right on top each other in a mix

in recording area ready to mic
4 types V30
2 types t75
2 types sheffield
3 types greenbacks
swampers
v type
Jensens
CTS & Jupiter & Jensen 10's
EV

Fav time of the week is when that song hits & drums are done..then its guitar-amp-speaker match. Crazy how much a simple speaker switch can do. Most were bought pretty cheap of CL or Reverb, with some patience.
 
BFT Gibson said:
Some of the best investments in tone on my end have been the speakers..relatively inexpensive but huge results. get that amp paired well....priceless
Clear type for true amp reveal
ones that color on purpose
ones that sit right on top each other in a mix

in recording area ready to mic
4 types V30
2 types t75
2 types sheffield
3 types greenbacks
swampers
v type
Jensens
CTS & Jupiter & Jensen 10's
EV

Fav time of the week is when that song hits & drums are done..then its guitar-amp-speaker match. Crazy how much a simple speaker switch can do. Most were bought pretty cheap of CL or Reverb, with some patience.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. The speakers are the biggest change/improvement that can be made for the money. So many of us obsess over pickups and even minutiae of hardware, etc. but no set of pickups is going to make a bigger difference to your tone than a speaker swap., at least in my own experience.
 
Real estate is very precious these days. Profit margins on guitar related gear is very small. Most guitar/music stores are small. Maybe a Guitar Center has the showroom space available to display and demo multiple cabinets with different speakers. Car and home audio speakers take up only a fraction of the space needed to display compared to guitar/bass speakers and cabinets.
 
syscokid said:
Car and home audio speakers take up only a fraction of the space needed to display compared to guitar/bass speakers and cabinets.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised how little difference there would be. If the shop stacked up 412 cabinets, then yes, it would take up way more space. But if they set it up like the car audio displays, it would be the same foot print. Even if you took 1x12 and 2x12 cabinets, it would be the same as a home theater setup. But, you hit the nail on the head anyways, that brick and mortar stores are going the way of the Dodo. In 10 years they will probably be a thing of the past.

What they should do, is reimagine the warehouse/showroom model I used to see in the 80's. There was a home goods store called "Best." It was a showroom. They had one of every model on the floor that you could see, touch, hold and interact with. Then you right the number down on the ticket, much like Ikea, and head to the register. They ring you up and out on a conveyor belt your order showed up. That seems like a good alternative to stocking shelves on a traditional store, and a pure warehouse type commerce building.
 
It wouldn't be perfect but it would sure give you a decent idea of the sound. I for one would love that.
Even just a wall with 1x12s, differnet speker in each. The relative differences tonally you could hear.
 
There is no market for guitar speakers. Before you call me crazy I'll say that there is a global market but only the most densely populated areas will have a regional market.

I have no idea at all about any actual figures, they are literally pulled from the top of my head but consider this: Let's assume that 1% (that' s probably quite high) of the population in first world countries play electric guitar on a somewhat regular basis. Now, half of those will use a speaker regularly, the rest just plug into an amp sim at home, DI to the desk at the gig or an FRFR active speaker with their modeler.

Out of the rest, maybe one tenth would consider the occassional speaker swap, let's just assume once every five years. In a region with a population of 2 million there is then potential for selling 1000 speakers in five years. Then divide that by the number of shops that serve the entire area and subtract the ones that buy used and the ones that still choose to buy online.
 
Astral Traveler said:
There is no market for guitar speakers. Before you call me crazy I'll say that there is a global market but only the most densely populated areas will have a regional market.

I have no idea at all about any actual figures, they are literally pulled from the top of my head but consider this: Let's assume that 1% (that' s probably quite high) of the population in first world countries play electric guitar on a somewhat regular basis. Now, half of those will use a speaker regularly, the rest just plug into an amp sim at home, DI to the desk at the gig or an FRFR active speaker with their modeler.

Out of the rest, maybe one tenth would consider the occassional speaker swap, let's just assume once every five years. In a region with a population of 2 million there is then potential for selling 1000 speakers in five years. Then divide that by the number of shops that serve the entire area and subtract the ones that buy used and the ones that still choose to buy online.
Click to expand...
I agree it's very niche'. Making a go at opening a strictly speaker shop would be dead before Grand Opening. However, those larger stores that sell other Niche' products could implement something like this quite easily.
 
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