Quitting YouTube To Start a Speaker Business...

I would like nothing more than to start a speaker business. I have the passion , the technical know-how and the woodworking talent / experience to pull it off.
But as I explained in this video, I'd have to either do the impossible (believe in the mystical mumbojumbo that you have to say when trying to market the products) or become a lot better at lying than I am now. And then there are all of the other normal obstacles to overcome to market a new product.
You say that surely you don't have to go to those lengths just to sell speakers, but you have to look at the market and what they want and expect. To give your product the required cachet to appeal to the audiophile community, you have to be a respected part of the community and talk about the same things as the people in that community. That's where the mumbojumbo comes in. You will alienate too much of the market if you stick with a reality based point of view.
Undoubtedly I would sell some speakers, but without that magical quality that only comes from indulging fantasy, not enough to become a worthwhile venture.
I used "The Shinning" as an example of this. If King wrote reality based stories that were devoid of any supernatural themes, he wouldn't be a household name. He would still be somewhat successful, but nowhere near what he is today.
Same for so many movies and TV shows - they dip into the mystical because that's what appeals to most people.

New CDs! Pretty Hate Machine is a longtime favourite of mine and this 2010 remaster is worth the upgrade.
Led Zep, I was never a huge fan, but I like nearly everything they've recorded. The so called remasters were just slightly better than the originals I have.

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[IBuildIt]

I would like nothing more than to start a speaker business. I have the passion, the technical know-how and the woodworking talent / experience to pull it off.
But as I explained in this video, I'd have to either do the impossible (believe in the mystical mumbojumbo that you have to say when trying to market the products) or become a lot better at lying than I am now. And then there are all of the other normal obstacles to overcome to market a new product.
You say that surely you don't have to go to those lengths just to sell speakers, but you have to look at the market and what they want and expect. To give your product the required cachet to appeal to the audiophile community, you have to be a respected part of the community and talk about the same things as the people in that community. That's where the mumbojumbo comes in. You will alienate too much of the market if you stick with a reality based point of view.
Undoubtedly I would sell some speakers, but without that magical quality that only comes from indulging fantasy, not enough to become a worthwhile venture.
I used "The Shinning" as an example of this. If King wrote reality based stories that were devoid of any supernatural themes, he wouldn't be a household name. He would still be somewhat successful, but nowhere near what he is today.
Same for so many movies and TV shows - they dip into the mystical because that's what appeals to most people.

New CDs! Pretty Hate Machine is a longtime favourite of mine and this 2010 remaster is worth the upgrade.
Led Zep, I was never a huge fan, but I like nearly everything they've recorded. The so called remasters were just slightly better than the originals I have.

[rich]

People have always told me that I should open a shop doing (fill in my current hobby).
I've always believed that when you take something you love to do, and make it something you *have* to do, it can easily become something you hate to do.
It takes a special kind of passion to continue to love doing something you have to do.

[traildoggy]

Imagine if Jack went insane and built speakers instead of writing?

[jrkorman]

One of my favorite albums for checking out "new sound" is "Breakfast in America"; Supertramp.

[daifeichu]

And that's why you never got that job at Monster Cable. You just can't get onboard with the company spin.

[isaeagle]

The best way to make a million in the speaker business is to start with 2 million. It's why my own speaker company focuses on the design and implentation aspect of speakers.

[jrmintz]

The problem with audiophiles is that they seem to feel compelled to have some quasi-scientific justification for what they like. It's not enough to just like it. The hurdles involved in making records are rarely about audio quality, they're more about budget constraints, personalities, timelines, song quality, availability of key people or studios, logistical stuff. To evaluate a piece of audio equipment as being 'accurate' is meaningless if you weren't there. The truth is it's 'apparently accurate', which is fine.

[Obsfucation]

I’ve always been impressed by your knowledge, objectivity and workmanship, John. But my respect for you just jumped an order of magnitude because of this video and comment. The “audiophiles” are what’s killing higher end audio; younger people just look at $500 Ethernet cables and shake their heads with their EarPods in place. I’m into accurate sound, not smoke and mirrors. Bravo to you, sir!

[johncnorris]

Yeah, working around multiple contractors in a small space is not my favorite work environment either.

I liked Led Zeppelin too but got burned out on how much it was played on FM radio. It took 20 years before I went back and listened to all the albums before I got over it being over-played everyday. Robert Plant's solo work is pretty good too.

[larryy]

what a pleasure to listen to a smart person

[laneromel]

McIntosh Audio did an listening test on speaker cables. When the listeners knew what cables they were listening with they could pick which cables sounded better. They repeated the test with double bling methodology, the listeners could not tell the difference between expensive cables, and lamp cord.

[paulhirst]

Boy, I can really relate to you music taste! Growing up in Brooklin ON ( northwest of Oshawa) all that you ever heard was Led Zeppelin, Van Hallen, etc. I was listening to "Dead Kenedys", Velvet Underground, The Jam, Talking Heads etc. Yes, the snake oil is strong with the audiophile crowd. There are many time that I cannot tell if they are being sarcastic or serious. "A fool and his money are soon parted"

[arlingtonhynes]

I met a guy who assembles very, very expensive stereo cables as a sideline. He told me that with kids to feed, he can talk himself into building cables for somebody else to sell, but he just couldn’t look a customer in the eye and claim that five-figure cables improve the sound — not even a customer who wants to be fooled and has money to burn. Just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t either.

[sean_heisler]

All speakers and no play makes John a dull boy.

[reversegreenpotato]

What if you hire a young, ambitious, delusional audiophile marketing intern for 3 months and see where things go?

[toiyabe_effect]

I dunno. I've been in the gun parts business for 20 years and I never had to lie about my product. Of course, I don't make very much money . . .

[Lugnut]

I worked residential construction for years and there was ALWAYS music going on somewhere in the house, usually by us, sometimes by someone else. Don't remember there ever being a conflict. Didn't matter anyway; whoever else was playing music usually had some tinny little trashy radio, and being semi-serious audiophiles ourselves, we bought and carefully husbanded classic era ghetto blasters, which filled the whole house with high-quality sound (this was long before the Bluetooth).

Anyway, hope it works out for you, and please don't take down your other content. I come to it over and over for inspiration and education.

[mrboat]

Every time I went to design a speaker with any of the available drivers, I found that it had been either done already, or at least discussed. When I look at speakers on the market now, I realize that there are too many to choose from without much in the way of new, trend setting performance. The other issue is, what I have, already is capable beyond the actual available recordings, which tends to be the weakest link in all of this. That and the rooms the speakers are actually placed in.

I have been woodworking for 50 years, and even built the boat I fish from out of it. I still use all manual processes and the idea of using CNC tooling, or even competing against those that do, does nothing for me. The other thing is how impatient people can be now. They mostly think creativity works like it does on TV, where everyone lives in a shop with 20 minions getting something uniquely "custom" out in 72 hours from a bunch of other companies bolt-on parts, with real fab and layout only taking up a fraction of what should make something custom so unique.

[Aswaguespack]

There are several really excellent “Boutique” speaker companies in the marketplace. Their products seem to be of a very high quality and and extremely high price point. They cater to those seeking high quality where money is not an obstacle so they are very happy with the products. The company can exist because of the relatively high profit margin by selling fewer units so little money is spent in mass marketing relying on customer satisfaction and “word of mouth” and a really well designed Website that is the focus point for the business. John your points are very well stated but you do provide a repeatable pattern for anyone to be able to reproduce and replicate your designs. So, in this way you really are already in the speaker business. One idea is that you could offer (at a price point of course) quality architectural drawings to interested DIY types who have the skill, the shop, the time, and the desire to own Heisz speakers! Great stuff here John as always. You inspire many and you blow away the mysterious fog surrounding speaker myths. 👍🏻

[aball]

I was building speaker systems in high School and college and thought about starting a business. But back then there was no internet and just phone books so I found it difficult to source parts and drivers. Also I discovered that I wanted them too good. I couldn't just slap in a capacitor between a woofer and a tweeter and call it good. I would have had to wind my own coils and such and that would have taken too much time and work.
I got my degree in electronics and ended up working retail management.
Often life doesn't turn out the way we plan it.