Seeking opinions on finish options before production

[Raleigh Acoustics]

Hi everyone

I'm at the stage of deciding on the standard finish options for my first loudspeaker model and I'd really appreciate some honest feedback from the community here before I commit to sample production quantities.

The speaker is a passive standmount (approximately 450 mm tall) intended to live in normal shared living spaces. At this stage I'm not looking for comments on the acoustic design or measurements; those will come later. This is purely about the visual design.

The three options portrayed in the CAD renderings all use the same oak veneer cabinet, but with different baffle finishes:

White
Charcoal
Cartography Ivory

Which would you be most likely to buy?

Which would you be happiest living with for the next 10-15 years?

Do you prefer loudspeakers that blend into the room, or ones that make a visual statement?

If none of these appeal, what would you change?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people whose systems are in a living room or other shared space, rather than a dedicated listening room.

There are no right or wrong answers. I'm genuinely trying to understand how people think about loudspeaker aesthetics before finalising the standard finishes.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

David
Founder, Raleigh Acoustics

To find out more about us, please see www.raleighacoustics.co.uk/about

 

[staticV3]

First feedback:

Before you post anything, contact an admin and apply for the Manufacturer badge, then post threads like this in the Desperate Dealers subforum.

As for the finishes, I think the brown-ish grey cloth of the speaker grilles clashes strongly with the neutral white baffle and still a bit with the neutral black baffle.

The Ivory finish feels most "at home" with the grilles and wood cabinet, though I bet the charcoal version would still be very popular.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'd personally go with white, but I have to ask why you have white and ivory in a lineup with only 3 options?

I am not sure if the fabric clashes per se personally (might just be the rendering) but since you are evidently keen to match decor I would also say different fabric colours should be in the running and / or simply matched to the baffle.

 

[GD Fan]

I kinda like the charcoal option.

But I live alone...

 

[DonH56]

I'd never own white but realize it is an option people choose. Black/charcoal is common for home theater and for not standing out in a room. Natural wood (like the sides) would be my third choice, not ivory, for a "fine furniture" look. If I were to buy a pair for our family room, my choices in order would be wood (to match our furniture and such) or black (to be less obtrusive). White might fit a "modern" room décor but that is not us.

All of this assumes no grill, which would likely hide the baffle anyway, and may influence your choice. I prefer a grill to keep the drivers cleaner, because my wife does not like seeing raw drivers, and to reduce potential for damage from kids and pets as well as me when moving things around in the room.

 

[Power Pop 23]

First feedback:

Before you post anything, contact an admin and apply for the Manufacturer badge, then post threads like this in the Desperate Dealers subforum.

As for the finishes, I think the brown-ish grey cloth of the speaker grilles clashes strongly with the neutral white baffle and still a bit with the neutral black baffle.

The Ivory finish feels most "at home" with the grilles and wood cabinet, though I bet the charcoal version would still be very popular.

At some point, Amir changed the name of the forum from 'Desperate Dealers' to 'Audio Industry' - perhaps around the time a sub-forum was created for threads regarding Tested Audio dot com.

 

[staticV3]

At some point, Amir changed the name of the forum from 'Desperate Dealers' to 'Audio Industry' - perhaps around the time a sub-forum was created for threads regarding Tested Audio dot com.

Ah, missed it. Thank you!

 

[JSmith]

Which would you be most likely to buy?

Probably charcoal... and welcome to ASR.

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JSmith

 

[TonyJZX]

you are effectively asking if people like a black or white faceplate

to my sensibilities i would prefer a faceplate of similar color to the sides or perhaps something muted like a light carbon grey

pure black or white just jarrs too much from the side color

also no waveguide which is ASR heresy

 

[xanalog]

Hi David, and welcome aboard,

One of fellow members, @Pearljam5000 has a thread "Most beautiful speakers in the world?" that is 250pages long.
You may run across a look you like or a few that give you some ideas!

2 cents: Can the front 'baffle' color be matched to the round speaker grills or the grills to the front baffle color (bi-color rather than current tri-color)?

 

[TimF]

either the charcoal or the white

 

[Raleigh Acoustics]

you are effectively asking if people like a black or white faceplate

to my sensibilities i would prefer a faceplate of similar color to the sides or perhaps something muted like a light carbon grey

pure black or white just jarrs too much from the side color

Thank you!

also no waveguide which is ASR heresy

Quite so! Tweeter is Seas DXT.

 

[tineared]

Not trying to be difficult, but I would darken the speaker covers to at least as dark as the charcoal colored face. They probably won't get much use anyway

 

[Sal1950]

The three options portrayed in the CAD renderings all use the same oak veneer cabinet, but with different baffle finishes:

We all have our tastes. If I had to chose one of the three it would have the dark charcoal front.
If I could really choose, I'd want the complete cabinet done in a Oak or Walnut finish

 

[Wolf11Man]

If you are asking for what most people will buy, black is the only answer. If you ask me, from your choices I pick black...

If you are selling low cost speakers, young customers will like red and yellow as well. Silver looks cheap.

 

[TonyJZX]

a silver plate is over done by jamo or b&w or whatever max box shifter is out there

i dont think these are 'low cost' speakers

i have an aversion to white speakers... these tends to be the closeouts once the black and cherry or walnut finishes are gone

white speakers tend to be not popular at all

i feel you asked the worst place as this place tends to lean on the conservative side

 

[somebodyelse]

One of fellow members, @Pearljam5000 has a thread "Most beautiful speakers in the world?" that is 250pages long.
You may run across a look you like or a few that give you some ideas!

Note that many of them have also appeared in "Most ugly speakers" threads. Tastes vary, and some choices are divisive.

I'd probably go for fully veneered, black (not charcoal) or white. I wouldn't want the mid grey grills - again black or maybe white. I'd suggest sticking to the basics, and offering alternatives at an extra cost for those that care enough to pay it if you have the capability. That could extend to custom colours like Neumann and Genelec offer.

 

[Raleigh Acoustics]

a silver plate is over done by jamo or b&w or whatever max box shifter is out there

i dont think these are 'low cost' speakers

i have an aversion to white speakers... these tends to be the closeouts once the black and cherry or walnut finishes are gone

white speakers tend to be not popular at all

i feel you asked the worst place as this place tends to lean on the conservative side

Thanks for your thoughts! No, these won't beow cost speakers. The product strategy is not for high volume mass production and price competition with the "max box shifters". It's low volume, built in the UK, with "build-to-order" options for finishes. I should have made that clear!

So at present, this about identifying a safe option for the finish of the initial run and modest stock levels for a "standard finish".

You are so right that I need to canvas opinions from elsewhere. Although I have 30+ years of product development experience, it was bespoke development for a known customer, rather than for the consumer market. I am having to learn new skills!!

 

[Raleigh Acoustics]

Note that many of them have also appeared in "Most ugly speakers" threads. Tastes vary, and some choices are divisive.

I'd probably go for fully veneered, black (not charcoal) or white. I wouldn't want the mid grey grills - again black or maybe white. I'd suggest sticking to the basics, and offering alternatives at an extra cost for those that care enough to pay it if you have the capability. That could extend to custom colours like Neumann and Genelec offer.

That sounds very sensible advice and very much aligned to my overall strategy. Thank you so much.

 

[Soundproof]

Some point to consider in general:
- Be very careful about logos, text and fonts. Couldn't find the thread just now, but there is one with a lot of vintage amplifiers at ASR, and scores of them are aesthetically ruined by text and logos. A bad logo and poor fonts will ruin the best of designs. There is no rescue from bad, fonts and poor logos with wrong size and proportions.
- All products needs to stand out one way or another, and manufacturers are looking for aesthetics which serves as an unique brand identifier selling the product. Nail it, and there is hardly need for text, and the logo can be subtile. Get it wrong, and you're done. Brand identifiers makes or breaks products.
- Get the proportions aestethically right whatever that is. Get it right and they will fit in most environments, get it wrong at they will be off everywhere.
- Honest materials is always an advantage. If it looks like a rock it should be a rock, if it looks like wood veneer it should be wood veneer. If it looks like wool it should be wool.
- Modern today is old tomorrow, and that's fashion. Designed to sell today, designed to be replaced tomorrow. Timeless may never be modern, and it may never become unfashionable.

As for your renderings, I think you are off to a rather good start. Perhaps there are 2 considerations I would have made. The first is the "transition" between front and sides. One suggestion could be to have an visible edge not only on the sides, but top bottom too. That edge may be 90 deg, 45 deg, 30 deg, or e.g. 90 deg breaking into 30 deg. Then a slight gap between the edges and the sculptured front plate for a nice shadow / 3D effect - making the front sort of float. The edges of the frontplate may be in parallel to the edge of the sides, or not. Getting such suggestion right would depend a lot upon proportions and execution, but I suspect it would have made your sculptured front even more of a feature.

Here is one simple example - not the best - but it illustrates the point:

The other suggestion I would have considered are the element covers.

Have a look at the 1528 and 1610 towers by Arendal Sound. Whether one likes the design of the 1528 or not, the execution - integration of the elements into the front - is well thought out. Not so for the 1610, in particular with the covers on. It's bad without, and terrible covered. Those would never have entered my living room.

Tower Speakers - Floor Standing Speakers

arendalsound.com

I would have had a look at Ascilab F6B and considered whether their take on the covers is slightly better than your renderings. Yours are not bad at all, but perhaps Ascilab does it slightly better. I probably would have liked it if yours were recessed and the front of the covers alligned to the surface both on the side and in the front.

As for colors, black/charchoal plays nicely with a wide variety of wood veneers, from soaped oak to dark wood veneers. Whiteish can be nice too, but the specific choice would make a lot of difference. The color of the sides of the pictured Ikea speaker isn't bad, and e.g the whiteish Triangle Boreas aren't quite right in my opinion. I believe it's challenging to get the whiteish tones right.