DCAudioDIY.com

I’ve always been a fan of buying from local businesses, so does anyone know if there are speaker manufacturers in the state of Maryland? I’m thinking not, but I just wanted to check

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Walt

A few CAF vendors are based in Virginia and Maryland.

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I reject your music, and substitute my own.

I also found one in Gaithersburg, they also do speaker repairs

Hollis Audio Labs builds active DSP crossover planar and servo sub speakers in SoMD.

Will be at CAF2023 in room 708 if you are attending the show.

Hope your search goes well.

Supporting local businesses is a good altruistic thing to do, but in a very specialized area such as audio equipment, you really narrow your options.

The company in Gathersburg you are talking about has been around along time, but they make essentially "no-name" speakers. It would be a shot in the dark on how the sound, they may be great, they may be trash. They only list one model (a small standmount speaker) from what I can tell on the website. How much good engineering went into it I have no idea, it could be a simple 1st order crossover using cheap parts and drivers, or it could be well engineered to work with the driver and enclosure selection. It is pretty easy to design and build a box and put a couple of drivers and a stock crossover, and the result may be satisfactory for home theater purposes, but as far as quality audio, maybe not.
I do not mean in anyway to denigrate them, I would just approach them with caution.

I would recommend that you take into consideration the amplifier you have your eyes on (Dynaco ST35) for the speaker selection. Realize that you will only have 15W/ch of power, which means the speakers you need to look for are higher in efficiency (90dB or higher) and should be 8 ohms impedance, preferably. Small standmount speakers will tend to have efficiencies in mid 80's, which may be OK if you add a subwoofer with active crossover to limit the amplifier signal going to the speakers. So you need to work out a plan, if you are set on a specific amplifier (or speaker), you need to get the appropriate speaker (or amplifier) that works as a SYSTEM.

BTW, make sure that whoever advertises ST35 amplifiers for order can actually deliver. Dynaco reproduction transformers for the ST35 are difficult to get right now. The usual suppliers are no longer filling orders (as I understand), many custom builders used reproduction transformers from Dynakit Parts and Triode Electronics (who sourced them from same transformer winder, now out of business, as I understand), and they have been out of stock for a while. If you were DIYing a ST35, it is possible to find functional replacements from Edcor, Hammond, and others on Ebay that meet the basic performance specification but may not sound the same. Again, just be warned and check with whomever you order an ST35 from that they can build it. A used unit is probably your best bet, but it may need to be restored (cap replacement).

David

There's a talented speaker builder on this forum though he's not running a business. Right now he's building a smallish 3 way floorstanding speaker pair that may not be spoken for? They'll likely require solid state amplification though. Here's a link to a pair he made last year from a Joseph Crowe design. They sounded quite good and I think were mid-nineties efficiency and 8 ohms. He might be willing to work on a design project with you too. He's very cost conscious.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2191&start=10

Hmm, I might check him out.

I was about to say to go to CAF, and check out some rooms. You might come across something you like.

A few of them are local-ish, but there may be something you like that's not local.

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I reject your music, and substitute my own.