Should 'a' been a contender

I think the various incarnations of Dunleavy's speakers should have done better but the cabinets weren't visually appealing.

Apogee

Both Apogee and Dunleavy spent years in the headlines. I think Jay was asking for worthy speakers that never got any recognition for one reason or another.......like Vision Acoustics.

Tannoy's famous SGM10 with Mastering Lab cabinets - Doug Sax bought up the entire lot of the last production drivers. I think the high cost of Alnico is what made Tannoy stop production of this wonderful driver.

Link

These never really made it out of studios and to consumers - sold by word of mouth among pros and I guess they looked pretty ugly, which is after all a domestic consideration far more important than the sound.

Back in 1986, I had a room at the Chicago CES show where I was demonstrating speakers of my own design (the company name was Shannonbrooke Audio FWIW). During the show, the one speaker that impressed me as superbly musical from top to bottom was the Waveform speaker from John Otvos. This was I believe near the beginning of Waveform and the speaker I heard (which I think was called the Mach 17 but I'm really not sure) was a very large, pyrimidal shape with a large woofer (12 or even 15 inches). It was voiced very well and I was impressed with its sheer musicality. This was the only speaker I heard that surpassed the Shannonbrooke Model 1's that I displayed (he said with no modesty). I heard Apogees and Wilson's at the show among a number of other brands but the Waveform was truly excellent.

I hadn't had the chance to hear any of Otvos's evolving designs in subsequent years but I imagine he was able to improve them. I think its a pity that John threw in the towel several years ago but this is a cruel and competitive business. One reason why his speaker was less popular is that the top of the line required tri-amping thus making its potential market smaller. Oh well...