Hello,
I understand the technical aspects of using aluminum for speaker enclosures, so I wish to address a related point please:
Will not the increasing use and consumption of aluminum for speakers (and all sorts of components), in particular by China now, drive the cost of everything higher as the aluminum becomes more in demand and more scarce at the same time ?
No, I am not a "green" person so to say, but this just ocurred to me and I thought that I would pose the above question. While a pair or multi-channel set of aluminum framed speakers is far less common than the (literally) tons of components of various brands and types, they do use far more aluminum per pair or set than numerous components; so I am just curious as to the "perhaps unexpected at this time" effects of such use.
Also, if China is the primary consumer / purchaser of aluminum, or becomes the primary, then they will get lower purchase costs than other countries; let alone a small USA based company having its components or speakers made by them for the lower labor rates. The thing is, we will end up causing this problem to worsen and accelerate by voluntarily giving so much of our manufacturing work to China. Do we then have any right to moan and groan about the increased cost (which will eventually approach, equal, and possibly even surpass the costs of USA made items) if we give them the right to drive up the cost so much by being the world's number one purchaser of aluminum, and/or on a related forum, the world's number one consumer electronics manufacturer, or both ?
This is just my personal opinion: if an item of any kind can be made in the country that it is thought up and designed in, then do it. I understand that to be or remain profitable as a business of any kind requires, that overseas / China, etc. labor rates must be used or there would be no profit or the item(s) would not be marketable due to the much higher cost. Maybe we could get a good amount of the unemployed workers in this country of ours, myself included, a new job instead of outsourcing the work to some foreign land.
Tom
interesting but, i don't think consumption of aluminum for stereo equipment is having an effect on overall supply demand for aluminum. China already is the largest consumer of aluminum in the world, but most of this goes into construction materials and automobiles. bottling, machinery are also big consumers of aluminum. i do agree there is an increase usage of aluminum in speaker products and it is proving a very valuable material to reduce inherent vibrations but nothing that would impact the supply/demand of this material. interestingly, bicycles and cars are using less aluminum due to the emergence of carbon fiber (Magico driver and Rockport speaker enclosures), it is a stiffer material when properly assembled (applied). i would guess that the drop in demand from cars/bicycles will far outweig increase in stereo equipment. interestingly, most aluminum smelters in the US have or are in the process of shutting down - electricity is too expensive. China is becoming a big producer of aluminum but it is still the Middle East and Russia who are the biggest (most smelters are located near flaring of natural gas).
I am sure the manufacturers who use alum as their enclosures wish they sell enough speakers to make a dent in the overall demand of the metal in the global market!
Maggico's M6 weighs enough to replace teh aluminum used in a couple of cars!
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