Eminence Factory Tour

[mattp]

Hey guys,

I finally had the chance to take a tour of the Eminence factory yesterday and it was a very cool experience. Jerry, Chris, Matt and Cobi were all really nice down-to-earth guys, as well as the factory workers we spoke to. It's not every day you come across not only one, but a group of guys that you just immediately get along with especially when it comes to a supplier.

I snapped a few pics which you can see in the slideshow link below. If you have any questions about the way they do things I can do my best to answer them.

http://s1254.photobucket.com/user/pe...Factory%20Tour

We are hoping to have a few new (and a few old) models coming from our Kentuckian neighbors soon so keep your fingers crossed.

-MP

[hongrn]

Great pics Matt. What is the reason why they don't do hi-fi woofers and just specialize in pro woofers? Thanks.

Hong

[Millstonemike]

Some smaller companies (e.g., not $1B) are successful staying in their market niche. While Eminence could likely design and build some very nice home audio drivers, that's not all there is to it. There's marketing,sales, supply chain management costs not to mention some fairly steep compeiution entrenched in the market.

[Wolf]

Now I know what the holes in the backplates are for! Paint-line hangers. I've been wondering that for awhile now...

Later,
Wolf

[tomzarbo]

Thanks for sharing this. It's great to see things like this being produced in America.

The first raw subwoofer driver I ever bought was a 12" square-magnet driver... I was probably 15 or 16 years old... so 30 years ago or so.

TomZ

[badman]

Very cool. I've had the opportunity to tour several factories in my years- it's always a hoot and there are always clever solutions that you wouldn't have thought of. Thanks for sharing!

[jhollander]

Thanks for posting, good pictures.

[300Z]

There's a video on youtube about a their factory tour also, very cool.

[billfitzmaurice]

What is the reason why they don't do hi-fi woofers

They do, as OEM, in significant numbers.

[mattp]

Great pics Matt. What is the reason why they don't do hi-fi woofers and just specialize in pro woofers? Thanks.

Hong

Hong,

As Mike stated they started and basically maintained a niche market. They do build several non-pro type OEM drivers (many of which we sold) and supplied dang-near most of the late 90's-early 2000's car audio woofers that were made in the US. IIRC a lot of the original JL woofers were built by Eminence, as well as some not-so-popular but good quality brands. Heck, they built several Pyle Dryvers, if you remember those. They can certainly build them, unfortunately the market for budget based home audio is going overseas.

-MP

[mattp]

Thanks for sharing this. It's great to see things like this being produced in America.

The first raw subwoofer driver I ever bought was a 12" square-magnet driver... I was probably 15 or 16 years old... so 30 years ago or so.

TomZ

Tom,

The first serious woofer I ever bought was a giant (at the time) 15" Eminence woofer, probably 17 years ago. That would make me 14ish at the time. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but it was amazing! I'll never forget that white Eminence crown and logo on the dust cap. If not for that I might not have remembered it honestly. I do have a soft spot for Eminence drivers in my heart. I've owned and used numerous models since then.

-MP