[James]

If they can put the stuff in a Bluetooth headphone, how special could it be?
 
Tangentially, I'm actually going to be returning my Utopia after reluctantly deciding I liked my HD800S + BUDA stack a smidge better. But at least this makes it easier not to let the whole fancy exotic material thing sway an already heavily-biased decision.

 

[nvfan]

Beryllium is expensive. Even if you are a mass manufacturer, a pair of 25mm vapor deposited pure beryllium tweeters will cost you at least $400-500. Focal's dual 40mm vapor deposited pure beryllium drivers at a bare minumum cost around $750-800/pair from a major Beryllium driver OEM like Brush Wellman.

You have to be sure we are comparing apples to apples here. Beryllium alloys such as copper, aluminum, or titanium based Be drivers are MUCH cheaper on a factor of many multiples. It's the manufacturing process of making pure beryllium drivers why it is so expensive.

Beryllium alloys arent bad, and are often better than pure aluminum or titanium drivers. But a pure beryllium driver usually has 2 to 2.5 times better acoustical measurements than a typical beryllium alloy (speed of sound and density foremost). Beryllium alloy drivers are nice, but not comparable to pure beryllium.

 

[Muinarc]

Beryllium is expensive. Even if you are a mass manufacturer, a pair of 25mm vapor deposited pure beryllium tweeters will cost you at least $400-500. Focal's dual 40mm vapor deposited pure beryllium drivers at a bare minumum cost around $750-800/pair from a major Beryllium driver OEM like Brush Wellman.

You have to be sure we are comparing apples to apples here. Beryllium alloys such as copper, aluminum, or titanium based Be drivers are MUCH cheaper on a factor of many multiples. It's the manufacturing process of making pure beryllium drivers why it is so expensive.

Beryllium alloys arent bad, and are often better than pure aluminum or titanium drivers. But a pure beryllium driver usually has 2 to 2.5 times better acoustical measurements than a typical beryllium alloy (speed of sound and density foremost). Beryllium alloy drivers are nice, but not comparable to pure beryllium.

 
 
It is expensive but not as astronomical as you're saying. Especially when economies of scale set in a wholesale prices. I agree though that they do have unique acoustic characteristics and cannot be discounted just as "exotic snake oil".
 
 
 
This is a retail price too the wholesale on this is probably $80.
 
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/beryllium-dome-tweeters/scanspeak-illuminator-d3004/6040-00-beryllium-dome-tweeter-each/

 

[nvfan]

It is expensive but not as astronomical as you're saying. Especially when economies of scale set in a wholesale prices. I agree though that they do have unique acoustic characteristics and cannot be discounted just as "exotic snake oil".



This is a retail price too the wholesale on this is probably $80.

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/beryllium-dome-tweeters/scanspeak-illuminator-d3004/6040-00-beryllium-dome-tweeter-each/

Uh, no. OEM parts simply arent marked up like that. Even if you are directly negotiating with the OEM and are buying in batches of 10,000s they arent going to discount you more then 40-50% below distributor price. At best you could get those drivers at $150-160 a pop.