ENGINEERED

SONIC

INVESTMENTS

Modular Speakers MK1 - Patent Pending

In collaboration with Julius Beberman

What We Stand For:

After taking a look around the current market, we realized that there’s no affordable solution to a multi-genre Hi-Fi listening experience.

We now target the approximate $2.7 Billion Hi-Fi market.

Context:

In order to arrive at a perfect audio solution that can be used for any genre, the user will have to spend thousands of dollars — making it impossible to enter this market as a post college graduate.

The Competition

We looked into the Hi-Fi market to find what products exist and what people thought about them from a performance to price standpoint. We graphed them to make it easier to show potential investors rather than trying to explain the nuances of each product.

Our Position

We want to hit the highest perceived audio quality while maintaining a consumer-friendly price. This can only be achieved if multiple sets of drivers can be used in different scenarios due to the limitations of a speaker driver.

The Target User

  • 25 ~ 35 years old

  • Beginner audiophile

  • Mostly listens to records

  • Young professional with disposable income

  • Lives alone in a studio apartment

  • Looking for upgrades in the future

The Interviews

Our users complain that existing products are

  • Inaccessible: Most systems are outside the price range of our users

  • Not versatile: System inside the price range often optimized for specific genres

  • An eyesore: High end units often have loud design elements that don’t fit the home

  • Confusing: There is a lot of snake oil floating around about what quality means

We also asked them how they connected to existing hardware to listen to their tunes.

The Opportunity:

To create an accessible Hi-Fi speaker system that allows users to easily swap sound profiles.

PRESENTING

MK1 OPEN

Walnut Veneer Option with Aluminum Knobs

Closeup of Walnut Veneer Option with Aluminum Knobs

Painted Black Base Option with Aluminum Knobs

Modularity Demo

Modularity

Speaker Box

The component our user is likely to keep for the useful life of this product. CMF can be customized to their liking with offerings such as wood or paint.

Driver Cartridge

The heart of our product: the ultimate change to a sound profile that the user may desire. Want bass for your EDM? No problem!

Amp Cartridge

The power unit with new age digital features such as Bluetooth connection and USB. Knobs also have customizable CMF.

Manufacturing

CNC Router:

Since many of our components need a precise fit, we imagine we would have to use a similar machine to make all the MDF parts. My teammate and I tested the feasibility of such a manufacturing method.

CNC Lathe with Live Tooling:

We have some metal components that would likely need to be mass manufactured on a lathe. Using this machine, we made CMF studies to understand the processes.

In Context

Our version 1 prototype proved that modularity is possible. It was given to one of our interviewees for a week where he gave us some great feedback on the sound profile. Photos are taken during that testing period.

Financial Plan

Due to the nature of our potential business, there will be a huge loss in projected earnings due to MOQs and initial R&D madness. Experts in our field will also have to be brought on in order to better facilitate our vision and future products. A huge marketing push will also have to be made to get our product onto the market, leading to much better profits the following year. All of this is speculation and might not reflect real world data.

Pricing

To reflect the modularity and novelty of our product, we expect to charge a premium to our customers even for the base models. During our interviews, we learned that people are willing to pay a little more for something that gives them versatility.

Base unit will start at $799, giving us a 69% margin. Cost of Goods sold sits at an estimated $247.84.

Prototype V2

Future Plans

Julius Beberman and I (Mike W) are what you call very persistent people. As the semester was coming to an end, we knew that this is not the final evolution of our vision. We are now working with Professor Lee Zamir at MIT and Paul Osimo at RISD to bring the final version of our product to market. We also plan on patenting our designs and technology in the future.