Well if you'd googled some more you'd find that VT has higher than the average power costs @ $0.1107/kW-h. I know that VT'ers used to pay an even higher rate just a few years ago (highest in the nation while I was in high school). I think most people from Vermont would be willing to pay the slight premium (27% increase) for the fact that they'd be using a renewable, alternative energy source.
Perhaps in your cynical view, the farmer's won't see those extra four cents AND pay for their own equipment. But this is the People's Republic of Vermont. Cow Power is run by CVPS, which is a highly-regulated company. Capital expenditures are handled by CVPS, cost of production (for the farmers and CVPS) is far less than Vermont's market rate for electricity (Which is mostly purchased from HydroQuebec, locked in at long term, graduated rates). I think it's pretty win-win all around.
A couple of counterpoints to speaker technology over the past 50 years.
I will agree that standard speakers have improved markedly at a given price.
However, some of the best speakers ever made (EVER!) were developed from the 50's to the 70's.
Visionary desingers such as James B. Lansing (Ever hear of JBL? or Altec Lansing?) and Paul Klipsch rigorously developed scientific technologies and techniques to create speakers that absolutely CANNOT be duplicated today.
Why? Because it is illegal. Voice coil magnets of the very purest sort are not Rare Earth magnets, like many high end drivers today. The heaviest voice coils back then were built using AlNiCo (Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt). These drivers were massive (a driver for a 16" woofer weighed close to 20 pounds) and deliver impressive flux densities for given currents. In turn, the 2nd and 3rd order resonances within the flux are far purer than any Rare Earth magnet.
AlNiCo has become hard to obtain due to manufacturing costs associated with Cobalt. Only a few speakers today use AlNiCo (the overpriced stuff from Audio Note....makers of a $25000 8-watt tube amp ).
Coated paper cones are actually one of the best driver surfaces. Stiffer and lighter is only better for low frequency response, but is very poor for high/mid frequency fidelity.
I have listened to many speakers, and I can honestly say that most high end, new speakers still can't hold up to the power, clarity, efficiency, and tonal re-creation of a well cared for Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre system or a Klipschorn. PLUS, I can buy a mid 1960's VoT speaker (say an Altec Valencia) for $1000 for the pair, have them completely refurbished with new foam and cones, rebuild the X-overs with new caps/resistors/inductors, and for less than $1500 have 12" Woofers, a 8" Wide Compression horn (1" driver), adjustable X-over (standard feature on all old Altecs) that has 98dB efficiency and can run to deafening sonic levels (150dB) with NO distortion, full tonality, and only be driven by a 15 watt amplifier. No modern speaker can match that.
Plasma driver speakers, Magneplanars, all of those are incrediblly good speakers, but they require too much power and offer only impressive high/mid frequency reproduction.
Slashdot Mirror
Well if you'd googled some more you'd find that VT has higher than the average power costs @ $0.1107/kW-h. I know that VT'ers used to pay an even higher rate just a few years ago (highest in the nation while I was in high school). I think most people from Vermont would be willing to pay the slight premium (27% increase) for the fact that they'd be using a renewable, alternative energy source. Perhaps in your cynical view, the farmer's won't see those extra four cents AND pay for their own equipment. But this is the People's Republic of Vermont. Cow Power is run by CVPS, which is a highly-regulated company. Capital expenditures are handled by CVPS, cost of production (for the farmers and CVPS) is far less than Vermont's market rate for electricity (Which is mostly purchased from HydroQuebec, locked in at long term, graduated rates). I think it's pretty win-win all around.
A couple of counterpoints to speaker technology over the past 50 years. I will agree that standard speakers have improved markedly at a given price. However, some of the best speakers ever made (EVER!) were developed from the 50's to the 70's. Visionary desingers such as James B. Lansing (Ever hear of JBL? or Altec Lansing?) and Paul Klipsch rigorously developed scientific technologies and techniques to create speakers that absolutely CANNOT be duplicated today. Why? Because it is illegal. Voice coil magnets of the very purest sort are not Rare Earth magnets, like many high end drivers today. The heaviest voice coils back then were built using AlNiCo (Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt). These drivers were massive (a driver for a 16" woofer weighed close to 20 pounds) and deliver impressive flux densities for given currents. In turn, the 2nd and 3rd order resonances within the flux are far purer than any Rare Earth magnet. AlNiCo has become hard to obtain due to manufacturing costs associated with Cobalt. Only a few speakers today use AlNiCo (the overpriced stuff from Audio Note....makers of a $25000 8-watt tube amp ). Coated paper cones are actually one of the best driver surfaces. Stiffer and lighter is only better for low frequency response, but is very poor for high/mid frequency fidelity. I have listened to many speakers, and I can honestly say that most high end, new speakers still can't hold up to the power, clarity, efficiency, and tonal re-creation of a well cared for Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre system or a Klipschorn. PLUS, I can buy a mid 1960's VoT speaker (say an Altec Valencia) for $1000 for the pair, have them completely refurbished with new foam and cones, rebuild the X-overs with new caps/resistors/inductors, and for less than $1500 have 12" Woofers, a 8" Wide Compression horn (1" driver), adjustable X-over (standard feature on all old Altecs) that has 98dB efficiency and can run to deafening sonic levels (150dB) with NO distortion, full tonality, and only be driven by a 15 watt amplifier. No modern speaker can match that. Plasma driver speakers, Magneplanars, all of those are incrediblly good speakers, but they require too much power and offer only impressive high/mid frequency reproduction.