Diamond Tweeter?

[jimb]

Will you use the S2 woofer in the S2 cabinet? Obviously, the XO will be different...

[davef]

Will you use the S2 woofer in the S2 cabinet? Obviously, the XO will be different...

Yes, and I also have a new proprietary woofer (for a 2-way) designed especially by SEAS to use with the White Diamond...

[Elessar]

Yes, and I also have a new proprietary woofer (for a 2-way) designed especially by SEAS to use with the White Diamond...

Are they going to be a regular AA offering or more of a custom order basis?

[davef]

Are they going to be a regular AA offering or more of a custom order basis?

Our white diamond based speakers will be purely custom (special order) products. Estimated lead times will be ~ 4 months, likely sooner, but I like to play it safe on estimates.

[justthinking]

Our white diamond based speakers will be purely custom (special order) products. Estimated lead times will be ~ 4 months, likely sooner, but I like to play it safe on estimates.

So you are testing the diamond tweeter both with the current sierra-2 woofer AND a new custom woofer!?

Can't wait for you to share more detail about this new custom woofer and what you plan to do with it..

[davef]

So you are testing the diamond tweeter both with the current sierra-2 woofer AND a new custom woofer!?

Can't wait for you to share more detail about this new custom woofer and what you plan to do with it..

Yes, testing with both woofers. It turns out that the mid we use in the towers ended up being a fantastic match with the white diamond, but this woofer is not really appropriate for a 2-way.

I am going to ask the customer who received the diamond towers to post the email he sent us... Hopefully he will do so....

[Asliang]

Yes, testing with both woofers. It turns out that the mid we use in the towers ended up being a fantastic match with the white diamond, but this woofer is not really appropriate for a 2-way.

I am going to ask the customer who received the diamond towers to post the email he sent us... Hopefully he will do so....

Hey Dave,

Have you thought about a "high end" ribbon monitor, for example a monitor with the 70-20XR tweeter and the new prototype curv woofer? Seems like that combination would be an interesting product as it would be a ID competitor to a ribbon-based monitors like the ones Raidho sells, as I understand it they use ceramic woofers but have the same hexadym-type magnet system on their driver. It might be interesting to see if there's a market for that, especially with how well Raidho ribbon speakers have been doing at trade shows (i.e. AXPONA) and it seems they are a pretty popular brand of high end ribbon speakers.

[davef]

Hey Dave,

Have you thought about a "high end" ribbon monitor, for example a monitor with the 70-20XR tweeter and the new prototype curv woofer? Seems like that combination would be an interesting product as it would be a ID competitor to a ribbon-based monitors like the ones Raidho sells, as I understand it they use ceramic woofers but have the same hexadym-type magnet system on their driver. It might be interesting to see if there's a market for that, especially with how well Raidho ribbon speakers have been doing at trade shows (i.e. AXPONA) and it seems they are a pretty popular brand of high end ribbon speakers.

We could -easily- offer this and be a direct competitor. My only concern is I believe there is a ceiling as to how much $$$ someone is willing to spend on a pair of speakers purchased from an ID retailer, especially since we don't do tradeshows. My concern might not be valid though as ID Audio has grown considerably and perhaps consumers have become more confident. Thoughts?

[Asliang]

We could -easily- offer this and be a direct competitor. My only concern is I believe there is a ceiling as to how much $$$ someone is willing to spend on a pair of speakers purchased from an ID retailer, especially since we don't do tradeshows. My concern might not be valid though as ID Audio has grown considerably and perhaps consumers have become more confident. Thoughts?

Well honestly I don't know the economics of this AT ALL. But I would say one way to test that market would be to explore the costs of maybe hiring someone just to go to the major trade shows (AXPONA, RMAF, LA Audio Show, The Home Entertainment show, etc). I believe Salk is an ID brand that shows up at most of these shows so maybe you could ask them for details? They seem to have a market for high end ID speakers (soundscapes, exoticas).

I know a lot of small vendors that sell headphones all manage to show up at the tradeshows. However, I understand the economics of headphones is quite different from speakers, for example RMAF or Canjam the vendors just rent a booth/table for about $600-1000. Whereas for speakers you would have to at the minimum rent a show room, which would cost you about $3-4k for standard show room. Plus you have to pay to ship and insure the speakers, and hire somebody to present the speakers for you (some vendors just wing it and will just hire local kids and have them hand out brochures, others have long term employees represent them).

I mean you could dip your toes and do a show exhibit and see how many extra orders you get--assuming you are looking to expand your market for certain models. This will obviously involve some expense, but at least in the headphone space, it seems like a lot of vendors show up, even small ones, so the economics of it must make sense even for smaller operations to advertise at these shows (after all it's a way to immediately demo multiple brands against each other, even if it's in a somewhat sub-optimal noisy show floor). I can't imagine the cost being the biggest issue, probably time and energy is the biggest thing here.

[davef]

Well honestly I don't know the economics of this AT ALL. But I would say one way to test that market would be to explore the costs of maybe hiring someone just to go to the major trade shows (AXPONA, RMAF, LA Audio Show, The Home Entertainment show, etc). I believe Salk is an ID brand that shows up at most of these shows so maybe you could ask them for details? They seem to have a market for high end ID speakers (soundscapes, exoticas).

I know a lot of small vendors that sell headphones all manage to show up at the tradeshows. However, I understand the economics of headphones is quite different from speakers, for example RMAF or Canjam the vendors just rent a booth/table for about $600-1000. Whereas for speakers you would have to at the minimum rent a show room, which would cost you about $3-4k for standard show room. Plus you have to pay to ship and insure the speakers, and hire somebody to present the speakers for you (some vendors just wing it and will just hire local kids and have them hand out brochures, others have long term employees represent them).

I mean you could dip your toes and do a show exhibit and see how many extra orders you get--assuming you are looking to expand your market for certain models. This will obviously involve some expense, but at least in the headphone space, it seems like a lot of vendors show up, even small ones, so the economics of it must make sense even for smaller operations to advertise at these shows (after all it's a way to immediately demo multiple brands against each other, even if it's in a somewhat sub-optimal noisy show floor). I can't imagine the cost being the biggest issue, probably time and energy is the biggest thing here.

I have decades of experience at these shows and started to absolutely hate them about 20 years ago. One of the things I promised myself when I started Ascend was to never do these shows again. One option might be to partner with another company who already has a room such that they show off our speakers with their equipment etc, and we just provide some literature...

That is basically the most that I would be willing to do.