What can we do?

[billnchristy]

I am looking for some ideas here on things we can offer that you guys would like to see.

Before anyone starts...yeah, #1 is actually having product...we know...believe me. :fryingpan:

Any idea you might have is welcome as this is just a brainstorming exercise and, to tell you the truth, I didn't ask permission...shhhh, don't tell the boss!

To get the ball rolling:

How would you feel about cabling included with the product? Would you just throw it away or do you think it would be useful? Should it just be an option? Would you pay for higher-end stuff but at a killer price? Should we include a stick of gum with every speaker, like the old trading cards? etc etc...

What kind of future products would you like to see? An 18" bandpass coffee table? A powered bass tower? The sky is the limit since this is just dreamery...do you want a preamp with 46 inputs and 12 outputs? (you do?, really!?)

Ok, I will fess up, I am doing this for two reasons...get some traffic and get some good ideas without having to come up with any on our own. ;) Clever eh? :scratchchin:

Now, warm up those :brainiac:!

[dweekie]

No tube products? :toilet:

[billnchristy]

Don't start Mister. ;)

[emac]

Here are a couple of ideas:

1. I really like the idea of offering the equivalent of the Ninja mods or the VMPS upgrades to the speakers that are sold. I think the primary reason why more people don't take advantage of the Ninja mods for AV123 speakers is that they have to install them themselves. This is pretty daunting for someone who has limited experience and doesn't want to ruin the veneer. I realize that this will be more expensive, but we needn't be using Sonicaps and such throughout. Their are reasonably cheap alternatives out there that work better than stock caps (as you and dweekie know). Same for resistors. May cost an extra couple of hundred dollars, but some people would want that option. You can also do the same for electronic equipment, though that's trickier to implement.

2. If you're going to include power cables, give us the shielded Volex 17604 variety. Those are pretty cheap, work well, are $6-7 if you buy in bulk, and no one is going to argue with it. And if they choose to use another power cord, then that's fine. Don't include other types of cables with the equipment as their is no consensus as to a cheap and effective alternative.

[godawgs5]

I would love to see a bunch of room treatment products including furniture style bass traps. I know there has been mention of this already but nothing has been updated. I would love to have a little coffee table that doubles as a bass trap. Really work on that WAF theme you have.

Also, I don't think cables are extremely important to be included. If you offered them as a special deal during a promo or holiday season that would be cool. What made me think no is I have like ten USB cables laying around not in use since they were included in every product I have bought in the two years. Could you offer high quality cable for cheap prices by itself and terminated? Or if we buy another product we get a % off?

Since you have the WAF and have named it for the obvious reasons...shouldn't you have a small form factor subwoofer offering as well. I know the Scamp is going to be sick but its large...just another thought.

How about wireless powered speakers that actually reproduce decent sound....s*ny and sams*ng do not count - I need to hear music not a bunch of treble.

Just some thoughts and ramblings...BTW - I go here everyday hoping for an announcement on pre-order for the Scamp and WAF but nothing... :-( BUT - I am very! pleased with the line-up so far.

[majorloser]

I like the idea of some of the compact items that are in the works, like the Gizmo.

How about a whole package system that's meant for a desktop? An executive office system? The matching wood veneers would be sweet. Could connect up to my desktop for music and control would even be nicer.
Bluetooth or wireless would be the bomb :rock:

[billnchristy]

Great thoughts!

Emac:

I would really like the opportunity to do something like the Ninja or heck, even have the Ninja do them...but I do like your idea of having it available in house. Might be something to ponder after we get higher-end speakers available since it seems silly putting $200 of crossover in a $200 speaker :raspberry:

I do have some thoughts for some other stuff too but definitely down the line.

Godawgs5:

I do believe there will be more subular offerings in the future. Gotta go huge first then we can scale down. :smoke1:

Majorloser:

Compact system is definitely a good idea. I had personally built something a couple years ago for that purpose, just couldn't get it off the ground but would certainly like to revisit something similar in function. It irks me that the best thing someone can have in their office for reasonable money is a pair of plastic boxes that sound like a pringles can with a speaker taped into it.

[dweekie]

...a pringles can with a speaker taped into it.

Hmm, that description fits my speakers, just on a larger scale :fryingpan:

Might be something to ponder after we get higher-end speakers available since it seems silly putting $200 of crossover in a $200 speaker

Isn't that how the original X-LS speakers were like?

I think you should start by offering the crossover upgrades for the single driver models coming out to test the waters........:scratchchin:

[Spiralout]

I would love to see something that's hard to put into words, but I'll give it a shot.

Imagine an online rating system for speakers that allows you to pick from a list and do a side by side comparison, where the system uses a form of AI to tell you what kind of differences you'd expect to hear.

The AI would pull its data from a collaborative rating system open to people who have extensively listened to that model/make. Sure, everyone's opinions are subjective, but I think it'll work if you kept the rating system closed to a certain number of measurements (sensitivity, bass extension, bass accuracy, treble, soundstage, etc) and kept the rating value ranges large enough to support speakers reaching into the higher end markets. Get enough reviews and the bell curve will weed out the variance.


So joe schmoe wants to know how the WAF would compare to an ELT525, or a Scamp to a bottom end HSU or even an SVS PC Ultra, the system will put the specs side by side, then put the ratings side by side and help you interpret what kind of sound difference you'd expect to hear on an average amp.

Maybe the concept is too difficult, since there are some obvious fudge factors that could make it less accurate. But, since I don't know of anyone else doing something like this, it might be a good way to drive some traffic to the site if it's user friendly enough.

[billnchristy]

Now THAT is an interesting idea and I bet if Chris reads it he will be cursing so loud that I could hear him from the house...

I will definitely look into that, have you seen that sonic circle thing? I will have to find the link but a reviewer for one of the online sites came up with it and it seems like a good way to rate things because it puts it into tangibles.

[emac]

Great thoughts!

Emac:

I would really like the opportunity to do something like the Ninja or heck, even have the Ninja do them...but I do like your idea of having it available in house. Might be something to ponder after we get higher-end speakers available since it seems silly putting $200 of crossover in a $200 speaker :raspberry:

True, you're probably better off waiting for some of the higher end models before offering the better crossovers. But then again, people have bought the Ninja crossover for the X-LS's, and they probably run just as much as the X-LS's. But there are also very good and cheap choices for quality caps and resistors out there that don't require the crossover to be $200. Dweekie's the one who's tried what seems like all of the available options, so he'd be better able to say than me. But the Vishay MKT1822 cap comes to mind.

[billnchristy]

I was looking at ERSE caps last night as an alternative to sonicaps pricewise, there isn't much info on them but from what I can gleen they are pretty well thought of and very cheap.

For example a complete ref-1 crossover with sonicaps was $275, with ERSE it was $166.

A smaller speaker like the waf would probably preclude the use of large foil inductors too so theoretically you could probably build a really nice X-over for around $100 for the pair.

[emac]

I was looking at ERSE caps last night as an alternative to sonicaps pricewise, there isn't much info on them but from what I can gleen they are pretty well thought of and very cheap.

For example a complete ref-1 crossover with sonicaps was $275, with ERSE it was $166.

A smaller speaker like the waf would probably preclude the use of large foil inductors too so theoretically you could probably build a really nice X-over for around $100 for the pair.

Exactly, don't mess around with the inductors, as they can be pretty expensive. But if you focused on just the caps, resistors, and wiring, you could get most of the improvement of the Ninja mods without spending anywhere near as much. Or, if you felt inclined, you could do something like a Level 1 X-over w/ the above and a Level 2 X-over with all of the bells and whistles.

[m-fine]

I want a good affordable DAC.

I think cables are a bad idea except as an option since needs vary and lengths can be a real issue. For this pricepoint you might try to work on a cross selling deal with mono-price where TCA customers get the higher quantity pricing or somethign like that.

I want a 1000 watt monoblock that does not cost more than a car.

I want a sub sub. A unit that handles the 5-25 hz range, offloading the difficult stuff from a smaller, easier to place, more musical sub. It needs to be able to play at 120 db down to 8 hz in room and it should be big and ugly. I suggest anti-WAF as the name.

I want a 1080p digital front projector that actually can produce black black. Price it around $1500.

[woofersus]

1. Since you've got a low power, high quality, inexpensive amplifier already designed, and some inexpensive, decent quality speakers designed, how about an inexpensive pair of powered monitors? The $300-$400/pair powered monitor market is pretty big as every project studio has some. I'd bet the gizmo is better sounding than what a lot of monitors in that price range have in them.

2. A small 2.1 package (powered) for high quality computer speakers at reasonable cost.

3. A quality cd/dvd player with built-in flash memory for digiital media and built-in internet radio via wifi. How about doing it for less than $350?