Adire's new pricing, hold on to your hat's!

[ThomasW]

http://www.adireaudio.com/Home/index.htm

[Bent]

Thomas. do you think that since Adire is getting more dealer friendly as each day goes by, that we would be more likely to see better deals from a "authorised" dealer than direct from Adire?

I believe this is the case with a number of products from other brand names already.

[Jim85IROC]

Acoustic Visions has already stated that the Adire products will be sold below MSRP.

[ThomasW]

Acoustic Visions has already stated that the Adire products will be sold below MSRP

I certainly hope so.......

I expected that going off-shore instead of having drivers built by Eminence would keep the pricing the same, if not a little lower. Obviously that was my error.

Depending on the discounts the price increases could mean their products would be significantly more expensive than those from other suppliers. I know from talking to Dan W that the DIY audience was only 5% of their total revenues. So maybe they're no longer really concerned with DIY sales. I don't see their 'brand name' recognition as a major reason to pay such a premium compared to drivers from other mfgr's.

[Kyle Richardson]

Since they are no longer selling direct and are focusing more on a dealer network they have implemented new MSRP's, and as I'm sure you know, MSRP and street prices are usually not the same.

[ThomasW]

IMO, publishing MSRPs and then offering discounts is just playing games. My impression was that Adire was fundamentally a no B.S. company.

Let's see, the last Eminence built Shiva was $125. The new MSRP is now $179. So what's the real price?

[David R.]

^ i noticed that to (price increase).. It would seem some of the intent of the original shiva driver as been lost (low cost/high performance).

the new shiva 12 seems to need a slightly larger box..

[maximumshow]

Wow some of those prices are way up.

[Kyle Richardson]

IMO, publishing MSRPs and then offering discounts is just playing games. My impression was that Adire was fundamentally a no B.S. company.

I dont know all of the details, but I believe it was done to keep the brick and mortar's happy, which in all honesty, is the bread and butter for any retail company, not the Internet. They are still a no B.S. company, but they need to keep their large B&M's happy as well.

[ekkoville]

What large brick & mortar establishment is offing them? How retail speakers are using Adire drivers? I have never noticed retail offerings to the mass market, which ones are they?

[AndrewM]

Perhaps the car audio B&M market?

[Kyle Richardson]

Exactly correct. Check out Adire's dealer page and you can see that they have a fairly large dealer network, most of which are B&M car dealers. Their overseas dealers are also quite large.

[Mark Seaton]

If you notice, the same lineup of drivers are listed in the car audio section of the website with the same pricing plus the Koda and Brahma XBL^2 series. It will probably position them well in the retail car-audio world where the combo of performance and realistic margins rule. Unfortunately the retail-sales world has come to largely expect discounting, which tends to push brands to one market or the other, rarely covering both well.

[hayden]

I have also "heard" that the new line will feature stamped steel baskets. While I am aware that this has very little to do with performance, I was just thinking about the price increases - and wondering. The competition, especially by groups licensing Adire's technology, seems to be offering a better "bang-for-the-buck" right now. Just some random thoughts,
JP

[ThomasW]

I have also "heard" that the new line will feature stamped steel baskets.

Per the adire website only the new 'Shiva' line has stamped steel baskets, all the other big woofers use cast baskets

[Paul Ebert]

Interesting that the price of the Extremis seems to not have been increased.

[JonMarsh]

well, remember, they raised it right after they started shipping anyway.

~Jon

[Brian Tatnall]

Interesting that the price of the Extremis seems to not have been increased.

As I understand it, the Extremis is not made in Chile, which could explain what you are seeing.

[Brian Bunge]

Yes, I believe that the Extremis is made for Adire by Tang Band, but I could be wrong. Since I'm technically an Adire dealer I guess I should find out the skinny on all this.

[Hank]

Guys, I believe that the new Adire business model is to not spend so much valuable time dealing with individual DIY-ers, and instead let smaller dealers do the individual interface. Adire's main business is designing and selling to speaker manufacturers and auto sound dealers. Just a business decision. Going this new way assures income for the company and its employees, and is an opportunity for the new, small, low overhead dealers, who I believe will sell below MSRP. I remember when good guy Ken shut down SCH because he could no longer afford the time spent with DIYers (I used to talk to him at length on the phone - he's one unselfish guy - like the two Grand Poobah's here).
I read a rumor that Adire will supply a line of drivers for DIYers, so don't give up yet. It would be nice if that's true AND if the new drivers are just re-badged versions of the current lineup. We'll see.

[Audio_Rob]

ive also noticd the specs on the drivers have changed.. the shiva seems to have lost 2mm of xmax and gained a few bucks in price.. the maelstrom gained 11mm of xmax, and the tempest gained 2mm. interesting,

The new adire kits look very intesting to me as well, seeing that im looking for a good design to use, for my first DIY speaker, I might try the kit261 or kitLCR, wonder which would make for a louder more fullrange tower speaker.

[Kyle Richardson]

Rob,
The 261 is the only speaker in the line up that is designed as a tower but you can always just make the LCR with a sealed up bottom portion to make it into a tower. The LCR will be a bit "fuller" because of the 3 way design but the 261 isnt a slouch in any way.

[Bent]

Kyle, any reviews/observations/preliminary pics of the upcoming "Apex"

[GrahamT]

This is the Apex.

[CJ Paul]

I paid $150 for a 15" tempest, now they are $250, but the Shiva and Tempest are now a whole new line. Is the 15" Shiva now the equivelant of the prior one and only 15" Tempest or what?

[ThomasW]

Given the stated specs, I imagine that the new 15" Shiva is equal to the original Tempest.

[Kyle Richardson]

I havent heard the Apex yet so I'm not sure how it does (but I imagine its wonderful). If Dan sees this thread maybe he can chime in with his thoughts.

[Bent]

I'd imagine a D'App alignment for the top 5 drivers, and somewhat of a different beast for the bottom two...

[ThomasW]

Here's a thread with a little more info, also people can email Bob Reimer at CSS for specifics.

http://forum.soundillusions.net/showthread.php?t=49704

[Bent]

So, since you guys don't really seem too busy these days...
How involved would it be for a set of clones of these beasts?

I'm kidding...

[Kramer]

For what its worth, pricing on the WR125 (4" driver using XBL^2 tech) has dropped $15 to $49 each.

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=24_93&products_id=533

Also, Ascendant Audio is closing out its woofers using the XBL^2 technology.

http://www.ascendantaudio.com/