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In the Forum: Audio News
In the Thread: Lamm Industries: a special interview with a special company
Post Subject: Cost-factor: unexplainable except by marketing perhaps?Posted by Gregm on: 1/11/2007
Romy says:| The problem is that in context of those amplifiers the COST BECOMES THE MAJOR DESIGN IMPEDIMENT |
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Yes, but it shouldn't -- should it?
Let's be reasonable (a tall order). Either a designer knows how to design or not. If he doesn;t really know how to design, the point is mute: we know him because he's a good marketer, not because he offers stellar performance products.
Let's say it's reasonable to assume he does know how to design & tune a circuit.
So why part from incomplete or compromised or faulty premises? The only explanation would be, marketing imperatives -- present & future sales.
After all, for producers of audio equipment, the quality of reproduction is not the only sales factor; many others contribute to the commercial success (or failure) of a product and these are probably more important. After all, how many buyers can readily distinguish between a "good" amplifier and an "outstanding" amplifier /as in, between a good, well-ccoked and filling Italian dish and Grande Cuisine? (Only that, admittedly, when you pay for Grande Cuisine you usually get Grande Cuisine)
Let me explain in the context of Vladi's new product:
1) A "full range" amp is the standard sales item; dedicated range amps are not. So, the full range has predominantly better chances of selling.
2) It is useful for a "new" product to explain its novelty by some obvious, visible identifiable characteristic -- for example, the use of a particular tube (6c33c, 211, or, as the case may be, gm70). I mean you can hardly go on forever marketing the Mk2/3/69 (although A Research does this quite well).
3) If you have some commercial success with the "new product", this success allows you to advance to a range of products and make the best out of the initial design (ML3 reference, and ML-c cut down version"using the unique and proprietary technology implemented in the flagship, world-class and universally acclaimed ML3 reference model"...)
4) If the design were fully optimised around the gm70, say, what else could you do to introduce further sales??? Perhaps, change a component here and there with a newer one that has the same performance specs -- but is cheaper?
Having said this I admit I generally bitch (verbally) about products (esp spkrs), most of which I cannot afford to buy anyway -- so I cannot really claim that, given the option to purchase, I turn the products down....Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site