[JP78]

As an avid lover of music and technology-oriented small business owner , I wanted to ask several questions to find out if it makes sense for me to acquire VMPS and also help take care of Brian's family in an ongoing basis.

How can I find out who owns the company currently, what assets are left, what information is and isn't available?  There are dozens of more diligence questions to get through.

I understand the drivers are currently qty limited, but this is such a small part of continuing the VMPS tradition. I'd like to set up a phone call with Mrs Cheney, or whomever the majority owner as recognized by the state of CA.

Thanks!

[John Casler]

You can contact me for details.  I will PM you my e-mail and phone number.  I have been fielding all the overtures to revive VMPS and have a list of the Challenges, which are not small, but not insurmountable either.

[kckucera]

Glad to see interest in keeping VMPS going.   When Brian first started I remember he offered his products in kit form.  That might be an interesting way to keep things going and affordable.

[warnerwh]

I'm also glad to see there is interest in keeping the company going. The current sound quality for the money is and will be excellent for a long time to come. Actually the prices should be higher.

[Rclark]

I think this is great. You should consider actually finding ways to bring the prices down some, or create a range for lesser mortals, although the subwoofers appear to be giant killer priced.

[rbbert]

I think this is great. You should consider actually finding ways to bring the prices down some, or create a range for lesser mortals, although the subwoofers appear to be giant killer priced.

Hard to imagine the prices coming down, they'd almost have to go up, as in fact they did within the last year or so.

I bought a Larger Sub for about $1250 delivered (isn't that about right, John?), probably one of Brian's last builds; I'd be amazed if there's anything else available for under $3k that comes anywhere near it.  My RM-40's were $4450 delivered in 2010, and I've listened to a lot of speakers before and since; again, $10k to even begin to be comparable, and that would be the NOLA KO, considered a giant killer in its own right.

[John Casler]

All great comments, and PRICE is one of the challenges to moving forward (but by NO MEANS) the only challenge.

Thing is, Brian was NOT $$Money Motivated$$.  In fact, just the opposite.  He wanted to offer something that sounded far better than the price would indicate, and he lived modestly with "satisfaction" rather than financial excess.

I used to call his philosophy HELP to High End.

HIGH
END
LOW
PRICE

If VMPS is revived, I would suggest that it will see some kind of equalization.

Even the KIT suggestion was interesting, in that as a dealer, my KIT price was often higher than the built price, because it took more time and effort to "Pack and Ship" a KIT, than to "Build and Ship" a speaker via Brian.

And then of course the "customer service" on KITS is 50 times more than on a BUILT speaker.

[cab]

Any idea what current models would lend themselves to kits, or would it probably be a new model(s)?

[JoshK]

As a business minded person and an avid DIYer (at least past tense anyway), I'd highly suggest avoiding the kit market.  That is a headache waiting to happen and certainly not profitable.  Problem is, not to offend anyone, you have folks without the money for the finished product, but expect the finished product but not likely to possess the know-how to make it into the finished product.   Those with know-how build their own speakers to their own priorities.  So it ends up costing you 10x the customer service cost that it would to finish it for them.

[Rclark]

 It's really easy, just have a readily available source of premade flatpacks, and make building it EASY, unlike another certain company on AC which makes building the kit like trying to decode Hitite.

 Lots of high res photo's on a website, of step by step from several angles, a few videos, and you're good. Those two things would make DIY very easy.

 But just throwing a schematic and some parts in a box and saying "have at it!" is a recipe for a speaker that never gets built.

 The person looking at diy is on a budget I would say, and probably hasn't ever built a speaker before. Come at it with that in mind and you would sell a lot. Make it appealing and easy. And if certain parts are hard to do, make sure to throughly explain it and remove the intimidation.

[Ric Schultz]

Brian was really unique.....I miss him.....met him back in the late 70s when he sold his speakers from a store in Albany named "Puds".   He was always looking for the best way to do something.....and as said....not necessarily to make the most money.  However, as good as his subs are, what put him on the map were these Neo drivers he came across.  He probably got them cheap and really scored.  This very linear extended midrange driver is super transparent.  The RM40 gave him serious credibility and all the speakers based on the Neo driver are fantastic.  If there are no more Neo drivers then I think a "new VMPS" would be difficult to start up.  Most everyone is familiar with the Neo line.....you cannot go backwards.....what ever you do would have to move it forward.  One could use the BG Neo drivers.....but they are more money, so the prices would have to go up.  They are also a little harder to work with as the Neo 8 does not go as low as Brians Neo and the Neo 10 does not like to operate as high.  Also there is Philharmonic Audio and Serenity Acoustics using them with others to follow.  I do see a market for smaller monitors based on the Neo 10s or 8s.

The high end audio market is saturated with companies and is very competitive.  Have you seen the Evolution Acoustics small speaker and the value it brings?  How about Gallos new Strada 2s?  And what Ryan is doing at Vapor Audio?......he sells speakers for twice the cost of the parts.  State of the art treasures, according to those who have heard them (6 months back ordered!).   There is a lot of cool stuff out there.....a lot.  VMPS was one of the very best for the money for a long time.  In order to make a serious mark these days you really have to have a product that is seriously great for the money or totally unique in some way.  When I started in high end audio in the 70s there were only a handful of serious speakers or whatever that were considered "high end".  Now we have speakers, etc. coming from every corner of the world that are really really good.

A new VMPS could be created but I think someone would have to be just as creative, innovative and motivated as Brian for it to succeed.  Brian was VMPS.  Whatever happens from now on will always live in the wake of his Giant Wave.  We have all been blessed by his knowledge and love of music and audio.

[Housteau]

I found this older post by Brian posted in May of 2007.

"While this story has been recounted before I will summarize it:

The neo panels we use were designed by Dragoslav Colich for Sonigistix/Level9 in Canada with technology licensed from Bruce Thigpen.
About 300,000 units were produced.  Level 9 was purchased by the Eastech conglomerate and production moved to Indonesia in 2004.  No neo mid panels were ever made there, just planar tweeters manufactured for Philips.

The Sonigistix panels had a mechanical design flaw which made them fail in the field after a few months.  Since many panels ended up in Kia automobiles the company soon lost its biggest customer and shut down.  With the help of John Chapman (of Bent Audio) and another audiophile owner, we devised a fix which cured the reliability problem and also improved the panel sonically.  We currently have about 1000 pcs left of the total 10,000 panels we purchased from Level 9.

Eastech is to resume production of the neo panels this year with the flaw eliminated,  so our future supply of them is assured."

[James Romeyn]

As a business minded person and an avid DIYer (at least past tense anyway), I'd highly suggest avoiding the kit market.  That is a headache waiting to happen and certainly not profitable.  Problem is, not to offend anyone, you have folks without the money for the finished product, but expect the finished product but not likely to possess the know-how to make it into the finished product.   Those with know-how build their own speakers to their own priorities.  So it ends up costing you 10x the customer service cost that it would to finish it for them.

About 20 years ago at "The Plant" as Brian called his speaker assembly location, a customer called who had purchased SuperTower/R kits many years prior and never assembled them.  He requested new instructions, which he had lost, and advice how to evict his several cats who had converted the empty cabinets into "cat condos." 

Sorry, bud, no help on this last item! 

On a completely different note: It's interesting that Brian's so-called "Tower II SE" with vertical driver array, never really had as sweet a presentation as the
much older Tower II, whose midrange and dual tweeter array formed a horizontal arc (L/R mirror image pairs).  The SE also had what one would presume was higher quality panel materials.  Audio Advisor resold a good number of TII SEs.  I'm convinced the older model's excellence resulted from the shape of its mid/treble array.  The SE's vertical mid/treble array would have improved if it was just slightly offset from center, thus damping the diffraction effects resulting from being centered.  It would also provide the flexibility for customers to site the mid/treble array either inside or outside to accommodate different environments and listening distances.  The down side would be matched pairs only, but there's always a compromise of some type. 

[John Casler]

Back from Vegas, CES and The Home Entertainment Show.

As it turns out the "tribute" to Brian was well attended, including many VMPS owners, and Brian's wife Shirley and Daughter Terra.

The tribute itself was wonderful and included a small plaque which was given Shirley.

Many nice words were spoken and John Atkinson from Stereophile remembered his first encounter with Brian and how impressed he was with the sound his speakers made and the company he kept (names like Jon Curl and James Bongiorno)

I felt it was all tasteful, and well done without being somber in any way.

There was a large photo image poster on an easel with a photo of Brian that was there during the presentation and before.  As Shirley and Terra started to leave I ask Richard if I might give it to Terra, which brought a smile to her face.

[John Casler]

Regarding "reviving" VMPS:


While I have been in talks with many different parties interested in this possibility, I feel we are up against impossible conditions.

There are too many challenges to list to this task but the MAIN issue is being able to produce a product that would live up to the expectations and standards VMPS Customers expect and would want.

Anything else would be a downgrade of the Marque.

Brian's wife, Shirley and I spoke about her feelings on such a matter, and she said she felt that "only" Brian could make that VMPS sound and product and most other attempts to revive brands and companies always result in the brand and name "slipping".  She does not want the VMPS name or Brian's reputation to be subject to not living up to expectation.

So. . .VMPS will not be continuing in any official way, other than attempting to be able to supply some of the parts and or drivers (or substitutes) for whatever models we can.

Now this does not preclude any enterprising person or group from producing something similar under their own name and flavor, but it will not be under the name VMPS.  I guess they would be VMPS "inspired".

Just realize that should this occur, that it is a totally separate entity from VMPS, and Big B made his mark and left us with the joy of the music his speakers reproduced.

Any future designs will simply have been inspired from these.

[Brax]

John,

Any information on the availablity of spare parts?

[roscoeiii]

If VMPS is not continuing as VMPS, it would be great if the details of the crossovers, cabinet construction etc could be made public. I imagine a lot of DIYers would love to try to make some VMPS clones.

[Ric Schultz]

Since the Sonogistix Neo midrange driver never got back into production (assuming) then there are no more neo drivers.....ie, you could not clone any of the VMPS current serious speakers (all based on the neo midrange).  You could make at least as good of speakers using the B&G Neo drivers but the VMPS xovers would not be suitable for the B&G drivers. 

[Fmaxwell]

If VMPS is not continuing as VMPS, it would be great if the details of the crossovers, cabinet construction etc could be made public. I imagine a lot of DIYers would love to try to make some VMPS clones.

More important than that, a lot of VMPS customers could repair, maintain, and improve their speakers, keeping Brian Cheney's life's work going for decades to come.

[John Casler]

John,

Any information on the availability of spare parts?

We have some Neopanels which I will offer to those who have posted me (I kept all posts and will fill them in the order they were received)

This may take a little time, since each panel still needs to be modded before it ships.

I will also have a limited amount of 6.5" Megawoofers that will be sent out on the same system.

We have some cabinets that might be useful to DIY'ers with the tools to mod them to accept other drivers.

We have some LARGER SUB cabinets which certainly can be used, and I am trying to find out the availability of PR's

I was surprised to hear that we have at least 10 (5 pair) of the RM v60 cabinets, since I thought they were all gone.

I can't push the family too hard, and they have been through a lot with the funeral, the closing of the factory, moving all the remaining inventory to Storage, and then traveling to Las Vegas just this last week for the Tribute.

I think in the next couple weeks we can start filling a few orders.