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With no local demos available I will not be testing my luck or bank account on this one.
If you choose not to invest in Vapor, I would say make that choice because you associate with the instant-gratification nature of our society and cannot tolerate delays, surprises, or lack of instant availability of Ryan on the phone.
I am the owner of the pair of Arcus in rosewood that is the subject of a thread here from early this year. I have avoided saying anything publicly to this point regarding my experience with the build process. It has definitely been a mixed bag. There were countless delays during the process, which I waited out. A quoted 12 week build turned into 7 and 1/2 months before I received them. When I received them, they were cosmetically unacceptable and Ryan agreed with me. I will not go into the details, that is between us. To Ryan's credit, he volunteered to build a second set and place a rush on them due to the time I already waited. I would keep the completed speakers until the second set was complete and then we would swap them out. Very fair indeed. There were also design improvements made that are going into the second pair. They are to be the first built with these changes. It was after this point that I became overly impatient with the process. After a couple of monts, there was a period of heated exchanges between us (admittedly initiated by me). I was ready to jump ship on the process. Eventually, I took a step back, took a deep breath, and decided to resolve the issue and see this through. After all, I do have a very nice sounding pair of speakers in my room that I can listen to while waiting for the second pair. Up until the point of my blow up, communications were poor, to put it bluntly. Part of this may be my fault. Being someone that has worked with his hands repairing things his entire adult life, I understand how disruptive to work it can be to answer the phone. The time spent on the phone is not the only time lost to work. There is a period of time to refocus on the job at hand. It is not as simple as picking up where you left off. It is commendable that Ryan does communicate that way, because it is much harder than what it sounds. For those reasons, I choose to communicate by email. This allows Ryan to pick up that communication at a time that is not disruptive to his work. Since the time of my blow up mentioned above, the email communication has improved. It is still not as good as it probably should be, but is moving in the right direction. To put the whole thing in perspective, the process to this point has taken 15 months. There is definitely pluses and minuses to going with a custom builder. Only the buyer can decide if the plus out weighs the minus. I have made my choice. I am patiently awaiting the finished product and enjoying the product that I currently have. It has taken commitment and patience on both of our parts, but it will be seen through to the end. I am sure that it will be worth it when all is said and done. The pair of speakers that I will have will be unlike any other in the world and hopefully bring years of enjoyment.
Brand new member creates an account to make disparaging remark?Good luck Ryan!
Lenny is a real person, he and I spoke on the phone a few times and exchanged numerous emails over about an 8 month period. He was at one point quite serious about placing an order, but ultimately the couple people (and their multiple aliases) convinced him otherwise.
Ryan,It is very cool that you are allowing things to be open about the issues with company and detail quality. That is a sign of integrity and the want to make a better more productive machine. For every unsatisfied customer, their are several more satisfied. It seems as though there are just a few that really have it out for you, and they may be somewhat justified. It happens. Bite the bullets and be done with them, is easy advice to offer, but some people just will not be dealt with. Trust me, I know all too well....6moons.. Man, that's kind of screwed up over there!! I'll just leave it at that....I have never read anything about the speakers not delivering sonically, and that is really something. I was a little put off by the cost increases, but that's business and to be expected. Shows and marketing take big money and tons of time to pull off. I really want to and will, hear some of your speakers! Keep the progress positive and forward. It is easy to get burned out with all the negativity, and I hope that will not happen. Stress does things to a man....Keep your head up bro!
