[BruceSB]

Just got the latest JansZen Newsletter.
They are going to direct sales and the price of the zA2.1 (their main speaker) has dropped by $2000!!
Wow!
What great news for buyers,
AND,
Bad news for their competitors, the Maggies, the Martin Logans, the Sanders, and so on!
JansZen have suddenly go even more competitive, not to mention expanding into cables and electrostatic head phones and so on.
Wonder what impact it will have on sales?
Bruce

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I don't think Magnepan is shaking in their boots.  I got to hear those speakers locally and while they sounded good, they were in no way better than my Magnepan 1.6's or the Salk HTR3's that were in the same room as them.  But taste is so subjective, just stating my impressions.

Agreed, it is a good deal for buyers though.

[BruceSB]

In addition to the electrostatic sound, which you either like or you don't, there is the monopole aspect.
Virtually all other electrostats are dipoles, including my current acoustats.
This means that they must be out into the room for best performance.
Although I do have my acoustats into the corners!!
The strong point of monopoles, JansZens, is that they can go in a corner (which nicely suits my very small dedicated music room).
I think people don't mention this very often because most planer/electrostats are dipoles and also lots of people have bigger listen rooms with plenty of scope for the speakers to be well out into the room.
Just some thoughts to ponder.
Bruce

[SteveFord]

I haven't heard the speakers but those who have either liked them enough to buy them or said, Meh.
Either way, a $2000 price drop is a welcome thing. 
I hope they do well.

[jtwrace]

Great for new buyers but really sticks it to the buyer that purchased them prior and has now taken even more depreciation.

[BruceSB]

Yeah, you are so right.
I would be hopping mad if I paid that higher price!!!
Bruce

[jsm71]

I imagine there were very few who bought full retail.  The reason for the price drop is David Janszen has eliminated a distributor channel that wasn't working very well.  He had to have the prices artificially high for dealer margins.  With the dealers now out of the picture the prices better reflect the value that is there.  This was a smart and an inevitable outcome that didn't impact the company very long.  David will do much better offering direct support and going back to his roots that were more successful in the early going.  Can't see a downside to this.

[roscoeiii]

Great for new buyers but really sticks it to the buyer that purchased them prior and has now taken even more depreciation.

Moral of the story, don't count on resale value when buying speakers and accept that if we want this industry to thrive we need to accept manufacturers adjusting their models. I'd much rather that involve lowering costs than just catering to the very high dollar buyer.