[bavmike]

Hi guys,

The reason I got into Audio in the beginning was the music. Once I reached the age of 5-6 I really started getting into the gear as well. That’s always been what it’s about for me. In 1992 at the age of 14 I got my first Stereophile subscription. I read every issue religiously including every single ad. I actually made a binder I would cut out all my favourite stuff from the mags and paste it in. Then I started phoning all the manufacturers to get them to send me brochures and any information they had. I was excited every day waiting for the mail to receive this information. I punched holes in all of it and put it my binder. Then I discovered an ad from Madisound on raw drivers and kits. I got excited and got them to send me all the info they had. Before I was 15 I built my first set of speakers.

Anyways that’s how it started for me. It was always exciting. I continued to build speakers on a hobby level until I was 18. Then I started working in the oilfield. My first year I made over $70000. Money was great. But I still continued building speakers. In 2000 I decided to quit for a bit and started distributing SOTA drivers and sold CNC machined flatpack speaker kits. Everyone was always blown away. That went ok till the Canadian dollar hit 67 cents US. At that point it was difficult to make any money. So back to the oilfield for 12 years. In the meantime I started learning how to build everything related to audio. I spent countless hours. Talking and hiring the finest engineers. Finally in 2015 the oilfield crashed and I decided to do audio gear full time. Wow many lessons learned. What a filthy industry. Much worse than the oilfield. Far better as a hobby.

[decal]

If there were no music there would be no gear or industry.

[006.9]

What specifically makes audio a filthy industry?

[konut]

One's primary motivation to get into the audio industry must be something other than money. The surest way to become a millionaire in the the audio business is start out as a billionaire.

[Tyson]

If you want a very effective way to ruin something you love, make it a job and depend on income from it

[bavmike]

Well it’s not so bad if you only do OEM work. This way the only people you need to ever deal with is people you choose to and like. Then the people you don’t like put money in your pocket and they don’t even know it.

[Wind Chaser]

That went ok till the Canadian dollar hit 67 cents US.

Any number of Canadian manufacturers could have tossed in the towel at that time, but they didn’t. They kept right on rolling along, even when the dollar bottomed out at 0.62 cents, they kept at it. In fact I don’t recall any Canadian audio manufacturers going under due to the low dollar. Perhaps your passion for audio was overshadowed by your passion to make money? You could have survived that time and even made a lot money if you did what everyone else doing, that is assuming you had penetrated the American market. And even if you had not penitrated the American market, that would have been the time to do it, especially if as you say your kits were so good that “Everyone was always blown away.” Sorry but your post comes off more as a rant of a unsuccessful businessman than an honest question.

[bavmike]

The problem at the time was I was distributing drivers and paying for them in USD with Canadian dollars. The low dollar was eating up all the margins, and increaseing the price to make up for it would make the drivers more expensive than Solen could offer similar quality drivers for. Sure if you’re making 300-400% a 30% hit isn’t much of a big deal. This is why many companies made it through this period unscathed. 

Anyways that was 16 years ago. Old news. I didn’t go under, I just felt at the time it was more lucrative to make $150k+ per year in the oilfield. The rant is nothing to do with my current success in the industry. It’s more to do with the parasites you need to deal with in this industry. I didn’t know they existed before I got into the industry, but found out after. Anyways I found a loophole around them.

[bavmike]

One's primary motivation to get into the audio industry must be something other than money. The surest way to become a millionaire in the the audio business is start out as a billionaire.

Yes this is true if you do things the traditional way. The biggest thing small manufacturers overlook is people buy brands not products. And only 2 ways to build a brand. Lots of time, or lots of money.

[bavmike]

What specifically makes audio a filthy industry?

Well I had a nice Icepower thread yesterday to share information about the latest in cutting edge amp tech. But I don’t today. The biggest problem in this industry is you can’t be honest and transparent. Because if you do you end up hurting the business of the dishonest.

[Tyson]

Well I had a nice Icepower thread yesterday to share information about the latest in cutting edge amp tech. But I don’t today. The biggest problem in this industry is you can’t be honest and transparent. Because if you do you end up hurting the business of the dishonest.

I don't see a problem with hurting the business of the dishonest, actually.

[bavmike]

I don't see a problem with hurting the business of the dishonest, actually.

Either do I. But others do. Otherwise I would be posting on my Hypex vs Icepower thread right now instead of this one.

[Folsom]

I don't see a problem with hurting the business of the dishonest, actually.

That sounds nice but fact is dishonesty in technology descriptions is part of the product that people want to buy...

[FullRangeMan]

What specifically makes audio a filthy industry?

Ex.: The Bob Carver x Share holders Investors or Bob x Stereophile.

[bavmike]

That sounds nice but fact is dishonesty in technology descriptions is part of the product that people want to buy...

Hey I heard your little amp with fancy Lundahl LPS. Sounded good to my ears. I’m gonna bring this new Icepower 1200as over to compare soon.

[rollo]

If you want a very effective way to ruin something you love, make it a job and depend on income from it

  Depends on what you sell. Yes the business end can be a trip at times for sure. You sell good stuff.


charles

[bavmike]

I've been thinking. That's right this business shouldn't be about the money. It should be about your passion. I just thought of a way I can give back to the audiophile community, and be 100% transparent about it. Win win deal all around. My main business is OEM work so I don't really need to make much money at all to fulfill my passion in the retail space. I'll start a thread on this great idea right away. 

[JohnR]

Well I had a nice Icepower thread yesterday to share information about the latest in cutting edge amp tech. But I don’t today.

Your thread is in Quarantine because YOU claimed you were being slandered. Now because of this, AudioCircle comes under your "filthy" banner?

[bavmike]

Your thread is in Quarantine because YOU claimed you were being slandered. Now because of this, AudioCircle comes under your "filthy" banner?

No I was referring to the guys on the other forum. I was under the impression that my thread was deleted because of what happened there. But I recently discovered it went into quarantine. I thought it was wiped out altogether. Sorry for the misunderstanding.