Dear Hagtech,
I wrote this and reread it, and realized I strayed off topic. My advice is below in the las two paragraphs.
This is my first post. I registered to make it. I do not have any of your products but I follow them closely. I believe that most people familiar with audio who truly want quality will find your products. High end audio is the never ending quest for better gear. ha ha. I myself am interested most in the cymbal power amps. Until I sell some stuff, I have no room for them. My current gear is Counterpoint tube pre, Coda pre, and Nestorovic mono tube amps or Bryston 3bst, Tandburg Tuner and Cassette deck, Speaker Art Proklaim Speakers, Marantz DCC-92 tapedecks, Digital VHS, Pioneer Laserdisc, Faroujda DVD. My only heresy is my Technics 1200 turntable with Ortofon cartridge. My logic is its so damn hard to set up a cartridge, that the Heisenburg uncertainty principle comes into play. I just like snapping in the damn cartride and playing records, knowing its in line.
But where do I do my most listening? My little POS Altec lansing headphones with my laptop mp3's. ha ha. If only I'd known before I spent that 30 grand on gear! Actually, the Creative 2zs has snr of 112db and very low distortion. It sounds really good.
One thing I have noticed about outstanding equipment, is that most if not all of the manufacturer's go out of business. I believe this is because truly outstanding equipment costs a lot to make right, and the majority of people are unwilling to pay. A manufacturer reaches a stage where they have to decide "do I make crappy stuff that makes me more money or do I keep my principles of not cutting corners". That's what Klipsch did. I live near the Klipsch factory (about 20 miles west), and you cant even buy Klipschorns in this town. Isnt that interesting? They dont make their money off them. In fact the whole hifi market is undergoing slow death due to 5.1 I dont think that CAL thought all there DAC patents would one day be owned by Go-Video, the makers of the biggest POS VCRs on earth. I really want to see you make it hagtech. So here's what you've got to do: target your niche customers.
As far as advertising, I dont think that Stereophile is the place. People who buy Stereophile seem to get as much or more pleasure from showing off their piano black glossy speakers or gigantic racks of 3" faceplate gear as with listening. Invariably, these people will have a $25,000 speaker in a crummy room, symmetrically placed for maximum crummy sound. What I think hagtech should do is appeal to people who look for quality. You're appealing to the logic side of the brain, while stereophile appeals to the artisitic, ego-centric side of the brain. If you do advertise in Stereophile, hire some designer like Phillipe Starcke to design a case and some cool knobs, with some kind of crystal display of the tubes. Make sure the cases weigh in at minimum 60 pounds, and quadruple your prices. Then pay 20% of your budget to Stereophile, and get your good review
All kidding aside, I like my gear to look cool too. Yeah, there are people who want their stuff to LOOK good too. Your gear is great, and I like the utilitarian look of it. I dont think anyone should turn their nose up at their business. Its their money, and they want people who see that amp to KNOW its expensive. Stereophile people, there systems are for making a statement as much as for listening, and there's nothing wrong with that. And there are those that will want Black Gat caps in everthing, even if an identical Taiwan part measures exactly the same on the bench. I think your small manufacturing facility can lend itself to these purposes, and you can offer different options advertised in different places for these many different markets. That's why it's "marketing". Make a gussied up Cymbal, and offer it as an option. Charge for it. Make one with optional parts, with caps blessed by a Shaman. Charge for it. Marketing is just that: getting people who otherwise wouldnt buy your fine products to buy them.
I think you may be suprised at how many people pay for the options. I myself dont like open tube or speaker grills, kids love to get electrocuted or poke holes in your drivers. So your cymbals would have to be real high. I'd like cages. And I will confess, I love the chrome on my Nestrovics, reminds me of my motorcycle.
I think Hagtech should place lots of cheap, small ads in lots of unique places. For example, I own harleys, dive equipmet, and golf a lot. Guys who have lots of income to buy such gear have lots of hobbies. I have subscriptions to FHM, Maxim, Men's health, Stuff, and GQ. I flip through golf magazines, car magazines and chopper magazines. A lot of guys who own harleys (I own an Indian) have money. Also advertise in trade magazines of Doctors and Lawyers. Like Science Magazine. You could appeal to hobbyists by Popular Mechanics. Send them an amp to review. Or popular radio hobbyist or whatever, you get my drift. You can buy a ton of small ads that say something like "think bose is as good as it gets?" or "looks like iron, sounds like gold", with a link to a place that explains sound and audio and introduces your unique engineering aspect. Some kind of cool flash demonstration or ad with ocilloscopes to teach.
As an example, my boss got scammed into buying this mid fi crap reciever, to drive B&W 801 Nautilus'. Everyone chuckled at me at work when I told them I loved old records. You'd think I said I listened on a Thomas edison Grammophone with a horn coming out of the tonearm.
I had enough self preservation not to disparage my boss' terrible sounding system, just "sounds great". As usual, such great speakers were in a room 20 feet wide, 10 feet deep, pushed up agains the corners by his wife's decorator, tons of coloration and standing waves. He had the whole 7.1 scam set up, and he couldnt believe when he came over to my house and listened to 2 channel, set up right. Many people dont know, but there are a trifling few movies mixed in 7.1. Most are 5.1, there's a cool article about this on the Bryston website.
Anyway, He was asking me all about what gear I used. I have a 15 year old preamp that I bought used for $300, made him choke. When I played a NOS clean record, it was crystal clear. The light bulb went off. I believe you have to reach these people! That is your target customer. They WANT quality, they are willing to spend the money but are misinformed and misdirected. So I think you dont even introduce your products at first, maybe draw them into a website that teaches them how accurate imaged stereo is really produced, teach them a few things about distortion and the ear, and then tell why you're engineering is so great.
Hope this helps your marketing. Im kind of a windbag arent I? If you would indulge me one question: I would like to learn about electronics. On Amazon, they have lists posted by user's such as "So you'd like to learn how to understand power amps, and put them together" with a list of books they recommend. Could you do the same for some of us who havent a clue as to what you guys are talking about when you post schematics. I'd like to learn.
