Spence, et.al.,
Unless there are circumstances that I'm unaware of, that's kind of silly.
Thanks for the vote of support!
If you only knew what a small miracle those Timepiece 3.0s sitting in your living room really are.
But I don't think the real question is so much one of "knowing"...
For prospective future customers or anyone else that actually "cares," I'll soon be making a posting that will settle the matter once and for all. A "disclaimer" I'd guess you'd call it, but then everyone will know what to expect if they place an order.
I find it interesting that there are other very small "niche" companies that are known for building some of the highest performing equipment in the world that require payment in advance and have a waiting list for at least a year. Most often their products are built by one man working alone at a bench. The only differences that I see between us and them is that our products are much bigger and more difficult to build, we only (now) have 2 men and one woman (part-time) and they have been in business longer, thereby having greater name recognition than we do. Oh... one other difference, their customers - once convinced their product is what they desire to obtain - pay the money and simply wait.
I even know of one very well known speaker company (that most are familiar with right here on the circle) that often requires pre-payment for new (very high-end) products and end up having very long lead times - often well beyond their projected dates. This company is backed by an individual with "big money" and far greater resources, of which we could only dream of having. Our products are claimed by others to out-perform theirs virtually every time (as claimed by our customers that have heard theirs), yet... we continue to get a black eye due to delays and they seem to (as Ian Anderson would put it) "paddle right out of the mess" without nary a word spoken of it.
Yes... we have severely under-estimated lead times and the customer deserves to have honest and truthfull knowledge up front before making a purchase decision - this is and has been totally our (my) fault and failure. As I have repeatedly stated, in our (my) "ignorance" (I'm an engineer - I've never been formally trained in production management), we made a few errors in judgment early on that affected things for many months to come. None the least of these "errors" was an underestimation of the resources required. I have and still do struggle coming to terms with this issue as well. Baptism by fire I guess you'd call it, but we're a bit wiser now and my time estimates should start getting better. I'm not offering this as any form of excuse - just as the reason - for those that may care. In any case, I will soon make the posting mentioned above and then future customers will have the info they need before making a purchase.
But along the way... and I understand folks concerns to the contrary... it strikes me as rather odd that some folks just aren't picking up on what SP Tech is really all about. Review after review and comment after comment - claims are made that place our products beyond the fray - regardless of price - and in comparison we might as well almost be giving them away. You never see them for sale used unless someone is having financial difficulties or wants to move up to one of our larger products. Time and again folks continue to say "they were worth the wait." Heck, the Timepiece Minis alone (at $2,495.00) have been compared to speakers in the $10K range. We've even sold two systems to former customers (they are upgrading) that will retail for (yes, the price has gone up) $45,000.00/pair... and the design was nothing more than a concept on paper when they put their money down. Was that a matter of "trust" and keeping their "fingers crossed"? No... having already owned our products they KNEW what to expect. Oh... and did I mention that every pair is custom built to your liking if you so desire?
My point is that by now I would have thought more folks would have started picking up on the fact that SP Tech is building some of the best loudspeakers in the world - and at a fraction of the price others command for similar performance. In Denmark, Karsten's Revelation system has been auditioned and critiqued by a reviewer for one of the Danish magazines. In his opinion, the closest he's ever heard in performance was a Marten Designs "Coltrane" based system... that retailed for $500,000.00!!! Now... Karsten "may" have something like $30-35K in his whole setup and the reviewer believes it out-performs the Coltranes? This gentleman is so impressed that he's going to purchase a pair of Revelation Grand Masters (remember: never been built yet) as well - and I'm not stretching the truth one little bit.
So... time is money and money is time. If SP Tech had the financial resources we really need, we would be just as "fast" as the rest. If we charged what we "should" be charging based on the competition's performance and their prices... you'd all have gotten your speakers a lot sooner - if you would have been able to afford them at all. The question is: "How much VALUE do you place on your patience"?
But... SP Tech is small and most of you aren't either rich enough or willing to pay what we really should be charging for our products. The negative consequence for you is waiting longer for your speakers than would be the case with bigger, more well known companies. The negative consequence for us is slow growth... and more worry and headaches than most of you would ever put up with in your own life... or know.
phoenix_rising,
ooheadsoo,
Geardaddy,
lonewolfny42 &
Double Ugly,
THANKS!!!
-Bob
