I've been getting that question a lot lately. I'll take a few moments to try and answer some of those questions. Perhaps in doing so I'll give some of you a better picture of who we are and what we're all about.
Those who have gotten to know me over the last 10 years will tell you that I'm really very open about most things. Part of that is my personality. Part of that is due to the realities of interacting with people, and especially doing business over the Internet. I think it's crucial to be transparent and brutally honest - especially when things begin to slip sideways on you as they sometimes do. I've often said that the issue isn't that something went wrong, the issue is how it's handled when it does.
I started Shamrock Audio in 1993 due more to circumstances than any malice of forethought. My mother had a series of TIA's (mini strokes), and my wife and I needed to help deal with that. It became apparent that I would need to be at home and so I thought it would be a good idea to take my beloved hobby and turn it into a business. One thing lead to another, and in March of 1997 we launched our web site and introduced our Eire speaker. The Eire has been reviewed 3 times, all very positively. In fact, since introducing the Eire, we've only had one set returned because the client didn't like it. That's a pretty good track record I think.
There have been lots of things we would have liked to have done both in our products and in our business that we've been unable to do. Sometimes, it just takes a bigger company with greater resources to accomplish certain things. Unfortunately, when opportunities came along that would allow us to grow, it was at the expense of my values and principals for operating the business. In short, we would have become nothing more than a toaster-maker driven to produce profits for our real customers - the investors. In the end, I just couldn't bring myself to go there and do that. Current circumstances may well change all that, although nothing is written in stone.
Obviously, there's not much I can say publicly. I can say that if things go well, it will be more than worth the wait for all concerned, especially our customers. Thanks for hanging in there with us while we work all this out!
So what's in the works? Several things. I have always insisted on making our products the very best, rather than making them to be "good enough". Because of that approach, we avoid the continuous "upgrade" cycle that many other companies seem to thrive on. Take the time to do it right the first time!
Eilish
Okay, vaporware at its finest. It's the little things that are driving me nuts on this system. First, I've never been a real fan of rear-ported speakers as it makes the placement of the speaker more critical to performance than a front ported system, and I've never liked the way they integrate with the rest of the system. Yet, in many ways that's the best fit for this particular system. I'm just not satisfied that it's as good as it could be if it were front-ported. Our goal for this speaker is to be one of the best little speakers available in its price range - period! With a target price of under $500 per pair (including domestic shipping), that's no small undertaking!
Keelin
The Keelin is the MTM version of the Eilish. While not as far along in its development as the Eilish, the Keelin promises to be a very good performer in its own right.
There are other systems in development as well. Much of what we're doing must wait until the other issues are more fully fleshed-out. However, both the Eilish and the Keelin will open the doors for folks to try our products and see what we're all about for much less money than our Eire.
All this isn't happening as quickly as we would like it to. For that I apologize. I wish I could tell you all that is going on here, but that's just not possible. I can tell you with great confidence that there is no one more anxious than I am!
