Friends,
Within the last few days my gmail connection has been down and I haven't been getting any emails. Therefore I thought the best way to make contact and update those of you that are waiting on your orders would be to make a posting here.
Added to the above, I really haven't had the time to troubleshoot the problem. It may be relatively simple to fix, but as you will see, I've been VERY busy. The fact is, I have suddenly and unexpectedly been "thrust" into a new and very important project. Timing was not good for me in this new effort, but then it hasn't been for some time anyway.
The upshot is that a yet "un-named" company has commissioned us to design (from scratch) and manufacture a new speaker for them. This opportunity came out of the "blue" and due to the request/need of one of their large distributors; a very short development time was allotted. In fact, we've had less than a month to accomplish this goal and deliver the first production batch to this distributor. Needless to say, I have been literally working around the clock to meet this deadline.
Just so you all understand, this project offers us the opportunity of a large, ongoing source of sales and income. The company that will be marketing this design has distributors worldwide and the expected volume is not trivial.
OK then… as most of you already know, Aether Audio has assumed the responsibility of fulfilling all of (the now defunct) SP Technology's old speaker orders. As such, there are several of you that are still waiting to ultimately receive your speakers.
Although many of you do know, for those that don't I must add that the new Aether Audio has no other investors to support this ongoing effort. In fact, I was forced to file for unemployment insurance for the first 10 months of 2009. That alone should give everyone some idea of our resources.
As it stands therefore, we are essentially "alone" and our only means of guaranteeing that every old SP Tech customer receives his speakers is to continue selling new product. For the time being, all profit from any new sales is diverted to complete the older orders. Rest assured, not a dime of profit has or will go into my personal pocket until every last customer has received his speakers. Added to this, as I have shared with those that have been waiting, I will not cease from working and using every resource at my disposal until every one of those orders has been filled and shipped.
In light of this commitment, I am at times forced to make decisions that will affect those that are waiting. In reality, the only significant result of such decisions is that their wait time may be extended a bit longer. This most recent speaker project is therefore a prime example. Due to our financial need for continued income, this project has delayed the shipment of 5 loudspeaker (2 of which are warranty returns) and 2 Black Box orders by about one month. These orders were either finished or almost finished when this new project was suddenly presented to us.
We regret being "forced" to make the decision to delay completing the above-mentioned orders, but "the needs of the few out-weigh the needs of the many." You see, we have two very large orders for Revelation Grand Masters that were taken under the old SP Technology banner. Seeing that these two orders only made it to the beginning stages, should Aether Audio fail as a business these customers may be many years awaiting completion of them – if ever. These two customers have at least $10K each invested that they might never see returned to them. Therefore… Aether Audio MUST survive and I must make whatever decisions I deem necessary in order to improve the odds thereof. At times that may mean the TEMPORARY delay of the next order in line so as to make time available to whatever generates new income.
Nevertheless, we are now about to ship this first production batch and fortunately, virtually all of the initial design work and tooling has been completed. Therefore, we can now delegate the majority of production tasks for that product to new laborers, which will once again free up my time to resume completion of the previous orders. In fact, 3 of the 5 speaker orders are almost ready to ship and both Black Box orders will only take a day or two to complete once work resumes on them.
Finally, once the above orders ship we then only have the two Revelation Grand Master orders that represent those from old SP Tech. A few new speaker orders have come in recently under the Aether Audio banner, but they are smaller and already well under way.
The "good news" in all of this is that this new project is based on enclosures that we are out-sourcing, so a minimal investment in machining and fabrication is needed to support their production. That being the case, approximately 85% of the production tasks for this product can be delegated to relatively unskilled laborers. That being the case, the three primary entities of Aether Audio (myself being one of them) will be free to work on other, more demanding tasks and the production of the other models.
Also, there are two other very positive spin-offs that have resulted from this new project. The first of these is that this project represents an ongoing and relatively dependable source of income for Aether Audio. This all but guarantees our survival and ultimately the completion of every old speaker order. It will also likely allow us to advertise for the very first time. Secondly, there is a technology spin-off as well. In my research, a new development has resulted that is nothing short of amazing and truly represents an industry "first." I cannot speak to the nature of this development at this time, but rest assured it will affect all future product production and in most cases will be backwards compatible to the majority of units in the field. Once this "un-named" company has launched their marketing efforts for this new product, we will then disclose the nature of this development.
In the mean time, we beg your infinite patience and sincerely thank those of you that have tarried with us through this transition to Aether Audio. Please rest assured that we are working as hard as we can to deliver your order and to secure your investment. Furthermore, those of you that have already invested in a SP Tech product or those that are considering investment in a new Aether Audio loudspeaker, you can be sure that we will never rest in our efforts to improve delivery times, advance the state of the art in loudspeaker performance, and to make such advances available to owners of previous product.
Take care,
-Bob
