[TheChairGuy]

The past year has been mix of highs and lows for me with my company.....sales are the same the past 3 years which is very good given most businesses of all sorts are off these days.  So, that's the highpoint

The low has been two absolutely groundless lawsuits filed against us by larger, more diversified competitors.  We are the largest in what we sell, so #2 and #3 are in cahoots to drag us down in court and have found ambulance chasing attorney's willing to work with no retainer and for 1/3 of the supposed spoils in the end.

That's today's legal system in the US today...completely FUBAR'ed The goals isn't whether that either of our foes will win...it is simply grinding us down to a nub and bankrupted from paying lawyers. #3 has a long history of doing this to smaller foes. Unfortunately for both of them - THEIR business has fared much worse in this recession than ours have so we can fight them for perpetuity if we need to

Defending ourselves with lawyers costing $350.00 an hour with thousands of logged hours has been very costly....not to mention time consuming reviewing these lawyers work and listening to them suggestions and staying open-mined enough to offer up suggestions of my and my partners own. Truly this has cut into relaxation time for both of us the past year...and incomes as we fund these efforts.

One of the situations is near a close in our favor - and in ways that are entirely positive to us....we should know in less than a month.  The next lawsuit should be resolved by the end of October.

So, for much of the past year I have played very little vinyl and satisfied myself with background FM or digital simply to save time (my office doubles as my listening room so most of my listening is done daytime).  I haven't watched much TV or done many extra-curricular events the past year either...simply saving my company from piranha's has been the overriding focus 

This morning I felt the burden of the past year listed with the knowledge of at least one of these specious lawsuits will be dismissed in the next month and WE'LL be in the driver's seat on the future direction of how to handle the #2 aggressor who is on the losing end.  The suit from aggressor #3 is even weaker so October will be me with de facto relief of an outcome already known.

I switched on the system about an hour ago and instead of background FM I reached for Rumours (Fleetwood Mac).  Cleaned previously on the Nitty Gritty, LAST Preserved...I fired up the VPI Classic with Denon DL-160vdH on it.

In like 30 seconds I felt myself lean back from the computer where I've been hunched over for the better part of the past years (weekdays and weekends) and just relax.  I squared my chair in between the two Linaeum Tower speakers and just sat there for one and then the other sides to finish up.  Now that's a great album, but listening to it on vinyl on a decent system is like a religious event...complete with hairs raised and spirits soaring.  Seriously, it took my mind completely off the events of the day and year and made me want to write this spirited post at the Vinyl Circle (something a few of you may have noted my presence has been rather scarcer than previously 2005-2009)

Dang, vinyl is fine...Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea are now in concert. I mean, it's like I'm there in some small hall or venue and there are these two jazz legends playing for me and only me.  I hope the mood to play vinyl strikes me more as it once did as the stress fades and the sun shines into my life once again 

Thanks for listening/reading along with my vent and all.

John

[BobRex]

Good luck with the cases John, I hope both fall in your favor.

Yeah, it's amazing how music (played back properly on vinyl) can wash over you and help relieve stress.  Makes me wish I could install a system at work.

BTW - you haven't strayed, you were just diverted.

[DaveyW]

Hi John

We hear ya!
Life's highs and lows

Ride the highs and soften the lows with some vinyl therapy (plus a glass of whatever takes your fancy  )

Was listening to Bowie's Scary Monsters while reading your post John - quite apt.

Good luck re. the twin lawsuits.
May there be a vinyl resurgence in the JE household once this is all over.

Best regards
Dave

[TheChairGuy]

to you all this fine weekend, vinyl lads and ladies!

Good luck re. the twin lawsuits.
May there be a vinyl resurgence in the JE household once this is all over.

Quite likely, Dave...the last time I visited my local record seller was over a year ago now.  I gifted him a Magna Cart for his errands around his store which I'm sure he has put to good use 

But, I've been a no show for over a year since.

I'm about ready to make a trek there after too long a while

[etcarroll]

I'm about ready to make a trek there after too long a while

Have a blast!

[eclein]

John I got my first TT since I was a kid about a month ago and my 12 year old son summed it up best when he heard a record the other day for the first time in his life, "Dad? What is that because it sounds Freakin awesome man!!!!!!".......we are hooked as you may suspect! I had totally forgotten the exquisite feel and emotion that come forward and wash over us as we spin these evil money sucking bargains!!!!!
 Welcome home!!!!!!!!

[thunderbrick]

If you wanna name names, I'm sure we can be on the lookout for the scumbags and NOT buy their products.

Maybe write it up a review of audio tweaks?  You know, what carts are best for moving your precious amps?  Like "which cart makes my system sound better?"
 

[TheChairGuy]

If you wanna name names, I'm sure we can be on the lookout for the scumbags and NOT buy their products.

Maybe write it up a review of audio tweaks?  You know, what carts are best for moving your precious amps?  Like "which cart makes my system sound better?"
 

Ha no names needed.....their evildoings will be met with an equally evil end to them

Both companies aren't exactly commonplace names like a GE or Samsung or Coca-Cola in everyday life...but, in the Materials Handling (#2 foe referenced above) and Business Supplies/Office worlds (#3 foe referenced above) they are biggie names and are both probably 50 year old companies, well seeded into marketplaces. 

Each likely have sales over 8x + that of our company...we just happen to be the biggest at our niche of fully folding hand trucks. We're but a 10 year old upstart that has swiped the biggest market share of the fastest selling niche item in hand carts/trucks in decades.  There is a LOT of jealousy and hubris involved with these companies.

Victory in the end will be made all the sweeter because of the efforts expended in defense. 

Great to be back...Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage on now

[Letitroll98]

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.

by William Congreve, from "The Mourning Bride", 1697

[jimdgoulding]

Really sorry to hear about those kind of blues, John boy.  Greedy fuques.  Money corrupts persons with weak constitutions I don't give a shit what church they go to.  I recently heard an all digital system with a digital rendering of an analog recording that I had heard on my mate's analog system awhile back.  My friend's analog system was (he sold it all) very high class but his new digital system is over the moon, SOTA and then some with a new more expensive (30k!) and enormous high output SS amp.  No contest to these golden ears.  While the digital rendition had more detail than I thought ever possible, it lost some of the feel and beauty of the music to me.  Left me kind of cold.

Nice post, Let.  Super, in fact.

[neobop]

Hi John,
Seems like you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. I imagine you'll be able to recover your legal costs. Hope it turns out well.

Tough to relax and get into the music with something hanging over your head like that. Even being fatalistic, it doesn't just go away. Speak like a Child is a great follow-up to Maiden Voyage.
Enjoy,
neo

[lounge Audio]

You are ratteling the cages of the big boys. Hope you don't end up like Breath Assure. Stay the course!

Listen to RCA Orthophonic Mono's

[95Dyna]

Hi Chairguy,

I just did the same thing a couple weeks ago.  Ran my almost 35 year old copy of Rumours through the HW 16.5 and tossed it on the VPI Classic/Benz Micro Wood SL.  Wow!  Never heard it sound so extraordinary.  Sorry to hear about all your legal woes and am glad you're making good use of Harry Weisfeld's creation to mitigate them 

Bill

[TheChairGuy]

You are ratteling the cages of the big boys. Hope you don't end up like Breath Assure. Stay the course!

We didn't rattle cages, certainly not purposely so, we grew with a lot of focus on a small line of specialty product within the larger universe of hand trucks because we simply believed in its virtues.

We simply choose right - and executed well.

It's actually THEY that rattled OUR cage.  The mistake they made was that they saw a little canary inside that they thought they could squish out of existence...entirely missing the soaring eagle we had become

Vladimir Horowitz sounded stellar in the PM yesterday 

[pansixt]

Greedy fuques.  Money corrupts persons with weak constitutions I don't give a shit what church they go to. 

Amen!!!!

Good Luck John,

And it is amazing how any type or rendition of music can help at times.
No contest however, when it's a faithful vinyl rendition of some thing well done,
and well loved.

James

[Wayner]

Played a little Pink Floyd, Division Bell yesterday. It was great.

The jerks in the world will get their own dues, when the time comes. And, the time is coming for them, sooner or later. Time heals all wounds, but time also wounds all heals.

The illusion is for all of us, when we think of "justice" we think of the balanced scale. Nothing is farther from the truth. Criminals of all kinds, including white collar crimes, all have victims. In your case, it ends up in the cost of the product. The consumer pays for everything from theft to lawsuits.

Wayner

[95Dyna]

Played a little Pink Floyd, Division Bell yesterday. It was great.

The jerks in the world will get their own dues, when the time comes. And, the time is coming for them, sooner or later. Time heals all wounds, but time also wounds all heals.

The illusion is for all of us, when we think of "justice" we think of the balanced scale. Nothing is farther from the truth. Criminals of all kinds, including white collar crimes, all have victims. In your case, it ends up in the cost of the product. The consumer pays for everything from theft to lawsuits.

Wayner

Touche, Wayner. 

[TheChairGuy]

Double touché, Wayner !

[orthobiz]

As a doc, I'm not happy about frivolous lawsuits. They do say if you don't get sued once in a while, then you are just not busy enough!

Good luck,

Paul

[TheChairGuy]

As a doc, I'm not happy about frivolous lawsuits. They do say if you don't get sued once in a while, then you are just not busy enough!

Good luck,

Paul

I haven't heard that one, but something similar a Chinese associate once or twice said (dunno if this is originally a Chinese proverb or a semi original thought by him):

'if everything goes perfect - you're not growing your business fast enough'

It's an awfully perverse line of thinking that nonetheless brings solace in such times of turmoil in any business.