The big ID discount question... Rythmik, SVS, PSA and HSU.

Originally Posted by dstew100 

You have to realize these ID brands don't have the huge mark up the big box store brands have so you're not going to see monster price slashes. Their focus is performance at VALUE. When you see free shipping and such, it's still all wrapped into the price, it's just how it is presented to the consumer (shipping 100+ pound subs is not cheep). I suspect working within that profit margin is a very delicate balance and doing it successfully is not nearly as financially rewarding as we'd like to think. I met the successful Mark Seaton and Jeff from JTR at a sub GTG. They came themselves to share their knowledge and products and were very down to earth, enjoyable folks. They didn't strike me as CEO's of multinational conglomerates with 20 thousand employee's (15,000 sales, 4,000 marketing, 900 senior management, 80 interns, 10 customer service, 8 product assembly, and 2 engineers in charge of sys admin also). These fellas don't have 5 personal assistants and 30 vice presidents as far as I could tell.



Can't speak about the other brands but I can speak to the Rythmik. Rythmik keeps the shipping cost separate, so when they offer free shipping on a product it is truly a sale and not marketing trickery BS. As mentioned earlier in the thread they offered free shipping on the FV12 for awhile, I suspect they were trying to move some extra units to make room for the just introduce LV12R. The LV12R has an introductory price of 549 for the first two months then it will go to 600. The constant sale you get from Rythmik is the multi sub discount. When buying multiples you get 10% off each sub. They will honor this even if you buy the second sub later (mine were ~6 months apart) so essentially I got 20% off for the second sub on the loyalty discount. Also they look to provide value. After the 600 watt FV15HP was out a long time Rythmik found they can offer a 550watt version at $100 less which is less than a .5db decrease in SPL. That's just smart savings and good business for them to put in the effort to come up with that value oriented offering.

So in summary you will occasionally get a product specific discount. They offer introductory price discounts on new products (not sure if it will always be like that). They look to offer and improve value on their products, and they have a multi-sub / loyalty discount.

Originally Posted by Prime316 

I wonder about the not having a large markup part. May not be quite as large as retail but how much do you think a retailer would really be able to sell a PB13 Ultra for? I don't they would price it much higher than the $2, 000 already being asked for it. I also think there is a lot of overhead being saved with ID. I could be totally off base of course. Make that off bass. lol

I think you are onto something here. I do believe that ID brands eliminate some of the middleman markup, but who's to say that the ID brands are not just adding that same markup to their subs?

Personally I prefer the ID model as I like buying directly from the manufacturer. I do feel that ID brands typically offer more bang for the buck and tend to have superior products vs their competitors, but it is not always the case.

Look the the Klipsch 12D when it is $299 at Newegg. I can't think of an ID sub that can match the performance for the money.

Originally Posted by Prime316 

I wonder about the not having a large markup part. May not be quite as large as retail but how much do you think a retailer would really be able to sell a PB13 Ultra for? I don't they would price it much higher than the $2, 000 already being asked for it. I also think there is a lot of overhead being saved with ID. I could be totally off base of course. Make that off bass. lol

Originally Posted by Snowmanick 

I don't know about that. Just taking a quick tour of some of the bigger names in B&M stores (and not looking at the ultra high end $$$ makers like Wilson, etc)
All prices MSRP (street is probably much lower)
Kef
Model 209: $15,999
Model 208: $7,500
R400b: $1,699

B&W
DB1: $4,500
ASW12CN: $2,000
ASW 610SP: $1,599

Velodyne
DD18+: $4,999
DD18+: $3,999
DD12+: $3,399

JL Audio
Fathom F113 (gloss): $3,700
Fathom F212 (gloss): $6,300

I'm not picking on any of the above, but if looking at various performance criteria, subs such as the SVS Ultra, Seaton SubM, JTR Cap, and various models from PSA and Hsu all compare favorably, at a significant discount.

Originally Posted by Prime316 

I ask this because I honestly don't know. Are any of the subs we buy from svs, psa, hsu, or rythmik equal to or better than most of those listed? I want to be discussing apples to apples. Many DYI'ers claim to be able to easily beat ID prices so there is still room to come down on a lot of the subs and still make a profit.

Originally Posted by Cowboys 

Here is a $100 Off:
https://applynow.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=DWXH&CELL=6H8X&AFFID=NKa3hZyYoHA-DJQz0TPNLcrhcBOEiuflFA&pvid=VVJGc3Rnb0JDamNBQUJFVzRGVUFBQUpW&jp_cmp=cc/271117/ext/4-10004426/na

Originally Posted by Newbie01 

Hi all...

Given the major ID brands of Subs: Rythmik, SVS, PSA and HSU... Are there times of the year where they have deals? Do some never discount?

Given the quality these guys put out...I think I would be happy with any of their subs but Papa likes a gewd deal!

So...was wondering if they discount these at any set time of year, its random but they do discount or they never discount their already great prices.

Originally Posted by Snowmanick 


As for profit, I don't expect anyone to run a charity. Materials, R&D, labor, packaging, shipping, veneering/finishing, QC, marketing, overhead, credit card/paypall fees, web server/site fees, etc., all come into play.