"Official" Audyssey thread (FAQ in post #1) - Page 598

So that none of us overbid, what do those normally sell for?

Someone interested in bidding should first contact Audyssey and ask if they would sell them a license . . unles the kit is for the Sound Equalizer or a Subwoofer Equalizer.

Being such an esoteric item, I doubt if there will be many (any?) bidders.

I think the MSRP is $600, but I could be mistaken.

There is NO license needed for the sound EQ.
And a retail price of $2,500 for the EQ

What is the reason the stand cannot sit on the seat?

MSRP of $2500 for Un-Balanced Sound EQ
MSRP of $5000 for Balanced Sound EQ
MSRP of $??? for Installer Kit pre-v3.0
MSRP of $550 for Installer Kit v3.0 and above.

I would ask the eBay seller what exactly you are bidding on...

Jeff is right, just because you buy an Installer kit doesn't mean Audyssey will sell you licenses to calibrate hardware that requires them.

I'd contact the eBay seller first just to make sure you know what you are bidding on (pictures don't mean anything), then contact Audyssey if you need any further clarifications.

That's my $.02.

Well, obviously, it *can* sit on the seat , but there could be vibrations transmitted through the floor through the seat through the mic stand to the mic, or picked up through the air by the seat and transmitted to the mic that would interfere. And there have been those that sat mic stands on seats whose results were unsatisfactory, were re-done with a boom arm and subsequently yielded mo better results.

I'd ask for the kit number. Audyssey will have a record of who bought it and maybe some insight into its . . umm, provenance. Caveat emptor.

We are on the same wave length.

I was the one that requested a picture of the mic and pre-amp (with a shot of the serial number) from the seller that just sold the installer kit on eBay.

The last one someone posted went for $260: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEDWX:IT

The current ebay listing for the SEQ and Pro kit looks a bit suss to me.

The pro kit for $260 was a great buy (pity the seller wasn't prepared to ship intenationally).

For someone with zero feedback and who only became an ebay member about one month ago, they certainly have a lot of stuff for sale . . and expensive stuff at that. PayPal is accepted, so there's recourse through them. Still . . .

$260 for that kit was about right.

The Pro kit MSRPs for $550. That Pro kit was old, so the bidder would have had to pay to upgrade the software to v3.0/3.1 (another $150). So $260 + $150 = $410. Who knows what kind of abuse that Pro kit went through.

Not that it matters, but he did say it was brand new condition and never used. $150 for a software update!? Highway robbery.

Chris,
just posting this as a follow up to your clarification to me a couple of days ago, about the mid-range compensation option in the audyssey pro. Well, I am now trying it and I really like it.
My speakers are not bright at all by nature, and my room is very difficult, as an example I have a big Coffe table between the listening positions and the front speakers which spoils the sound.
The midrange compensation seem to clean up the top end beautifully and the sound is now extremely smooth and 'liquid', just as I like it, just as my old Kef beloved speakers used to be...talking about BBC....
Thanks a lot

I have learned to be skeptical when buying things off eBay. YMMV.

I said it was an upgrade, not an update. There is a huge difference.

v3.0 incorporated a lot of changes/upgrades over v2.5.

How much does it cost for upgrades to Microsoft Windows/Office again? Now we're talking highway robbery.

Highway robbery? This isn't something that's sold in huge volumes. When you deal with specialty software like this you can expect to pay a lot. Besides, if I'm not mistaken this is meant for a professional installer to use. Therefore it is a business expense.


$50 for Windows 7. Not to bad. I don't know about Office, but then I wouldn't purchase that for home, I'd use that in a business, where again, it's the cost of doing business. People have really gotten spoiled by low-end consumer software, open source apps and piracy. Good software takes a lot of time and money. And we developers don't work for peanuts.

Mini OT Rant - I agree, but that's a bad example Given the Vista debacle, MS should be giving 7 away for free and providing a refund for time wasted with Vista. It's sluggish, buggy - I cant even get the Vista screensaver to work for months despite following scrap of info I can Google.

Snow Leopard, however, was worth every penny

Mini OT rebuttal - With the higher cost of Apple computers, users have less pennies for an OS upgrade.

I was trying to be somewhat civil in my reply. Until Windows 7, Windows upgrades normally were > $100. Office upgrades were normally > $200.

Also, Audyssey's v3.0 upgrade 'works' and is a 'step in the right direction'.

FYI, I don't buy any Microsoft products unless they come OEM in pre-built computers. I have a friend that has worked for Microsoft almost since inception. All I have to do is email him and he sends me a retail box copy of whatever I want. I feel pitty for the people that actually had to pay for Windows Vista. Windows 7 should be a free upgrade, IMHO.

FWIW I'm upgrading from XP which itself was a cheap upgrade from 95 or 98. I think $50 or $100 for an upgrade from an 8 year old OS is just fine. But still, you all are talking about mass-produced, high-volume consumer software, in this case an OS even, and trying to compare it to a specialty low-volume application.

AutoCAD sells for $4k. If you're upgrading from last year, it's $500, two years ago $1k. Try handling that. Heck, Photoshop is $700 or $200 for an upgrade. MS is quite frankly charging very little for a complete OS, regardless of what you feel Vista is worth. Likewise $150 for Audyssey is nothing. I somehow doubt that Audyssey Pro is intended for the consumer market. The "Pro" in the name implies otherwise.

Of course it is for professional installers. Other than a few publicly accessible pages briefly explaining their installer program, everything else regarding it on their site is by login. But that doesn't seem to stop some from getting their knickers in a twist over an upgrade price that they'll probably never find themselves in a situation to pay.

The new Macintosh operating system upgrade was a whopping $29.

But the previous one was about 100 USD more. And though I don't have it yet (upgrading my iMac and MacBook to Snow Leopard being a next-weekend project) I believe that the 29 USD Snow Leopard requires Leopard to already be installed. Those still running Tiger need to spring for the box that I think also includes iLife and iWork.

The markets are also totally different. In this economy, with Snow Leopard being (according to what I've read) fairly incremental, Apple didn't think they could get away with a three-digit upgrade price. But Audyssey's market (I would guess) is more price-inelastic, and it would be hard to call features such as Dynamic EQ or the ability to draw target response curves "incremental."

I don't have a problem with paying for software upgrades (within reason; if I buy something new and then two months later I'm expected to shell out a significant percentage of the product cost for new software, that's annoying) because after all what makes something like a Mac or Audyssey what they are is the IP and a lot of that is represented in software.

After overpaying for the hardware, that's all Mac'ers have left for an OS upgrade.

But there's still hope!

Oops. Sorry. I was looking for the Audyssey thread. I guess I stumbled into the "Mac vs PC software upgrade cost" thread instead. Darn hyperlinks.

Hey leave Apple alone. The stock share price is keeping me comfortable.

As for Me, I didn't know vista was bad, I've only been running it for a little over a year though. I remember Windows now there was some bugs.

Ron

guys...this is the Audyssey thread

please keep it On Topic

thanks

Does having "Double Bass" on or off affect audyssey calibrations??

If not, what does everyone think about double bass? Is it necessary?

Also, do the "pure audio" or "direct" settings on my onkyo receiver disable my audyssey calibrations in any way?

FWIW I turned the phase on my sub to 0 and turned the frequency all the way up to 160hz before calibration.

Thanks