Quote:
Originally Posted by
thirdeye11 
I love how everyone is questioning the business methods here. "Why does Chad keep changing the product line?!" I'll tell you at least one of the reasons. He increases his customer base or target audience even further. DoingOK is proof positive of that. If Chad hadn't come out with 2 new lines, would DoingOK have bought 3 more subs from the existing (first gen) lineup? Chad just extended his product offering back to his existing customers by offering something bigger, better, and more impactful. I for one applaud his business sense, by continuing to push the envelope. As a business owner I would hope to always continue to improve my product offering as often as possible. It may be a new ID way of thinking (as opposed to the very consistent SVS who releases new products sparsely) but I see others who could benefit from these methods.
Introducing a new sub is perfectly understandable.
What seems odd, is to completely discontinue a successful line that compliments the new product, while filling a different niche.
Last year, when the old lines were eliminated, new models were introduced that were roughly comparable. If I remember correctly, there were some supply issues with some of the components, along with some other reasons for doing this. At the same time, some new products with 18" drivers were introduced. That made perfect sense, especially since we were told that the 18" drivers could do some things that the other subs couldn't, just due to their physical size. Quite a few of us jumped on these, and have been very pleased. I'm in this category. Just to be clear, the Phoenix is an amazing sub.
That brings us to the present. The amps have remained the same, so there doesn't seem to be a supply issue there. Maybe there's a reason for discontinuing the 18" line. There haven't been many (if any) reports of driver failures, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. They seemed to be selling well (there was no special sale on them at the end of last year, like there were with the 12" models). And almost all of the buyers seemed to be extremely pleased with them.
So, why discontinue all of them after less than a year? I can see eliminating the 12" in favor of the Empire, but the 18" would seem to offer a clearly different choice.
Again, it's Chad's business. Only he knows the sales numbers. He doesn't need to offer any explanation. But it does seem odd.
As an example, here's the kind of conversation these decisions produce:
"I bought a really fantastic 18" subwoofer last year."
"Which one?
"It's called a Phoenix, and it's made by Epik subs. It puts out some really powerful and impressive bass, and sounds fantastic in my room."
"Wow, sounds awesome. Where can I get one?"
"Well, uh, it's discontinued. They only sold them for about a year, and aren't making it, or any 18" subs anymore."
"Hmmm, must be really great, then. 
"
Again, I think the Phoenix is a truly fantastic sub and have no regrets in buying it. At the same time, it looks like Epik subs are designed as limited-edition, one-year runs, with little continuity or product line stability. There's nothing wrong with that, but it seems weird to constantly reinvent your entire offerings, rather than just work on continuously improving what you have while introducing some new products along the way.
One thing that doesn't seem to change is that Epik provides great products at outstanding prices. And that's the most important thing.
Scott
