[tarponater]

No information at this time. I saw a hand full of posts where @Erich H gave some stock updates and figured I'd start a thread dedicated to stock updates and any other information. Feel free to post anything that will help get the ball rolling. Also, Erich mentioned he has a hard time getting customers to post reviews on his site. Let's help those guys out with some reviews if yall get a chance.

There's a lot of information in this thread...

DIYSG Vortex 12s are up!

I forgot to mention that a new Concentric-8 is also 'coming soon'.

www.avsforum.com

 

[Teeeejay]

I don't need more speakers...
I don't need more speakers...
I don't need more speakers...........................

 

[asarose247]

@Erich H and "crew"
I've got to admit it's getting better (Better)
A little better all the time (It can't get no worse)
I have to admit it's getting better (Better)
It's getting better since you've been mine

commendably
persistent
professional
customer supportive /responsive

Love my HT8's in the mancave- stereo better than upmixing (yes the room is way too small)
if i didn't already have a bed layer of the 360CD's in the F15's and 5 x 88 Specials, I'd be worried about the upgrade mentioned - but these old ears may be maxed out . .
ROCK ON!

 

[TTBOOST]

Hoping titans are one of the products back in stock

 

[M4BGRINGO]

I have put up reviews for the products I could. It seems when they are not available he removes them from the website and we can't post a review. For instance, the Vortex-15's I just built. Can't put up a review on those.
Would be cool to also post pictures of our finished enclosures.
But, it almost seems Erich doesn't need help to sell his stuff, just needs ALL the parts for a particular product so he CAN sell them.

 

[hopefullguy]

wonder if once stock available shipping to Australia is possible. we dont get much diy here.

 

[Anthonyt22]

Im hyped. I have a small (12x17x9) room and i wanted something way overkill without compromising the sound quality.. are titans or 1299’s better for my lcr in this case?

 

[M4BGRINGO]

Im hyped. I have a small (12x17x9) room and i wanted something way overkill without compromising the sound quality.. are titans or 1299’s better for my lcr in this case?

I think either are good overkill.
I have an 18x12x8 room with 1099's in there, they get louder than I need. But, I also finished a pair of Vortex-15's which I have not listened to in my room yet.

I am only listening to music on my system.

 

[garychelette_9657]

I think either are good overkill.
I have an 18x12x8 room with 1099's in there, they get louder than I need. But, I also finished a pair of Vortex-15's which I have not listened to in my room yet.

I am only listening to music on my system.

I have the HT-12 for stereo use with 2-15" mid bass subs. The HT's are only powered with a Marantz NR 1200 w/

75 W + 75 W (8 Ω/ohms, 20 Hz – 20 kHz with 0.08 % T.H.D.)

Plays louder than I can listen to for any length of time!
'My room is less than 12' X 29' and a window AC unit to boot!
Not deaf yet!

Gary

 

[M4BGRINGO]

Not deaf yet!

Gary

You're not trying hard enough........

Just kidding. That is one thing we wo not want to lose, our hearing. My tinnitus sucks, but I can't remember not having it. It might save me from spending stupid amounts of money on high end speakers though, I can't hear the difference anyway.

 

[Erich H]

Here's where things stand right now just so we're all on the same page. This might be a long post...

Most people know that inductors have been out of stock everywhere for over 6 months which kept most kits out of stock. I still have some inductors on back order for almost a year! Every month I'd get a notice that delivery times were being extended by another 30 days or so. After a while it felt like we were getting the run around so I decided it was basically make or break time for the kits and we either find inductors from somewhere or the kits just have to go away. Picture a couple hundred pallets of woofers, tweeters, and flat packs just sitting because a $10 part can't be found. Luckily I've never borrowed money for any of this stuff so once it's here in the shop it can basically sit for a while and not cause me any financial issues. Stressful, but no financial worries.

Inductors were the biggest hurdle: MTG90 and I did lots of research on this for months. What's been learned is a bit interesting and will be talked about later. Long story short, I ordered samples from multiple manufacturers and MTG90 tested all of them. Issues: The current kit circuit boards were designed for specific inductor dimensions. So changing inductors meant getting all new circuit boards made up. So I also went hunting for anyone or any company anywhere that had the original inductors that could be bought. I found a company that had lots of them. This was just luck that it happened. I ordered some and immediately sent them to MTG90 for testing and we were good to go. This was about a month ago. Because they had so many, a couple weeks ago I decided to do something crazy and bought about $40k worth. They're basically packaged on a couple pallets and can be shipped next week.

The problem is obvious. Shipping by air can get them here in like 1.5 weeks, but the cost of shipping over a ton by air will be very expensive. Of course it might just add $4 to each kit, so maybe no big deal in the long run. Shipping by sea is a lot cheaper but would take over a month. I've got about a week to decide. Any ideas?

To get some of them here quickly I asked the company to send 30pcs of around six models by UPS. Shipping cost was $950! That's how the HTM-12, HT-12, and Volts came back in stock for at least a short time a week ago. Last week I asked them if they could take 50-100pcs of a few different inductor values off the pallet and ship by air. Basically the ones people needed for the Vortex and a couple other kits. They will be here next week.

My current decision right now is whether to ship the remainder by air of sea.

 

[Erich H]

Woofers: I have varying amounts of woofers for most kits. I didn't want to spend $100k on the custom woofers if we couldn't get inductors and other crossover parts. Inductors will be here soon, so some kits will go in stock but some will have limited availability until more woofers get delivered. In a way we're basically starting over on some things but at the same time making sure we build up certain inventory so this problem of relying on other companies doesn't happen again. Prices on some woofers have gone up and we (meaning all of us) should decide if some kits make sense to continue. I can talk about that later.

Speaker kits: We should talk about what kits to focus on bringing back on line. But here's a quick run down for some of them.

• S2000 and MTM: Should be back up very soon. At some point we might have to change to MDF cabinets due to Baltic birch supplies.
• Helix and MTM: Shouldn't be an issue keeping this up on the site.
• Apollo and MTM: More should be up in a couple weeks. Woofers are running low and I'll talk about the Anarchy's down below.
• Overnight Sensations and MTM: The parts on this kit increased by so much that I'm not sure it makes sense to do for much longer. The price of the tweeter really doesn't make much sense anymore. Last time I priced these kits they were over 25% higher for budget parts.
• Ion: Same situation. Two months ago the 4" woofer was cheaper to buy retail than wholesale. Woofer price went up over 38%.
• Speedster. Woofer went up almost 45%. I'm selling the kit without the woofer in case anyone wants to spend $78 on a 4" woofer.
• Volt-8: I have a decent number of these here and will probably look get a few different flat packs made up for these.
• HT-8: A good amount of everything, was just waiting on inductors.
• HT-10: Been gone for a while but will be coming back soon.
• HT-12: I've got around 30 left at the current cost. Woofer prices went up but might switch to a different model.
• Titan-818: These used a custom inductor that should be here in a month or so. The 18" woofer cost went up around $47. That $47 was used to cover "free shipping", so not sure what to do there. I haven't ordered the 18" woofers yet due to the price increase. I have everything else.
• 1099: We were waiting on crossover parts that should be here soon. Very few 10" woofers left. I'll be ordering more next week, but price went up on those as well.
• 1299: These will be making a comeback very soon. Waiting on the circuit boards. I have enough parts for a decent number of kits at the normal price but then more woofers need to be ordered and I have no idea what the price will be on those.

New kits:

• Cobalt and MTM: Coming back unchanged. MT in about a week, MTM in about 2 weeks.
• Cheap Thrills-12: Uses a beefy 12" buyout woofer from Eminence. Neo magnet, but I got the woofers for just under $100 each. Probably about 200pcs?
• HT-88: Waiting on flat packs. Circuit boards should be here in a couple weeks along with crossover parts.
• 88-Special: Same wait as the HT-88
• Concentric-8: These use a Celestion 8" coaxial.
• HT-6: Waiting for circuit boards.
• Helix Ribbon: This was Jeff Bagby's last speaker design before he passed away. I'm not really sure why I haven't put them on the site yet but will try to get that done in the next few months.

Other:

• There are more 2 channel full range kits being worked because I know we're behind with those. Those types of kits seem to have more demand and I've kind of dropped the ball there. Tower cabinet flat packs are kind of expensive right now for shipping, so I've held off.
• Volt-6" Price of the woofer portion went up a lot and actually cost more than the 8" model. Not sure it's worth bringing back.
• Volt-10: Used to get ordered a lot, then sales went down and most people I guess moved to the Volt-8. Not sure if these should be continued.
• HTM-12: I have about 30 of these left. The price of the woofer has gone up a lot and is now a decent amount more than the Deltalite used in the previous HTM-12. Might make sense to go back to the 12" Deltalite, not sure. Community should decide on this soon.
• Vortex-12/15: These always bum me out. One of the neatest projects I worked on but they never got ordered until they were clearanced at a loss. Now they seem popular. I would consider asking for prices and getting one of those models redone later in the year.
• Fusions: Jeff Bagby and I were going to work on remaking the Fusions into 2 way speaker kits. He passed away before they got started. I was looking back through our emails and found a few designs we worked on that used cheaper woofers. This was actually just before the Fusions came out. Debating what to do with these designs.

Flat packs: Baltic birch on the smaller kits will likely go away for a while and replaced with the normal high quality MDF. Out of 300, I have around 100 of the larger Cube-18 and Cube-15 Max cabs here. No price changes on what's here. My friend just finished packaging up around 300 of the new Cube-15 and Cube-12 Max cabinets. Those will be in stock soon. I've been holding the 6cuft baltic birch VBSS and 5cuft Baltic brch cabinets for the next run of Titans. Price will not change on the ones I have here but they likely can't be remade in Baltic any time soon. I have around 8 new smaller flat packs here, not listed on the site yet. Waiting for 88-Special and HT-88 flat packs.

Anarchy woofers: There could be an issue on these in the near future. These have always been priced at near break even costs and then a royalty to the designer. Well the cost to send a small shipping container has sky rocketed and those costs can't be divided out very well unless a large number of woofers is ordered. I normally just ordered 500-1000 woofers and it would add about $5-$8 to each one. The only way to keep prices down would be to order a lot more for the shipping costs to divide out good. Well that means 2-3000 woofers. That's a lot of money to spend on one product. Demand has never been super high, probably because I don't advertise or push anything.

Small parts like ports and waveguides: I've had more waveguides made up, but Covid caused shipping container prices to go insane. So I decided to hold off on shipping them until a full sized shipping container could be filled. This is being worked on now and I really hope it gets here in about 3-4 months.

Other buyout stuff: Cheap Thrills is done using a buyout 12". I've had a 15" woofer here from Celestion that could be used in a Fusion-15 type design. Not sure of demand. I've got some 8" octagon woofers here that could be used in a new design. Embarrassed to say how many. I've got some high end Motus woofers here that could be used in some high end 2 channel full range designs. The year before Fountek seemed to go away I bought around 3-400 ribbon tweeters because Jeff Bagby was going to work on some new designs. He got the Helix ribbon done before he passed away. I have a few other ribbon models just sitting here. Maybe they should be put in the clearance section? Not sure if anyone has design ideas.

 

[jcmccorm]

Thanks for the update Erich! And thanks for working out how to get around parts shortages!

As for shipping, IMHO, nobody is EVER gonna say "man, this kit was $4.00 cheaper yesterday. I'm out." So that's a vote for shipping via air and just passing the added expense on to the kit price.

 

[billqs]

Your prices are amazingly reasonable, and your quality is top notch. If you need to add a small amount to the cost of each kit, I'm certain it would not affect your sales at all. Given the current state of parts shortage and supply line issues, you might want to get the parts here quicker so you can bring your kits back online.

 

[Teeeejay]

Thanks for the update Erich! And thanks for working out how to get around parts shortages!

As for shipping, IMHO, nobody is EVER gonna say "man, this kit was $4.00 cheaper yesterday. I'm out." So that's a vote for shipping via air and just passing the added expense on to the kit price.

Agree with this take. I think most of these kits are such a bargain that even adding 20 bucks would still be a screaming deal.

 

[asarose247]

anyone not yet already a customer but lurking about and asking themselves "what if' / how about that? is already past the event horizon for being able to resist the plunge . .
it's pretty much all discretionary money . better stuff and sooner for a few dollars more,
after so much "overload" of the past few years
and exemplary customer service
you know you want it

 

[eriksells916]

@agree with Bill and TJ, $4 is no big deal plus I don't like what is happening here in CA with the port issues. Employee shortages and containers just sitting for weeks. Not sure where you are, but it might slow down your deliveries as well.

 

[Rebel975]

15x17 room. Titans for front left/right and a 1099 center, or 3x 1099's? Usage is 100% games and movies.

I don't have space for a Titan as a center. I need a horizontal center.

Main goal is overkill and preventing the "what if I had got x instead" feeling after purchase.


Oh, and I vote for slow shipping so I have money by the time the stuff arrives.

 

[asarose247]

^ impressive assembly for that size room, if not already decidedly encroaching onto overkill
calculating improvement as ROI needs more science . . .
DIRAC upgrade instead ?
room treatments? bass traps?

 

[Rebel975]

I've got Dirac and a treated room already. What's next?

I have floor to ceiling DIY bass traps in the back corners. I also had a trap going across the floor in the back of the rear. They're ~1' x 1 'x 8' cloth wrapped wood frames filled with squares of insulation. I never felt like they made any difference. I recently got rid of the one on the floor to free up room for more subs. Perhaps I used the wrong insulation, or they aren't big enough, idk. But they're already too big imo.

I've got a whole bunch of DIY acoustic panels with custom printed artwork all over the walls and ceiling. Galaxy patterns on the ceiling and movie poster style on the walls. These made an immediate and obvious difference. From going in to an echo chamber to a totally dead room. These work great.