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Showing content with the highest reputation since 08/04/2012 in all areas

  1. 15 points
    Thanks to all that have chimed in on this one. I agree that our lead times have been excessive and are truly sorry for the delays. Just when we dig out of one delay we get right back into another. The current issues are multiple and are being worked through as rapidly as possible. Customers are currently being contacted about delays via phone (or email if messages are left). Now to address the overall issues: Adding employees... 2 new ones over the past month. Neither of which are office staff and are not currently building drivers. It is impossible to find skilled staff that can simply sit down and a build table and go. New staff is handling other aspects of production besides building drivers. They are already alleviating some back up. Need more machines... we just purchased another hydrolathe and will be receiving it later next week. While not an instant cure, it will go onto the shop floor and help our other massively overburdened hydrolathe once it is set up and dialed in. (These are the task specific lathes that run the profiles of all back plates and top plates) Our current one runs non-stop and is backed up. Need more customer service... Again, not the easiest of tasks. We have people tell us simply to hire teens to handle email and phones. Having this approach in the past set us up for significant issues. Only some of the emails are straight forward and can be handled by a tracking number or simple confirmation. Most emails entail something tech related as well and then need to be sent to someone that can handle them. The overall customer service need is for skilled audio industry individuals and not just a warm body. We are working on this one as well. Implementing a new email system will help keep track of emails/tasks that will let everyone quickly know if it can be answered by anyone or if it needs staff with a specific skill set. Seasonal... for us this is normally a busy time, but internationally as well as domestically we have be hit by massive orders. It seems that distributors have really upped the orders and we didn't see this coming. As Fi customers, distributors get put into line with everyone else, but when there turn comes... its a big turn. OEM... while most do not know, we do manufacturing for other companies as well. This normally isnt as big of an issue as we schedule most OEM runs ahead of time and can shuffle them around some when needed. But, OEM has exploded for some of our companies as well and when their turn comes, it takes a toll on the scheduling board. We have seen this coming and are working with our customers on long term solutions for their needs. This will greatly ease the increasing demand from our long term OEM customers keeping the Fi customers rolling along smoothly. And there are other issues that add up... I truly appreciate our customers patience for a quality US manufactured sub. It would be a simple solution to get speakers made in China or to have steel made overseas, but it truly goes against what I believe in (in doing as much work in house and supporting the US economy through manufacturing). In spite of this we are doing everything we physically can to up our efficiency and lower our lead times. I am disappointed too... but look at this as an opportunity to dial in our processes and streamline things for the long term. We are working hard in the meantime to get things back to our normal 10-15 business day lead time (and then back to the older 7-10 day time). Again, I do share your frustration, but thank you whole heartedly for putting your faith in us and our products. Thanks, Scott
  2. 11 points
    Oui, this is what happens when I only work on emails all weekend, take half a day off and not keep on top of the forums every 30 minutes like always. First off, this customer ordered a D4, as he said, for the first sub. When it arrived, he swore up and down that he got a D2 sub. Which by the way, had never happened before where a customer was sent the wrong coil, so it was VERY surprising to have someone say they got the wrong coil. Since he was so adamant about the wrong coil and has been accusatory from the get go, I assumed he was using a trusty DMM and was reading it correctly, I apologized for the supposed mistake of the build house, so for his second sub, we adjusted it to a D2 coil. So his second sub came and appears to be a D2 as ordered. For future reference, there are three different people who check or overlook the sub before it leaves the build house, so to say we have no quality control is clearly not accurate. There is markings on the box, the build ticket and the former, so it is HIGHLY unlikely that a sub would ever ship out with the wrong VC. Yes, we are a small brand, but clearly we have experience doing this and we have NEVER and I mean NEVER screwed over a customer and as explained and posted numerous times in a thread, if a mistake was made we have always worked to correct it asap. So for one customer to be claiming it happened twice, seems quite odd. As explained in this thread, the D4 coils have a resistance lower than D4, same with D2. The Gcon does NOT come in a D1 coil option as there are D1 coils for it. This is due to a number of reasons, power compression, impedance rise or box rise etc., so that the coils rest below the stated resistance and with natural rise will be closer to stated resistance. (Alton's explaination is much better then mine: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/topic/60275-two-new-ssa-subs-showing-diffrent-ohms/page-3#entry1020077) For example, if you get a D4 ohm subwoofer from a different brand that uses 4.0 ohm Re, after natural rise it will be higher than a D4. One easy way to know for sure is on each former, above the coil should be written in black sharpie, stating the voice coil that is on the subwoofer. As it stands now, with everything written out by the customer as the facebook messages did not contain all of this info, we can only assume that the first Gcon was a D4 as ordered and the second Gcon was a D2 as ordered. This may be partially my mistake as I did not ask for a photo of the formers from the get go, but I have never had to do that before. If the customer truly is the first one with wrong voice coils, we will clearly correct it, but if the first one was read wrong..... Side note, with SSA store rewards, the total was $444, not $457.
  3. 10 points
    Well this is odd. My parents called me from back home to tell me my package from SSA came some time last week; only I haven't ordered anything. A 15" DCON was sent to me at my address and I didn't order it. I went to the order status for my account to see if someone had hacked my account and ordered one and... sent it to my house?? But that wasn't the case. Order #5455 and order #5182 were indeed for 15" DCON's, but I've already received them a long time ago. Aaron, what the heck do you want me to do with this?! My old man opened it up and there was nothing on the inside of the top of the box (i was hoping for a receipt to be there). Thanks!
  4. 10 points
    Wow, I go out of town for an alumni event for the weekend, and BLAM! It should be obvious why I don't say what our costs are, but yes, they are drastically more costly to build our sub woofers here in the USA then overseas. It is a mixture of comical and frustrating when competitor's sub woofers that are built overseas. As mentioned earlier, there is few aspects that really effect our build costs that others are not doing. The CNC machining of motors/poles is a huge portion of our build cost per sub woofers. Many brands will just use nuts as spacers between the motor stack and the basket, but our sub woofers are using spiral axis cooling channels on the pole. This does a number of things for superior cooling of the coil, but that is a different topic, what maters here is the time and cost on the CNC machine for each one built. Because of that extra care, time and effort, it cannot be easily done in mass quantities. Also, when not turning a large margin on our products, it means we have less to play with when it comes to expanding our company. It does piss me off when some fool says our products are over priced, they truly haven't a clue and need to be slapped. People have been asking me for a number of years now why we don't have amps or a full line up of mid's and highs etc. This is because the standard now is for someone with no audio background, to just call up a build house overseas, use a credit card and a pre-order, and TADA with in 18-24 months they have a full line up of sub woofers, amplifiers and more. I don't want our brand to be like that. Sure, our growth has been much less rapid as all the new offerings that show up every year, and sure Mark and I are not putting anywhere near what we would like into our pockets due to the higher build cost and much lower volume of sales, but we have near-ZERO warranty failure, a very strong return customer base, and the assurance of one of the highest levels of quality of materials and performance from our sub woofers to every customer that picks SSA for their sub woofer needs. We are trying to take the superior, long term thinking approach to these other brands that show up out of no where, as there is much more time and effort invested into each and every one of our sub woofers. It means we are not killing it in the bank account or hitting the golf course in the middle of the day, or expanding into new major markets overseas etc.. One perfect example, was the beautifully explained break down of the Xcon above. In short, the CNC machining, the addition of a shorting ring (long coil, so inductance was brought down a little) and the much more steel used (instead of a simple triple stack), creates a better sub all around and that is a powerful piece of mind. It is a very good thing to know and to have, even if we are not making much from each unit sold. We run with a very low overhead and keep our expenses to a minimum. Having our sub's machined and built here in the USA (even using steel from California), just does not matter to the masses anymore. The wildfire virus of the American consumer, is the extreme short shortsightedness and only seeing initial price to them, and not the long term. It is more then about keeping more of the money from the purchase price here in the USA, it is also understanding the higher level of quality and performance they are getting. We do gain a number of customers who had a shorter then liked, life span of their prior sub woofer that was made overseas. So in short, to sort of answer the first question, the factors that go into the costs of our products: place of build (USA) {cost of labor etc.}source of materialsquality of materialsquality of partsextra steps taken for better performancethe details in many of the modelslow volume salesmade-to-order production
  5. 9 points
    While I agree there are some things purchasers in preorders have to deal with, such as the ETA being pushed back some due to customs or raw material outages, I think being given an initial ETA and then being told that there is an indefinite time frame for delivery is way outside of acceptable. We only have 1 side of the story right now, so it's tough to say.....but if they are waiting "indefinitely" for the price of Neo to drop back down to where they are happy with the profit margin then that is complete and total bullshit. They ran the preorder knowing the price of raw materials may change, they are liable to honor that preorder with a reasonable time of delivery regardless of whether or not they lose their ass on the deal due to the cost of materials rising. According to the OP it's not that they don't have access to Neo due to a lack of materials....they simply don't want to pay for it because it's too expensive and they'll either not make enough money or lose money. That's not acceptable. Build the subs you agreed and were paid to build. If that means you lose money because you made a bad business decision, then tough shit. Build the fucking subs.
  6. 9 points
    I wanted to say Thanks to Mark and LaFountain Designs for the hard work and awesome website he designed and did for me. We had a nice site for the last 4 years through someone else and wanted a change. Figured it was a good opportunity to work with Mark and since SSA and his other sites are so nice I knew I wanted to go this route. If anyone has a business and wants a new look definitely give LaFountain Designs a shot. Here is my site http://zoom-moving.com/
  7. 8 points
    saw this on facebook. Whats the eta and specs?
  8. 8 points
    Sometimes people just post what's on their minds. Maybe he wants to see if people agree with his decision? I donno. It's not annoying to me. Kyle, take your negative ass post somewhere else. Not every post has to have pics or technical info.
  9. 8 points
    They are getting old and can't run the business forever. So they were seeking someone honest and trustworthy to give the business to. Congratulations, you passed the test. You won Jake, you won! Now get in the Wonkavator and press the red button.
  10. 7 points
    When you know you're good.... I don't always model speakers, but when I do I already know what they are going to do. Stay loud my friends.
  11. 7 points
    Power needed to move the cone to xmax in a particular alignment is RMS power rating. The following is an example. Subwoofer A uses a 8 layer 80mm long coil that weighs 400 grams (total MMs). This sub takes 6,500 watts to hit 35mm in a 5 cubic foot box tuned to 32 hertz. Subwoofer B has the same T/S parameters but uses a 4 layer 80mm long coil that weighs 200 grams (total Mms). Due to the lighter weight this sub only needs 3,200 watts to hit xmax in a 5 cubic foot box tuned to 32 hertz. Couple this with the fact inductance will double with subwoofer A than sub B above 35-40 hertz. Sub B is not only as loud as sub A with 3,000 less watts it will be 2-4 DB louder above 40 hertz due to inductance. This means Sub A would actually need 12,000 watts to be as loud as Sub B on 3,200.
  12. 7 points
    JJ, I'm glad that you are excited about things and very passionate about speakers, I too was once like that at your age, but here's the thing. I've got close to a thousand emails to answer as I've had near next to no time to do any emails in weeks due to people being out sick, hurt, etc. I don't have time to answer hundreds of your questions a day, you have to take some initiative and read around the internet and educate yourself as I have told you numerous times. This is the do it yourself or "DIY" market where many things you have to read and figure out on your own. The information is out there and free for you to consult, you just have to google for it. If you keep sending the same email over, and over, and over, and over, and over it only makes the pile of email that I have to go through next week even bigger provided I'm not out sick with the plague that is going around the shop. My focus is on machining, building, and making things go out the door right now. Whether it be one handed, sick, hurt or whatever it is that has to be done. Filling orders takes priority over answering the hundreds of questions you have, I'm sorry I am not able to do that. Search around the internet...there's tens of thousands of hours of material for you to read.
  13. 7 points
    do you even own a evil? i find it funny you requesting something bigger .... when you have yet to own the biggest in the series....... come to think of it.. i dont even remember you running a Zcon. you can dislike this now.
  14. 7 points
    Benefit Raffle for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Raffle with all proceeds going to St Jude Childrens Research Hospital$10 a ticketSend gift through PayPal to Saint Jude Childrens HospitalOne lucky person will win a 15" SSA XCON D2Raffle will last one month and end on July 15th, 2013.Link to the original raffle: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/topic/58082-benefit-raffle-for-st-jude-childrens-research-hospital/-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raffle Each ticket will cost $10 each. A number will accompany each ticket you buy. Each number will be written on a bottle cap and placed into a jar. Every bottle cap will be the same size and shape to ensure equal odds for everyone. The deadline for purchasing tickets will be Saturday July 14th, 2013 @ 11:59pm. The next day, July 15th, I will make a video of the drawing and I will post it here on SSA in this thread. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to buy tickets Please send a gift through PayPal to Saint Jude Children's HospitalMake sure to send me a screen shot and the paypal confirmation number to deyoung86@gmail.comAn acknowledgement of the gift received will be sent and I will provide you with your raffle number/s.Please allow one or two days for me to respond. I will be updating the second post of this thread with a list of who has donated. If you prefer to be an anonymous donor please let me know.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Prize One 15" SSA XCON D2 http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/index.php/product-information/xcon.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital www.stjude.org The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first raffle did very well. Please support this great cause again and donate! Please share with everyone you know. Thank you -------------------------- People who have donated:
  15. 7 points
  16. 7 points
    no doubt if you ask him a technical question you will be ignored... and if you ask on a public place other then SSA your post will be deleted !
  17. 7 points
    Why do you want to put double rated power? Doing this, you void the warranty, and assume all responsibility for whatever damage happens. If you want to run something with 1500 watts, get something for 1500 watts. Pretty simple. You don't buy a sports car to pull a trailer do you? I'll give you a hint also; if the driver is able to handle a lot more power, it's simply because the driver has been underrated to begin with. The driver is made to handle 1000 watts, but the manufacturer rates it to handle 500 watts, then makes videos of it handling more power like it's some super woofer or better than other TRUE 500 watt drivers. People buy the bullshit, and buy the driver. That simple.
  18. 7 points
    I want to apologize to any of you who have tried to help me or if i offended any of you in anyway. I hate being wrong and was being bone headed because of it. Could you guys forgive me? I realize you guys know infinitely more about this kind of stuff than I do and instead of arguing with you guys I need to listen and learn so someday i can be in your shoes. so once again i'm sorry guys
  19. 6 points
    As a new company that firmly believes in proper testing procedures, and plans on expanding into amplifiers I would be interested if your product has been test benched against other industry recognized standards such as Audio Precision or Sound cube. Or better yet has ISO 17025:2005 certificates, or am I misunderstanding the nature of this product?
  20. 6 points
  21. 6 points
    Don't have an 'official' release date...we never have for anything and we never will. The tab that is on the website should be a bit of a clue. The reason there are a handful of people that have them and have put them up on youtube and what not was to do field testing to prevent any issues with happening with a few parts that we haven't used before. We got the information that we were looking for, made a few adjustments and they're about ready for release. I've had zero time to do any emails, office work, etc for the past week due to people being out sick and everything in the shop breaking at least twice. Photos have to be edited and put up on the site and then they will be released for ordering. Thanks for your patience and understanding!
  22. 6 points
    Truconcept v.2. PHd in douchebaggery.
  23. 6 points
    Alright so here it goes. As soon as I unpackaged them I saw the quality of these subs. Good solid construction, spiders, tinsel leads, everything seemed perfect. Currently, I am using two 15" Icons and tuned them really low at 27hz and wow, musical reproduction is amazing. Obviously, great output at the lower end and plays kick drums flawlessly. My girlfriend listens to some hardcore music, and these subwoofers easily sound the best and pick up on every note that should be played and dig down low on those bass drops. Overall, phenomenal subwoofers with both sound quality and output in mind. Id recommend these subs for anyone, the absolute best subwoofers iv owned for the money, and easily the best bang for their buck.
  24. 6 points
    Black Friday starts early around here this year! Enjoy savings from your favorite brands like you've never seen before. We will be adding products to the Black Friday page on our store all week, so check back every day for more sick deals to appear!!
  25. 6 points
    Having alittle fun behind my office on a Saturday Morning. Volume is about 3/4 since I'm just walking around at idle and not monitoring voltage although its not much a issue with this new badass alternator.
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