What's missing in this industry?

[Nikuk 1]

yet when u can buy a memphis m3 sub for about 1/3 of the price of an authorized shop..who cares about warranty. u can buy three subs for the price of one.

Good damned point.

[ANeonRider 3]

All great points guys, and I agree whole-heartedly.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

  R U paying attention Ryan, looks like a good buisness plan is being laid out right in front of you 

And I know all about Zed. But that is only one company. Good points here and a great discussion so far.

[Luke (Uof I) 0]

What I often see lacking is business sense/experience/professionalism. A lot of companies are started by engineers and enthusiasts that are usually either incapable of successfully running a company or at least hampered.

I have no qualms with the way pricing has worked out as it just reflects the market. The margins are similar to other consumer electronics and in most industries as the price level increases the margin % also increases e.g. a product that costs twice as much probably doesn't cost twice as much to produce. Someone mentioned trying to undercut larger companies but then again if you made an amp that cost half as much as a Zapco and said it was as good as a Zapco, who's going to believe you?

My last note is that I think some buildhouses could improve quality and quality control. Some could probably benefit quite a bit from Deming's principles.

[Impious 1,476]

*raises hand*  off to find out more about zed...

www.zedaudio.com

Run a search over on ECA. Stephen Mantz actually posts over there sometimes, and there is a TON of info on their amps over there.

[Impious 1,476]

BYW *raises hand*

now Who read all of the above?

*Raises hand*

and... Ryan, I'm down.

x2

[Supa_c 1]

Read it Nick

[djjdnap 78]

i havent read all of them, lol.

But i agree the net is better at getting in touch wt people, i mean i sent the same email to like 8 diffrent audio companies trying to learn more about thier bussiness. And it took me less than 10 mins.

1 company said if i was ever in town he would take me out to lunch and talk to me, lol, talk about cutomer service.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

(raises hand on all rants) I have to say this is the best topic in a while, some excellent points and one heck of a constructive discussion, shows what kinda seriously well rounded members here, (no kent I am not calling you fat)

but yes Zed is an awesome example, on a side note would you guys want me to approach them about seeing if they would like to host an online forum here on SSA?

[Supa_c 1]

I dont see why not.

But they arent too too popular

[Chevy350TPI 12]

I dont see why not.

But they arent too too popular

Perhaps we can help them along a little bit

[finebar4 0]

I dont see why not.

But they arent too too popular

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Perhaps we can help them along a little bit

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excelent idea, he has my vote Just nobody let hin know abut the US Amp affiliation :ph34r:

[mrray13 30]

seriously well rounded members here, (no kent I am not calling you fat)

but yes Zed is an awesome example, on a side note would you guys want me to approach them about seeing if they would like to host an online forum here on SSA?

how in the hell did i get that honor?? u know what?? i'm fixin to turn into that damned pirate tom keeps suggesting i am..where's my damn gun?!?!?!?

but in all seriousness..two things,

1) denim has a good point about the discussion..whichis why i love this place...

2) approach zed....i think that would be killer!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[flakko 1]

seriously well rounded members here, (no kent I am not calling you fat)

but yes Zed is an awesome example, on a side note would you guys want me to approach them about seeing if they would like to host an online forum here on SSA?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

how in the hell did i get that honor?? u know what?? i'm fixin to turn into that damned pirate tom keeps suggesting i am..where's my damn gun?!?!?!?

but in all seriousness..two things,

1) denim has a good point about the discussion..whichis why i love this place...

2) approach zed....i think that would be killer!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NOT....YET...

[Tirefryr 1,742]

seriously well rounded members here, (no kent I am not calling you fat)

but yes Zed is an awesome example, on a side note would you guys want me to approach them about seeing if they would like to host an online forum here on SSA?

how in the hell did i get that honor?? u know what?? i'm fixin to turn into that damned pirate tom keeps suggesting i am..where's my damn gun?!?!?!?

but in all seriousness..two things,

1) denim has a good point about the discussion..whichis why i love this place...

2) approach zed....i think that would be killer!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

NOT....YET...

YEt. . . Now. . . .

I think this is a good idea as the core of our manufacturers are internet-based and relatively small. The amount of knowledge on here is really overwhelming and having Stephen around would be awesome.

[flakko 1]

oaky then... nvm

[Tirefryr 1,742]

oaky then... nvm

This place is mature enough to support more than one manufacturer.

[finebar4 0]

Ryan.

After reading the rants, I soooooo appreciate this board for what it is..... a no BS collective of minds here to help each other out, not here to see how many attacks we launch a night. Steve would be a great and welcome addition to this board. If we can't get the big companies to hear us, maybe the smaller ones round here will pick up and run with this. Wish I had the venture capital myself to fire something up.

[Fonzi 3]

I agree with everything said!

Zed would be killer!

I think this industry is lacking competent people in the store fronts, it sucks a lot of people that dont know about the internet have to walk around misguided, or only clued in on what their local shop sells. The sales force at local shops may know thier products well but dont have a true passion for this industry enough to know about this whole "online world"

I was at a wedding today, and a guy there was from Tampa Flordia. He worked at a store called Sound Advice, they sold upper middle stuff, xtant, eclipse, kicker, JL, Alpine. He knew his chit within those product lines, but when I said RE, DD, Sound Splinter, etc...he looked puzzled. He knew about TC sounds but SS was a mystery to him.

I just wish all the sales force took car audio as seriously as we do and didnt just take it as their summer job they happen to get. If this was the case then we wouldnt have kids running around saying their Mtx 6000 series subs are the second best you can buy and only the 9500 series is better.

I dont know about some of you but Im not a big fan of going into a lot of random audio shops because I hate the hassle. I hate the pitches, I hate that when I talk about what I have, they say their 199.95 Kicker comp VR is a SQ sub and its worth every penny. I understand the why prices are like that but I just cant stand the inhernt lack or wrodly car audio knowledge they have.

Another thing we need are decks with big ass 100x4 amps built into them so we can run all of our internals on that and just worry about a sub amp

Oh and Wireless components would be cool too

j/k on the last two!!

[flakko 1]

^^^ x2 thats y im tryin to get a certain someone to sell online.

[finebar4 0]

Fonzi, funny u should mention Sound Advice. They have been in buisness for years, bought my very Punch 150 from them in '86 in Sarasota, FL. They used to (and probably still) sponser a few Iasca shows around FL and GA, which is where I cut my teeth back in the day. But to your main point, I HATE when the sales staff has absolutely no clue about the products they carry or any of the other brands they don't. Obviously they are going to pitch what they have, but when you ask their opinions on how x compares to y, they have never even heard of y.

[EFFENDI 0]

Glad I got my internet back... great discussion here, and I agree with a lot of the points made here...

One thing I would like to bring up, is the lack of industry standards for quaity and procedures of installation/fabrication.

Sure we have the MECP, but that is really not a true rating system for quality of someone's work, just knowledge, and that certification has no bearing on their applied skills.

Most every other trade has codes and standards to which they must adhere to, before their work is done, it has to be approved by an inspector (Plumber/Electrician), yet the car audio industry has nothing like this. Car audio installation is just as much a trade, and combines a myriad of skills, so it is even more important to have a set of standards.

I think that shops owe it to the consumer, and to themselves (to stay in business), by organizing and creating an industry standard for installation. I am not opposed to paying someone else to do the work, especially when they are "supposed" to be an expert, but since there are no standards, many of us are hesitant to even go into a shop, let alone give them the keys. Therefore, we are practically forced to install everything ourselves if we want to maintain any level of quality or standard for an install.

On another note, I am glad to see that the industry has made what I consider a large stride to implement industry-standard amplifier ratings, with the CEA-2006 specification, but it seems that only the larger companies (JL/Kicker/MTX/Alpine/RF/etc.) are using this standard. I don't know if there are high costs associated with getting approval or what not, but it should be something that every manufacturer adhere to.

However, there is yet to be established a truly comprehensive, industry-standard system for rating driver performance.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Fonzi, funny u should mention Sound Advice.  They have been in buisness for years, bought my very Punch 150 from them in '86 in Sarasota, FL.  They used to (and probably still) sponser a few Iasca shows around FL and GA, which is where I cut my teeth back in the day.  But to your main point, I HATE when the sales staff has absolutely no clue about the products they carry or any of the other brands they don't.  Obviously they are going to pitch what they have, but when you ask their opinions on how x compares to y, they have never even heard of y.

Sound Advice. . . They had a small extension store up here in Warsaw, IN. It really was the best shop around, but they only lasted a few years. If I recall, isn't that where Dave Rivera started out?

[Fonzi 3]

On the converstion on manufaturing costs. IF one of the guys at sound device dressed their whole car with certain companies they would get about 70% off of Retail. They also didint have to put any stickers on their cars. He said kenwood was one of the compaines that gave this promotion.

He said the one in Tampa area is closed now or drasticly reduced.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

seriously well rounded members here, (no kent I am not calling you fat)

but yes Zed is an awesome example, on a side note would you guys want me to approach them about seeing if they would like to host an online forum here on SSA?

how in the hell did i get that honor?? u know what?? i'm fixin to turn into that damned pirate tom keeps suggesting i am..where's my damn gun?!?!?!?

but in all seriousness..two things,

1) denim has a good point about the discussion..whichis why i love this place...

2) approach zed....i think that would be killer!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

NOT....YET...

don't worry flakko, I have not forgotten, I crossed my fingers in hopes that you might have some good news

and in addition I think US Amps and ZED Audio attract different customers, but I could be wrong because I like both companies