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Hi there,I'm an electronics designer and am looking for some statistics on whether it'd be worth my while to build a stockpile of custom power amplifiers for private sale. I can offer the best wattage-per-dollar rate on my 'Commodious' model. It's approximately 1800Wrms into an 8 ohm load, built into your standard rack-mount enclosure, and is comparable in quality to many of the top major brand name amplifiers. The asking price will be about $500 CANADIAN, a more precise number will be available once I've received some response. The Commodious is a lightweight 120V amplifier, complete with adequate heat-sinking, and cooling fan.
Other wattage handling is available upon request, and the price will adjust up or down accordingly. A complete price list will be available in time.
Any positive response or interest inquiries will be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.
Follow Ups:
1800 watts rms into 8 ohms for 500.00?Thats a hard to believe price for an amp that powerful
I would question quality at that kind of price
I wouldn't question the quality.Assuming that the 1800w into 8 ohms Bryan is talking about is 1800w x 1 at 8 ohms (Bridged), it is easily sellable at $500 with a decent profit.
The BOM (Bill of Materials) cost of these amplifiers is not as high as one would imagine considering the price points of Crown / QSC. (The BOM cost would probably be lower for them), but they have way higher overheads. Add the BOM cost with a manufacturing base in Asia & and I could (happily) ship these amps to a US address in $500 including shipping cost.
Quality / Reliability:
- protections of all sorts - Overload / Overdrive / Short Circuit / Overheat / over voltage / over current...
- built in limiter
- 3 year warranty
- Plug-in Modules for replacement (someone talked about a 30-second on-site repair time - he's obviously talking about computers - it takes a little more than 30 seconds to screw out & in 24 output transistors on a heat-sink).
- quality - comparable to the best.And the same goes for Speakers.
Someone would think i am trying to turn the tables my way, sitting here in asia (I am American), but I guess my question is the same as Bryan's - Any takers?? (and there's not been any reply to that original question)
I'll ask some questions that will need answering, IMHO:* Who's your target market and what are their price points?
* What assumptions are you making about the applications they will be used for?
* What differentiates your amps from someone like Crown/Behringer/Mackie, etc? Why would I buy a lesser-known brand name?
* What kind of support will you provide if I decide to put these into a 'production' environment such as a PA system for a NASCAR race track or a disco/DJ environment? Can I swap modules quickly? What kind of overdrive/shutdown protection will they have under these applications?
BTW, I'm not trying to be stubborn here, but I have sold my share of highly capitalized computing systems, data centers and disco/consumer gear over the past 35 years to know that these sorts of questions will pop up as you get into your project. Without a clear message it will be hard to justify almost any price you ask.
Hope that helps a bit....
Cheers,
Quoting Doug Hall (copied from IEEE Spectrum, Aug'06):
(notes are from me)
"
There are 3 laws of what i call marketing physics, 3 things that do matter.The first is "overt benefit", which, in consumer's words, is What's in it for me ? .
The second is "real reason to believe," which translate in consumerese to "Why should I believe you ?"
The third is "dramatic difference" which translate in consumerese to "Why should I care ?"
The classic mistake that engineers make is to talk about features, not benefits.
Engineers will talk about the technology, and assume that people will know why it's important and believe that it works note1 .
But it doesn't work that way.
The job of marketing is to communicate the wonders of the products or service in a way that consumers can understand. note2
It's not very difficult, it's way trivial compared to the technology stuff !
But people need to have absolute clarity about what their message is:
- what's the benefit?
- what's the reason to believe?
- what's the dramatic difference?
And if you are not dramatically different , give it up. You have a commodity, and you're going to sell it for commpodity prices note3 .
"note 1 read for example doodlebug's concern about using your gear in a pro venue where continuity of service is of uttermost importance, because pros earn money thanks to the combination of their skills and their gear, and field MTTF of the whole sound system has to be shorter than about 30 seconds (MTTF= Mean Time to Fix).
Other concerns maybe. Brown-out tolerance. Vibration/shocks. Ease of access to fuses/breaker in the middle of a venue, would a mains surge trigger them. EMI/RFI (dozens of customers are using their cellphones jut below the racks...). Able to work,even at reduced power in case of fan failure..... Many things this way. I won't do your homework ;-))note 2 About what people do believe and do understand, you should visit Propeller Head Plaza, the Cable Asylum, the Tweak Asylum.
You'll have to admit many people work on a completely different paradigm that we designers/engineers do. The wallet is theirs.note 3 The price you ask for is a commodity. But if you own a bunch of Third-World originated slaves in your basement, you're likely not to be able to make any profit with such low a price. Even with your slaves: you have to count for the compoents themselves, their machining, also the price of the 2 or 3 prototypes you built, the first to make your design work fine, the others for the certifications and long term field testing note4 .
Your price is way too low .
Obviously, with an higher price, the third question above is acuter.
Ask you the question whether you asked for such a low price because you knew that question 3 was a yet unsolved issue? So, my advice: solve the issue, and get higher price for a unique equipment.note 4 I would advise you to lent or give an equipment to a sound system owner (sound system in the Jamaican sense) and let it him for one year or so. It will be tried thoroughly by non-specialists, and will receive all the bad treatments you thought about and even those you didn't.
An example I lived: I had a voltage selector behind my Crossover, that I lent to a jamaican friend who brought it there as the core of his sound system.
In Jamaica, they have both 127 and 230V.
When they forgot the switch in 230V when fed in 127, sound was not that good.
When they forgot the swich in 127 while fed in 230, sound was good, but after a while the fuse blew.
They changed the fuses several times, until they set a too powerful fuse by error.
It seemed fine, they could let the selector in the 127 position, and always get good sound.
Until the transformer burnt...
I must admit that I didn't think of that one!
Only field testing can show you such pitfalls.
BTW, I replaced the power supply by an universal input PFC forward converter, and took off the voltage selector. Works fine without having to worry about the mains.
avandia+drug+
" There are 3 laws of what i call marketing physics, 3 things that do matter.The first is "overt benefit", which, in consumer's words, is "What's in it for me ?"
The second is "real reason to believe," which translate in consumerese to "Why should I believe you ?"
The third is "dramatic difference" which translate in consumerese to "Why should I care ?" ..."
You might add a forth to this list:
The forth might be "profitable for all" which might translate into is "everybody happy in the end ?"
I might suggest that selling 1000+ watt amplifiers for $0.50 per watt or less then someone is not going to be happy at the end of the production run, probably this very same design engineer who wonders where his paycheck is.
(When I went to engineering school, we belittled all the Business Majors, believing incorrectly that their vocation was a piece of cake.)
When I went to engineering school, we belittled all the Business Majors, believing incorrectly that their vocation was a piece of cake.)This is so classic and well-understood, too. As a former salesman - audio and computer - the product is as much about its perception as it is its reality. It takes both engineers and marketeers to figure out what the real product is - but the approaches used by each are guaranteed to create friction, which is what I intended with my initial post. I always wondered what higher power thought up engineering and marketing roles; I can see this ghost in the sky wringing their hands with delight.......
Cheers,
" ... It takes both engineers and marketeers to figure out what the real product is ..."Amen, bro ... none of this "bag o' parts" times three = manufactured costs ... if the darn thing ain't marketable at all then you wind up with several bags o' parts and no rent.
... planning a product launch: pro-audio mono-block amp, neat case, features inc. high quality specs (THD < < 0.002 @ max power into 4 ohms) and a decent amount of "sizzle". Target production msrp of ~ $600 for 150 watts.
Corection, title should read: ... "built"...I can design, but apparently I can't spell.
and "corection" is spelt correction...just ribbing you...from a fellow Canadian! good luck
ha oops... well my point proven. now about those amplifiers eh?
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