New Altec speaker boxes Part 2

[Old Guy]

I think the options idea bears merit. I would worry about having to inventory more parts, and if different input connectors would require different hole cuts. Such little things can drive you bankrupt, believe it or not. Most businesses don't fail because of too little inventory, they fail because of too much. Best option is suppliers who can deliver fast.
For me it would be easy, Parts Express does wholesale accounts and 1 day away by UPS.

I would keep a sample and maybe a minimal inventory on hand.

Be careful not to offer too many options. We Americans, especially us older ones with the cash, tend to have short attention spans. Too much will just confuse us.

Of course, if somebody knows what they want, no problem, just a slight extra fee. The other mistake I made early on was throwing in too much free stuff- at least cover your costs. Costs will sneak up and bite you.

[gamalot]

I think this falls into a catagory that will baffle me for ever. You can please some of the people some of the time!
No matter what your final decision is there will always be someone who will say you "SHOULD HAVE" done this or that.
You could easily drive yourself crazy and bankrupt with various changes to XO caps, wires, binding posts, stuffing materials, finish variations and a host of other optional offerings.
Tweekers will always have differing opinions and my thought is to give them a good solid product and let them make any changes they want afterwards.
In my other woodworking business the changes customers make half way thru a job always turn into nightmares and are almost alway very costly.

Gary

[Ronald Lee]

gamalot is right, but consider all of the available options and suggestions, and then make your best decision with the available info at the time. 2nd guess and 20/20 hindsight, blah!

[bigjunglejim]

My plans are to have finished boxes packed for shipping at the factory. There will be no options offered.

I was wondering if I should provide the boxes without grills or grill mounting hardware. Anyone wanting grills can make their own or order them from me as a aftermarket item.

I plan to offer grills with different coverings as after sale options (like buying custom wheels for your car). I will cover grill frames with custom ordered or customer provided grill cloth. I also want to offer bases that can be added by the consumer. Both, custom grills and bases will fit both mine and original Altec cabinets. I will have the frames made and do the custom work myself or offer the frame without cloth for the consumer to do his own work. All this will be custom and the prices will reflect this special attention. The way I see it, why make everyone pay for the special attention required by a few.

I just talked with Bill at GPA. The crossovers that come with his new 604's screw down inside the box and comes with 14 ga wire. They do not mount as the originals did nor are there any knobs like the original Altec XO's.

I want to keep the boxes as Altec designed them, with the cut out for the Altec XO's. If Bill's XO's are used or someone wants to bi-amps the speakers, the boxes will be ready to go with a plate covering the XO cutout plus good wires and the two pairs of binding posts already installed. High end flexibility built in at the factory.

I'm sure no matter what I do, "tweekers" will do their own thing. This is a good thing.

What do you think?

[bigjunglejim]

This thing is taking it's time getting off the ground.
Here's more on the 5 way binding post I intend to have installed at the factory.

The Bi-Wire Cup has a 3 3/4 x 4 3/8 rectangular flange and requires a 2 7/8 x 3 13/32 rectangular through hole. The cup has an extra set of ribs for rigidity, angled post mounts, is wide enough to accept very wide spades, and includes thick, gold-plated brass bi-wire straps.

[bigjunglejim]

Fiberglass insulation, long-fiber wool, or polyester fiberfill. I hate doing anything with fiberglass. I have an unloaded Model 19. All I have to do is stick my arm inside without touching anything and I itch like crazy. I hate working with fiberglass... PERIOD. I'd like to hear from some of our gurus about using posyest fiberfill vs fiberglass for damping material.

[bigjunglejim]

OOPS... make that "polyester fiberfill".

[GM]

Greets!

Doesn't itch, but requires a much higher stuffing density to match fiberglass, so you will have to experiment to get the same cab 'tone'.

GM

[tomt]

Originally posted by selmerdave:
I did just read the Roger Russell article, and found nothing illuminating or new there. Same argument made.

Dave

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">same here.

however, nelson pass wrote this some years back-

http://www.passlabs.com/downloads/articles/spkrcabl.pdf

and malcolm hawksford proved, mathematicly,

why cables sound the way they do-


http://www.stereophile.com/reference/1095cable/

or here

http://www.essex.ac.uk/ese/research/...lications.html

scroll down, for 'The Essex Echo'

the 'guys that don't know higher order math'

can not find out why people hear more or less.

3808

[Old Guy]

Originally posted by tomt:

the 'guys that don't know higher order math'

can not find out why people hear more or less.

[/QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Horse puckey Tom.



Nobody, at least not me, said all wire sounds the same. I said I don't believe it unless you can prove it.

I stand by what I said- 99% of wire claims are pipe dreams by marketers. Doesn't mean all claims are, but most manufacturers flat out lie.


Let's see you do some of that high order math and explain what point you are trying to make.