Is it me or are Emotivas prices getting a little high?

[ImcLoud]

I think they are going to hurt themselves if they don't have a $499 processor and a $299 stereo pre amp/dac on their list.. Plus it seems almost all of the amps are $1000 now... $850 for the umc200 and UPA500 would be worth it, but $1000 is getting on the cusp of just buy a really nice AVR and call it a day... Especially since speakers seem to be getting more efficient, it seems like most HT speakers are all around 90+db sens now... And there are sooo many deals on really nice AVR's around...
When you raise your prices you leave room for another company to come in as the inexpensive new comer...

 

[slipperybidness]

I think they are going to hurt themselves if they don't have a $499 processor and a $299 stereo pre amp/dac on their list.. Plus it seems almost all of the amps are $1000 now... $850 for the umc200 and UPA500 would be worth it, but $1000 is getting on the cusp of just buy a really nice AVR and call it a day... Especially since speakers seem to be getting more efficient, it seems like most HT speakers are all around 90+db sens now... And there are sooo many deals on really nice AVR's around...
When you raise your prices you leave room for another company to come in as the inexpensive new comer...

Already seeing the Bob Carver influence

Also, they are moving some of the manufacturing to TN, so that may have something to do with it.

But, I'm sure you know that MSRP is for suckers. Even Emo has pretty good sales pretty often. Right now is a 10% off sale that makes the prices more reasonable.

But yeah, it seems like they have been creeping up on $ at Emotiva. It starts making the classic line of Parasound look like a very good alternative.

 

[cpp]

Price of labor, price for components, price for marketing, rent, utilities, taxes, benefits for employees their prices seem to fall right in with everything else in this day and age of the economy.

 

[saywhat]

They just had a good sale a while back prices were lower. I expect a sale again sometime and will buy then.

 

[jinjuku]

I'm wondering how outfits like AB Int, Emotiva etc... are going to go up against Class D products. Lets face it there are differences in the economies of production when you have a 12lb and 90lb amp producing the same wattage. Material costs are higher, shipping, just moving that stuff around the warehouse.

Class D is efficient a lot of respects. They are going to have to join the club at some point.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I'm wondering how outfits like AB Int, Emotiva etc... are going to go up against Class D products. Lets face it there are differences in the economies of production when you have a 12lb and 90lb amp producing the same wattage. Material costs are higher, shipping, just moving that stuff around the warehouse.

Class D is efficient a lot of respects. They are going to have to join the club at some point.

So far Class D amps haven't significantly penetrated the home audio market. Many people aren't convinced that they sound as good, as you well know. (I know where you stand on that point.) Even Crown markets the Macro Tech line to audiophiles, not the XLS line, and the Macro Techs start at $4600. They're lighter, but they're not cheaper. I'm thinking Class AB amps dominate the market for another decade just because they always have.

 

[ImcLoud]

I thought for sure Pioneer would come out with some sick audiophile type Elite d3 separate amps, I could picture the line up a nice 500w mono block, a 1000watt 2 channel that can bridge to around 1800, then a 250x3, 250x5, and a 250x7... Then i would love to see an audiophile simple preamp, that has just a couple analog inputs, something super simple, BUT you can add expansion modules to it, 1 is an awesome DAC, 1 is airtime or smart wifi ect, 1 is for a phono input, 1 for HDMI, ect.. And then I would like to see output expansion modules too like one for dual subs, 1 for crossing over, room correction, balanced outputs ect.. So you can buy just what you need, you don't run anything but an Ipod and dont care about dac run a splitter and buy the basic package, you want to run a pc, buy the dac package, you want a turntable and a dac buy them modules, you want dual subs, crossover, room correction, just buy what you want....
Then for Home theater do the same thing, a processor that you can use the class d amps with and add what features you want, dual hdmi output, dual subs, ect just plug the chipset in....
IT would be EPIC!!! You could buy one pre or pro for the rest of your life just keep on plugging in the modules and updating the software...
Dude I Got These Ideas Man! So Many Ideas! - YouTube LOL

Seriously though, think about it, you buy some passive subs, run the 1000X2 to them, run a pair of the 500w mono blocks to an awesome set of towers, then buy the preamp with the dac, dual sub, and eq module, that would be an awesome 2.2 system I can picture it, all black with an aluminum front face, that has a grille over it like a speaker so you can black out all the lights... it would be sick...

 

[j_garcia]

Hey Oppo, sound familiar? Early on, they were the place to go when you needed a $150 player that had the same video quality as the $1K units on the market at the time and pretty much owned the budget DVD player market. Now they ARE the expensive models at $500 and $1K+ I am not complaining about that either Though they don't have a true budget model at all now either. I also realize that when the big names switched to making $99 players, there's no longer big money to be made there either.

It is good for companies like this to move up the food chain and do some great new things, but when they completely leave the market points at which they started, it kind of sucks.

 

[Chu Gai]

I've noticed the price increases and now the XMC is said to ship early next year but at 2K and not 1.5K. Being a privately held company all we can do is speculate so here's my musings.

Theyve incurred some additional costs with the Sherbourn and Carver acquisitions.
They seem to have a few more employees.
Development costs for their processors are substantial.
I don't believe they're using ToneWinner any more and I suspect Korean manufacturing costs are higher.
I think some products haven't sold as well as had been hoped and those losses need to be recouped.
Maybe their internal studies have shown that even though they may sell less at higher price points, the gross profits are projected to be higher.

 

[sgtjim]

From Emotiva:

Hi guys,
Enjoy the sales this year, as this is coming to an end.

Beginning in 2014, Emotiva wil not be offering sale prices on our products.

We feel the same as you do. Sales just make everyone sit on the fence until the next one, and they guys that didn't purchase at the sale price resent us.

So, be aware that this change of policy is coming. Our prices are already so reasonable, there is really no need for a sale. We will, of course, be keeping our Upgrade For Life program, but other then that, we will not offer price reductions as a matter of course.

Cheers,
Big Dan

 

[ImcLoud]

That may be a mistake, I understand where he is coming from with the sales, but what he is going to soon realize is, sales make people buy, even if a small amount of people hang around and wait for the sale to buy, the fact of the matter is while the sale is happening people that would never normally buy can not pass up a sale so in turn buy... I do this all the time, I won't buy something at full price that I want but I will buy something I don't need because it is on sale....

They are going to miss them busy sales months... the truth of the matter is there is money in quantity you build more for less per, and then sell more...

 

[slipperybidness]

That may be a mistake, I understand where he is coming from with the sales, but what he is going to soon realize is, sales make people buy, even if a small amount of people hang around and wait for the sale to buy, the fact of the matter is while the sale is happening people that would never normally buy can not pass up a sale so in turn buy... I do this all the time, I won't buy something at full price that I want but I will buy something I don't need because it is on sale....

They are going to miss them busy sales months... the truth of the matter is there is money in quantity you build more for less per, and then sell more...

+1

They are about to shoot themselves in the foot by ending the sales routine. Yeah, it made me wait a little longer to buy from Emo b/c I knew a sale was coming.

Like I said earlier in the post, this is making Parasound look beter and better.

 

[Adam]

It should come as no surprise that I won't shed a tear if that company goes under, but I'm guessing that they're smart enough to reverse that course if it hurts sales. Making a sale was never their problem.

 

[ImcLoud]

I never heard that entire story, link? You don't hear too many people unhappy with them, normally its someone out of the country that is unhappy about return and repair policy.. I have so far been happy with them and the value, I jus think they are moving their prices in the wrong direction, but I am also the customer, lol...

 

[Adam]

I never heard that entire story, link?

I might track it down. Others here are bored with that story, I'm sure.

But, never mind that...my IPS-1 is ON SALE! That's right. You don't need it. You don't want it. But it's ON SALE! So, you can't resist it. Act now, and I'll throw in some low frequency ambiance free of charge.

 

[jinjuku]

I think the past 10 years has been reputation and customer base building for Emotiva. The market will decide. All they have to really do vs the competition is be 20-30% under them. They will certainly be one of the only ones standing with a pre-pro let alone 2 or 3. The other boutique's have abandoned that market.

 

[sharkman]

Wow, they are really doing away with sales?

I'd say they took a bath on the Sherbourn experiment. They weren't selling so they tried internet direct, but that didn't work either. Then the processor track record shows great difficulty as well, the UMC-1 was a very expensive adventure with little profit. The XMC has been another delay after delay money pit for them. First they were going it alone, then they were going to add TacT. It took a year to figure out that TacT wasn't going to work. Then more money spent on the current room correction system and further delays. The XMC price increase was a jaw dropper to me. Then they go and buy Carver after Sherbourn is doing so badly? Various Emotiva models being introduced then cancelled? It's a bit of a mish mash corporately speaking.

They really need some clear sailing for a while, financially speaking. The price increases on the amps, etc, are probably what they need. Let's face it, they still are the price leader in the market and offer great bang for buck on many of their products.

 

[lsiberian]

I might track it down. Others here are bored with that story, I'm sure.

But, never mind that...my IPS-1 is ON SALE! That's right. You don't need it. You don't want it. But it's ON SALE! So, you can't resist it. Act now, and I'll throw in some low frequency ambiance free of charge.

I can understand the pre-amps, but I don't get why people don't just buy pro-amps given the cost.

 

[Adam]

I can understand the pre-amps, but I don't get why people don't just buy pro-amps given the cost.

Keep it down, man. I've got Irvin on the hook for that IPS-1. Mentally, anyway. Well, in my mind, I mean.

 

[fuzz092888]

I can understand the pre-amps, but I don't get why people don't just buy pro-amps given the cost.

Crown XLS FTW.

Although I'd like to get my hands on a crest pro lite just to see what's what.