Now the job's done, I thought it best to remove the poor guy's email address now, eh?
I think the Nigerian Royal Family are quite busy at the moment, we wouldn't want to overwork them by giving them another victim.
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Now the job's done, I thought it best to remove the poor guy's email address now, eh?
I think the Nigerian Royal Family are quite busy at the moment, we wouldn't want to overwork them by giving them another victim.
I am confused, are you saying that the email address is a scam or that John is trying it on??
No, I don't think the owner of the email address will thank us for displaying his address in public for all to see and use should they so wish to do, for whatever reason.
Actually he also included his Tel No: which I have tried three times but it only has a recorded message, very strange. If it is a genuine enquiry I hope he does not think I am ignoring him.
On the subject of Bearing stocks, I now only have 5 available for immediate delivery.
Then there will be some delay before I can get together enough deposits to support the machining of another batch of 25. The constant increase of material and labour costs
may require me to increase the cost by a few dollars for the next lot.
Hi mike,how many bearings do you have left? I may have to sell mine as i'm stuck in the alpes and running out of money.
I will not be back till may sometime,so if you have none left and it's going to take a long time to machine some more,it may have a bearing (no pun intended) on whether i sell mine or not!
Cheers.
Hi There,
Which alps are you stuck on???!
I have just 3 Bearings available from the last batch, which indicates that it would seem that the take up has somewhat reduced compared with the halicon days when I could not supply enough of them.
Please will someone buy my Bearing, I'm getting hungary,
I have just recently recieved two orders for my Bearing, one from Russia and another from Finland. which leaves only one left. First come first served as they say!!
So now the decision has to be made; are there enough people interested to place deposits for a further batch of 25.
They will will A$550.00 for the first 20
Think i'll hang on to mine then!! Food's overrated anyway :lol:
You can live on red wine, they tell me it is better for your health.
Well folks, the last Bearing was sold today.
That makes about 125 bearings in total
So if there are any more interested SL1200 devotees keen to experience the best that the SL1200 can produce, then you will need to decide what to do. As I have not had a great deal of interest from anyone for the production of another batch of 25.
I guess the vast enthusiasm demonstrated over the past three years has now somewhat sadly died down.
Mike, there's still much uncertainty here in the UK right now, with jobs more "on the line" than ever, squeezes in spending ability etc and a generally depressed vibe. Don't despair just yet :)
Hi Dave,
I guess you are very correct when you mention the economic state of the UK. However at least 75% of my bearings have gone to people outside the UK many into the baltic countries and Russia would you believe! the remainder to Europe Asia and the US who have been real enthusiasts.
Hi Mike,Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
My advice is to try and get someone in one of the major magazines to review a modded Techy, fitted with one of your bearings, not necessarily the printed versions, but perhaps something like TNT Audio or one of the other well-known on-line magazines, which have a strong presence in the US and further afield.
There's a limit to how many bearings you'll sell by word of mouth on forums. Selling 125 of them that way is rather good going! :)
However, if you want to take things to the next level, you'll need to promote yourself proactively, and become known in much wider circles. It boils down to how much effort YOU want to put into selling your bearings (realistically you can't expect any more sales to simply fall on your lap), or if you're quite happy now to have made a bit of pocket money from the sales you've had here and just put it to bed.
Personally, I'd vote for the former option and would do everything I could to help :cool:
Marco.
That mirrors exactly my experience with selling the Jelco collars.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
+1 here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I agee with Marco.
You are in a VERY niche market so don't despair...
Most Technics users don't care about the quality of their bearings, they DJ and that's it... So your pool of potential customers is already quite small. And your products are not cheap (they are worth every penny I think, so don't get me wrong here). But that price tag can become easily justifiable by the use of clever marketing! In the commercial Audiophile world, there are some insanely expensive products on offer, but they have some crazy packaging, fantastic credentials, full scientific papers to back them up. Audiophiles love a nice gaphic, or table or curves with figures etc... So maybe some work can be done here to create a full press pack for your product.
What can help in your situation, is as very relevantly suggested by Marco is advertising via the web... Not everyone has heard of AOS, not everyone has read all the fantastic reviews your product have had... So web based magazines are definitely the way to go. Have you contacted people behind Stereophile, Absolute Sound, etc... Be prepared to build a 'test' deck, with all your upgrades on, crate it and offer it to reviewers far afield. Get your work, hard effort and manufacturing talent, heard in as many places as possible.
Closer to home, I would try to get in touch with David Price, ex-editor of Hifi World, ex-editor of Hifi Choice, he was one of the early advocate of the Technics as an audiophile deck in the UK, in the national press at least. If he hasn't already heard of your fantastic product, I am sure he will be very interested.
But again as in any business, you need to set some realistic goals and targets. How much income do you want to generate a year from your upgrades, how much time and availability have you got on your hands... How flexible are your suppliers..? When the orders arrive thick and strong, you want to be able to honor those orders as quickly as possible...
All this will seem pretty obvious and common sense, but that's the name of the game... And to look at the optimistic picture here, OZ and NZ have pretty much avoided all recession and economic lag, South East Asia is also very promising market, especially China where young professionals with large disposable incomes become more and more interested in HIFI (proof being the wealth of new products in shows in China.)
Anyway that's my twopence...
To paraphrase Kevin Kostner, If you build it, they will come!
Happy Easter
:cool:
Hi Francois and Marco,
I hear what you are saying, however it is the fact that anything to do with the SL1200 sales wise, is to be operating in a very niche market. I have looked at the online magazine site that you mentioned Marco and I could only find a couple of articles on the SL written about 5 years ago. Sure I will contact them and see what they say, thank you.
I don’t think Mr. Price would be interested in talking to me, as he is a close friend of Cawley. I did offer to supply a bearing to him for free at HFW, for use on his testbed SL but got no reply.
As for putting together an evaluation kit, this is possible, but to ship it to all the “reviewers” would be very costly and they all have their own time frames to work in, so the delay for any positive results would be measured in years. Sure I could send out just bearings to all the candidate magazines, but this would also be very costly, resulting in a large upfront capital outlay, which I am not interested in; for instance I would have to make a batch of 25 just to meet this requirement, even if I could determine the best mags to contact.
I think you are correct in assuming there is a still large potential market for the bearings among the large population of audiophiles who have SLs. However I believe that the very real marketing problem is one of language.
For instance I have only sold 2 bearings in China (how many people live there?) So, yes I need to join a Chinese forum and put Chinese on my website. Only one problem!! This also I believe pertains to Europe, in particular Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and others; where I guess they have their own Audio forums. This of course is where agents/distributors become useful, but the downside is that they require margins for their efforts so the price has to be increased, which is not unreasonable.
I have tried to work with some people in Europe who may have the time to be interested in actively participating on a local forum, and to represent my Bearings for a margin on the price. But nothing ever really happened.
The US should be good for a much larger uptake, but again as you say getting into HiFi mags is important. And most of them do not do reviews for free, you have to advertise with them which again is expensive for such a niche market.
In summary, getting out to a wider audience on the internet which has a proactive interest in the SL, is the better path to follow I think. How to do this effectively is the big question.
Have you tried Tone Audio the internet magazine? The owner is on Steve Hoffman forum where there are a lot of Technics owners. In the UK, if DP has blanked you Hi-News is your best bet. You could try making Ken Kessler aware to see if that sparks his interest. Of course Adam (Beobloke) now writes for them and is already aware of your products. Haden Boardman does freelance articles on DIY and classic kit. May be worth talking to - (hb_s) on ebay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
Paul.
Hi again Mike, its a question of 'how do I go about increasing my business'? Yes, advertising is very very expensive, I once sold advertising space for IPC Business Press and had a constant battle convincing business, big or small, to give me some of their advertising budget for the year! An ad in a monthly publication lasts for a month and then that ad gets binned so thats out of the question.
I suggested on a different post that you go interactive with your customers by allowing feed back and comment, I think you did respond to this. Yes, China is big but places like Hongkong, Singapore, Phillipines, Japan etc have a large number who speak English very well. Then we have India with 1Bn population with a high proportion of English speakers so China is not your only market place.
Secondly, the HiFi mags do have a section for readers to write in and I have noticed that a few people are informing other readers of their activities in modifying turntables such as Thorens, Garrards etc., its high time for a Techy to get noticed. What I feel is the need for someone who is extremely articulate and has upgraded their 12XX with your products to write a readers letter outlining what has been down, bearing etc. don't forget pictures.
This could be a spark that flames wider interest amongst readers who are totally unaware of you or your products?
Let me leave you with this:
IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE
The cod fish lays 10,000 eggs;
the humble hen lays one!
But the cod fish does not cackle,
to tell you what she's done...
and so we scorn the codfish,
while the humble hen we prize.
Which indicates to you and me,
that it pays to advertise!
..... Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Hi Paul and Ron,
Thanks for the ideas I will try some of them.
I noticed today that this thread has attracted nearly 45,000 reads so there must be a lot of people out there who could be interested. Just imagine 40,000 bearings!!! then I could sell them for $250 each.
i'll take one @ $250!!!!!! only 39,999 needed now!
The problem is I can hardly do it myselfQuote:
Originally Posted by JazzBones
How about it Ron for a good bottle of Red??
I guess the fundamental problem is that I started this off as the result of my genuine interest in the potential of the SL1200. as a single individual with a good grounding in precision machining.
I do not design or produce any other product (power supplies, amps etc)
that could co-support the marketing efforts. It is the sole awareness of my SL1200 upgrades aforded me on this forum that has generated the interest that it has. For this I am grateful to Marco's indulgence.
Hi Ian,Quote:
Originally Posted by UV101
You are quick off the mark; Tell you what, how about 100 for $249.00
Hi Folks
Well I suppose it has got to the time when I should formally ask if there are any more people out there who would like to subscribe to a prepayment for another batch of 25 Bearings.
The price will be A$525.00 for the first 20. Thereafter A$625.00
I will accept A$260.00 as the deposit to secure one at the discount price.
When I have got the deposits in then I will place the order on my toolmakers for the precision spindles as I did last time, which seemd to work well.
Hi Mike
If people pay a deposit , how long a time period to start production and until the bearing will be ready for posting ?
Thanks
After my request to commence making them, it takes about 3-4 weeks for delivery to people. The deciding factor is how long it takes to get the required 20 deposits. This took about 6 weeks last time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
OK thanks
Hi Mike
Just a suggestion but there are a lot of idiots in the world who, like me, buy their kit pretty much solely on specification and measured performance. There does not appear to be any technical comparison on your site between your bearing and the stock item. Perhaps some comparison tests showing improved wow and flutter figures etc might attract custom from the more technical and/or cynical Technics afficianados?
Hi Mike,
What is the weight of your bearings? I need to post one and need to work out the cost.
Also has there been any deposits laid down for you discounted bearings offer? I will want to buy one again as soon as possible,when i get back to the uk.
Hi kininigin
The weight of the bearing is 500Gm, I have had a number of enquiries for
deposits but have not so far had any payments.
Thanks Mike.Looks like i could be waiting awhile till i get my hands on one again :(
I need to get a pre/phonostage back first anyway! Hopefully some people will start laying down deposits in the meantime!
Mike , not sure if you are aware but your web site says you have 14 bearings in stock ?
Hi Allen,
THanks for advice, I have been trying to establish contact with the guy who built my website and who seems to still be hosting it. But he does not respond, which is rather a problem as I would like to make a number of changes, I believe he is a member of AoS so if he reads this he may call me.
Hi Mike. Not sure if this has been asked before but have you considered making a version of your bearing with a removable spindle top? Or maybe an under sized spindle top with the option to slide a normal sized collar onto it? I already have one of your bearings but I'd be interested in getting another with this feature, pitch stablity on the Technics is excellent and records respond really well to being perfectly centred.
Hi Russell,
I am not sure what you mean by collar, are you refering to the old 45rpm adapter? in which case all you need to do is to open up the hole with a small file or drill. The tollerances on the the holes are relatively wide.
I think Russell means the same removable spindle idea as used by Roksan. You would have the spindle in place, place a record on the platter and then remove the spindle to prevent contact with the record. The alternative use is to be able to centre records with offset holes.
Why would you want to prevent contact with the record?
It was a Roksan idea, isolating the record from the deck.
I have that on my redbeard bearing.
Wondered why the sleeve came off,thought it was just for looks.
Yes similar to what Roksan do. I'd like to be able to correct offset holes in records without having to ream a bigger hole.
I cannot see how removing the spindle isolates the record from the deck, after all the platter spins on the bearing which is connected to the deck surely.
If you do have a badly centred hole and I have had some, what I suggest as a positive cure it to make the hole larger, then make up a pad to glue to the top of the record which has a nice fitting hole.
Now accurately centre the record by spinning the platter, place the pad over the spindle and push down tightly.
This could be something that Shuggie could make for people.
Hi MikeQuote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
I am about to do a Technics feature review and your bearing is included + hopefully a couple of Funk items platter, tonearm (talked with Arthur today again to arrange this but he is off to Munich soon) I had intended on starting next week but alas with Funk not onboard - yet - I am holding off till early June but after that I am going ahead regardless as others are waiting (very patiently I might ad) for their Technics related items to be reviewed.
After my Dad died Nov last year I stopped writing reviews for awhile and everything was shelved but I am nearly back on track now, so champing at the bit to do this article/series of articles.
I am not sure re logistics in including any of your other items in the review (though I am planning on including one of your metal platters, albeit its an early one) as my online mag is a no advertising zone, therefore no incoming revenue so paying shipping costs and vat/import duty is a no go for me, part of the terms and conditions of Adventures in High Fidelity Audio reviews - http://www.adventuresinhifiaudio.com/ which sadly means some reviews have never got off the ground as the logistics go against it happening.
Regards Neil
Apologies for the slight diversion.
Mike, I was wondering if you use a record clamp or weight with your bearing?
Cheers,
Nigel
High Nigel,
Yes I do use a weight about about 1Kg
Yes this is true, if there was an option of an under sized spindle I could do that without having to perform surgery on my records. My record collection is worth far more than my turntable, I'd rather change the spindle than drill out the records. I might see if can get the spindle taken down in height a bit, with a few mats on I could set it up so the record just clears the spindle top and have the option to take mats off if I want to centre the record.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_New
A small conical hand reamer is all you need, not a drill. You only need a tiny bit of opening out, and can then draw a dot on the label at the point where the hole should be against the spindle.
It's the record at fault, makes sense to fix the problem at source.
Hi Mike
What is the current situation with the bearing? Are you only going to make the next batch once you have sufficient deposit numbers? In which case I presume this will be quite some time away given what you have said recently about current demand.
Thanks.
High Dave,
My hope was to get enough people to commit to a bearing by placing a deposit before I place an order with my suppliers with full up front payment. Unfortunately the current interest in the SL has slowed somewhat and I do not want to finish up with many bearings in stock for to long.
Thanks Mike. So basically that means we are at least a few months away from any possibility of having them?
Dave,
The sooner people place their deposits the faster you will get your bearing. It worked last time and everyone seemd to be happy with the short time delay.
Hi folks, long time since I last posted here.
I have only got a hand full of deposits so far, so it would seem that the Bearing party is over.
I will miss it!!!