achat system

[strandgsx]

so some tin pot little pa company has bought an achat system and are under quoting us all over the place.

 

what is this achat thing??

 

any one know?

[dan slv-tech]

morning

 

.10 seconds on google bought this up- and suprise suprise its a thomann job- nothing special, been done before by many others

 

http://www.thomann.de/es/the_box_pro_achat_system_1.htm

 

hope this helps

 

dan

[Jivemaster]

The local (walking distance) airshow was last year PA'd with huge RnR stacks with huge crews of road staff, this year there were mackie 15+H actives and some 1501/1801s.

 

Lots of separate PAs for side stalls lots of conflicting rhythms and nothing as loud as the Harvard at full power and 6 feet!

[paulears]

so some tin pot little pa company has bought an achat system and are under quoting us all over the place.

 

 

Good for them! It'll be up to you to show what extra you offer that they don't to justify your higher prices. There will always be a market for a product that is cheap and effective. I'd suggest that you need to hear one before attempting to slag them off, though!

[Rob_Beech]

I'd put that system infront of many "named" ones. At the end of the day if your gear needs to be rider friendly then its useless buying something like that, if however the clients rely on a good sound and a good service from whatever gear you have then why spend £2k a box on something when there are products less than half that which perform as well in certain fields.

 

Also, its important to remember that its not just what's in the box that makes it sound good or bad. its often what's going into the mics or cd player and of course who's fingers are on the job. Thomann offer some fantastic products for the money they are. If I can get a crystal clear sound from 2 pairs of my(now ex) PA110's in a 550 seater which is according to the in house tech there better than the previous nights bands Turbosound (txd) rig then it shouldn't be difficult for anyone to. Moving up the market slightly, the Achat system performs extremely well, its not as clear as my W8, but it doesn't carry the same price tag, it is however slightly louder on paper.

 

Would I buy one? No. Would I buy one if the need arose to buy something that performed like that where name wasn't an issue? Most certainly. Would I undercut other local businesses in doing so? Sorry guys.

 

What you need to remember is by doing so I'd still be offering my services which I'm informed are good by a number of people, so I think that helps. If this "tin pot" PA company is offering a crap service but its cheap, then its somewhat different, as with your company you pay for the good service. If they ARE providing as good a service as you, then the gigs you are losing to them are clearly not rider friendly and the you have to look at YOUR position in the market, not theirs. Is it them that's doing things wrong?

 

 

Rob

[paulears]

As an aside, I've noticed many UK firms are pretty annoyed with Thomann. SOS this months has the two usual Thomann ads, but some UK dealers are chan ging their ad style to have a go at them. One this month goes onto the ENGLAND Vs GERMANY tack, pointing out the UK dealers have UK plugs, not 2 pin. They fudge the issue of postage by claiming that returns to them are free - which with the outrageous postage back to Germany is a serious issue, but don't mention Thomann delivery charges don't exist.

 

I understand they are miffed with Thomann, but they do offer quite a lot, for not too much.

[StevieR]

As an aside, I've noticed many UK firms are pretty annoyed with Thomann...

 

I understand they are miffed with Thomann, but they do offer quite a lot, for not too much.

 

As one of the 'UK firms that are slightly annoyed with Thomann' there is certainly an argument to be had against them. In fact, the distributor of one of our product lines went back to the manufacturer over this issue and the manufacturer has had discussions with Thomann to control things.

 

In the pro-audio/lighting market, there is a lot of business going Thomann's way - mainly based on price. This puts additional pressure on british business, especially local suppliers who are already suffering due to the internet 'box shifters'.

 

I'm all for an open market - that's all part of what the European union is about. However, sometimes you get someone who starts to dominate in too many markets and this can cause problems. At the end of the day, though, it is up to the consumer. They can continue to search for the lowest price which will in turn keep money flowing out of the British economy, or they can choose to buy from British companies and in turn keep the money in the pockets of the British tax payer.

 

(Mods - you may want to split this off into another topic.)

 

Steve

[jamesperrett]

As one of the 'UK firms that are slightly annoyed with Thomann' there is certainly an argument to be had against them. In fact, the distributor of one of our product lines went back to the manufacturer over this issue and the manufacturer has had discussions with Thomann to control things.

 

In the pro-audio/lighting market, there is a lot of business going Thomann's way - mainly based on price. This puts additional pressure on british business, especially local suppliers who are already suffering due to the internet 'box shifters'.

 

The problem is that too many UK companies don't seem to understand that when people order something they want it fast, as well as cheap. I recently bought some speakers from a dealer on Ebay. I understood that they would be sent next day delivery but they took a week to arrive - most of that time they had been sitting at the dealer waiting for collection to be arranged. That kind of behaviour seems to be considered normal by most UK firms but it is no longer acceptable. I hope this competition from Thomann will wake some of them up to what is needed to run a good mail order business.

 

If local dealers want to compete then they have to take a look at their business. Thomann don't sell high end systems or do installations. You can't hire a PA from them either. They don't go for the corporate market. There are plenty of ways that a more service oriented business can differentiate themselves from Thomann.

 

Cheers

 

James.

[StevieR]

I recently bought some speakers from a dealer on Ebay. I understood that they would be sent next day delivery but they took a week to arrive - most of that time they had been sitting at the dealer waiting for collection to be arranged. That kind of behaviour seems to be considered normal by most UK firms but it is no longer acceptable.

 

To be honest James, if I was looking to source a product in a hurry, I really wouldn't choose Ebay as my first port of call. There are plenty of fantastic UK based mail order companies who do offer an excellent service. Some of the ones that I have used over the years include, Studio Spares, CPC and Stage Electrics, to name a few examples. All of these have consistently delivered on their promises of next day delivery, except where the carrier has screwed up - but don't get me started on that topic!

 

Steve