27-Dec-2014, 17:01
The marketing strategy changed totally following the big independent investment. It isn't new with the Phantom. The web site went from a workmanlike technical site to a difficult to navigate mess with less useful information and lots of risible marketing puff.
Many of the audiophiles I know like to take the mickey out of the products by quoting the ludicrous claims in the web site. Devialet has, IMHO, lost credibility with a lot of enthusiasts by this approach. I would imagine it puts potential customers off.
I would probably not have sought to audition a D-Premier if the first contact had been the current Devialet web site, whereas the original really piqued my interest.
They assume all their customers are completely non-technical, it seems to me. Maybe most are.
FWIW when I worked for Garrard the manufacturing cost of the turntable was about 10% of the retail price (yes a 401 cost about £7.50 to make at the time). The rest of the costs were R&D and tooling then there was the standard Garrard 10% markup and 30% for the retailer.
It always struck me as "unfair" that Garrard had the knowledge, many employees and took the biggest risk but had a smaller margin. Such is life.
In the case of the D-Premier > 250 update I would be surprised if the added hardware cost was much above £100. The bulk of what we paid will be in claw back of R&D and tooling cost.
Many of the audiophiles I know like to take the mickey out of the products by quoting the ludicrous claims in the web site. Devialet has, IMHO, lost credibility with a lot of enthusiasts by this approach. I would imagine it puts potential customers off.
I would probably not have sought to audition a D-Premier if the first contact had been the current Devialet web site, whereas the original really piqued my interest.
They assume all their customers are completely non-technical, it seems to me. Maybe most are.
FWIW when I worked for Garrard the manufacturing cost of the turntable was about 10% of the retail price (yes a 401 cost about £7.50 to make at the time). The rest of the costs were R&D and tooling then there was the standard Garrard 10% markup and 30% for the retailer.
It always struck me as "unfair" that Garrard had the knowledge, many employees and took the biggest risk but had a smaller margin. Such is life.
In the case of the D-Premier > 250 update I would be surprised if the added hardware cost was much above £100. The bulk of what we paid will be in claw back of R&D and tooling cost.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire
