Avatar Neo price increase!

[BagelBruin]

Basically, Neo magnets are costing more, so each cab cost $25 per speaker.

On their Specials and Overstock page you can grab a 410 Neo for the old price of $489. I really don't want another cab, but I might pull the trigger now. I feel like I have to!

[fenderhutz]

Even though those cabs sound great, they used to be a great bargain for the sound. Not so much anymore. I really like those cabs too.

Edit: It looks like those are the last NEO cabs PERIOD. He is getting away from NEO if that reads right. So no NEO AND a $100 price increase.

[eastcoasteddie]

I spoke to dave last month about Neo speakers. He said that once he sells out of his current stock, no more Neo's.

[BagelBruin]

The website states that is the last of "those NEOS." But I will trust eastcosteddie.

I wonder why he is getting out of the Neo arena. Even if they increased the price I feel people would still support them. The product is very good! And if you do a search of my recent posts, you know that they can handle a lot.

[fenderhutz]

Maybe he is just selling the NEO cabs at 489 and keeping the price of the other cabs 489. We will see.

[BagelBruin]

Either way, I see this as big news.

[AwkwardLoudness]

I bought a couple Avatar TB153 cabs in February for $450/each + shipping. China announced in late March that they were restricting the export of neodymium metal, so prices of neo speakers have spiked since that time. Now the TB153 is $589 + shipping for the neo 3015LF version while supplies last.

Based upon statements by cab builders here on TalkBass and elsewhere, Eminence and other speaker manufacturers may be ceasing production of neodymium magnet (Nd2Fe14B alloy) speakers at least in the near term if not forever. Increased mining of neodymium in the USA and Japan in the next few years could change the current trends, but neo magnets are vital to so many industries involving computers/electronics that the light-weight speaker market might not get back to neo for a long time depending on future market prices. The Nd2Fe14B alloy magnet is the strongest known permanent magnet per unit weight, hence the popularity for many products other than speakers.

[Lionslicer9999]

Either way, the avatar neo cabs are still cheaper than the GK neo cabs which haven't raised in price though.

[BagelBruin]

I called Avatar today and spoke to Trevor (nice guy who ever he is.) They are SOLD OUT on the $489 410 Neo cabs. He seems to be a big fan of their ceramic cabs. They have a higher rating although they weigh around 90 pounds.

They will still sell the Neo cabs at their new higher prices for now. The cost of their Neo speakers has doubled, which bothers them a lot. They have built their entire line of bass cabs on the neo speaker. Now with much higher prices, they must adapt and hope customers adapt too.

[JB36]

This looks like a 2nd price increase. I purchased a 2x10 a few months ago just before the first price increase which was about $25. Looks like a 2x10 went up another $50. I was told back then they were going to offer ceramic as a lower cost alternative along with neo. It looks like this is still the case, but maybe the increase is moving them out of their price point. It seems like the cost of Avatar neos is climbing much higher than other cabs.

[masonsjax]

I heard that Eminence was able to source more neo and is now accepting new orders for neo speakers again.