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Epifani Club! I've seen the "light"!

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#801
I'm in. Retired my trusty, beat-to-heck Goliath in favor of this:
DSC01088.jpg

Really digging it, goes deeper than Goliath, and so much easier to handle!
BTW the talk of 4-8 Ohm switching smells very fishy-I though we decided it wasn't possible. Is someone violating the laws of physics again?:eyebrow:
 
#813
dmusic148 said:
Yeah, and what's with this 4-8 Ohm switching I'm hearing about?
Click to expand...

That's going to be interesting. Everyone's wondering if they got 'taken' just like the guy from Accugroove (or whatever happened with that disaster), or if they truly have 'dual voice coil' speakers, which is, from what I understand, the only way to do this.

And, after seeing that clip, as a marketing professional in my day job, what a disaster for a brand image to make your very low cost line look exactly the same as your high end line, and sell them through the same channels. I guess, maybe, they are heading down the path that Lakland did (i.e., since they were going under selling just the expensive US stuff, Dan did everything he could to convince people that the Skylines were 'just as good'... to the point of hanging them together of the same retailer walls) in order to push the quality of the lower end stuff at the expense of the low volume and 'high cost to produce' US stuff.

This could be a good move for their bottom line, or a disaster (i.e., if the low end doesn't catch on in a big way, the 'damage' to their boutique brand will still happen).

I continue to cringe at this strategy. Even the low end heads look EXACTLY like the high end heads. I guess if they are hardly selling any amps at this point (which would be my guess given the price point and performance relative to the competition), it might be a good idea.

As always, the market will decide if this is 'genius or idiocy':D
 
#814
How is the sound of the PS amps compared to the UL heads ?

that Picollo does look very nice - I've seen the prototype last year here in Frankfurt on the Musik-Messe but now it seems ready to play....

I'll post my rig when my 902 has arrived :) - then I will see the light too ;):cool:
 
#815
KJung, seriously did Nick's cat pee in your tennis shoes? Your litany of getting little jabs in at Epifani has taken me to the point where I question the motivation. Did he stand you up for lunch once? Maybe he doesn't take your phone calls? I use to have no doubt of your objectivity now you are sounding like a few others on this site who either have a personnel axe to grid with a particular company or are "in the pocket" of the company they endorse.
I've been biting my tongue for sometime now on this because I always have enjoyed your posts but lately I get the feeling there is something out of character going on here.

And now you have added Lakland into the mix? You're a marketing professional in your day job. I'm sure the people advising Epifani and Lakland would also make that claim. You don't like the product so much anymore, they aren't as smart as you in marketing. How are the guys in the warehouse doing with the packing and shipping? OMG

I'm finding this to be a little disappointing. "yes as always the market will decide" is a tag to somehow do what, make your attacks seem more...what? I would think someone in your "profession" would avoid these types of attacks on a public forum.

As I previously stated I have wrestled with this for several months and avoided getting into this because of the respect I always had for your approach to forum posting, but now you've worn me down like some others here did.

Was it Nick's cat? :hmm:
 
#816
I've got cats in the room with me right now, and by no means am I trying to start a pissing match :D but I see the concerns as valid. And maybe I'm biased - as one who paid $2k for a 902C maybe my fragile ego would appreciate some easily-viewed differentiation in the product line. I'm still trying to digest the whole Epifunky thing, which just sounds horrible to me, so I can't begin to fathom the ohm switching idea.

The slow sales isn't just Ken's opinion - it's pretty much well-known and is definitely evidenced by the inventory (and blowout prices) at my local store. I root for Epifani. I want these guys to last for a very long time. I'm just wondering if maybe they should've consulted more marketing pros - or maybe even some of their existing customers - prior to making some of these branding decisions.

Just one guy's take here...YMMV.
 
#817
Wow, I've been away from this thread for a little while and missed all this new info. My reaction - :eyebrow:

I love Epifani and it's good to see them growing and getting more market share. There are some definite growing pains when a company makes the transition from a small boutique company to a mainstream company, and i certainly see some issues with the new products.

First of all - the product line is confusing as HECK now. When they first introduced the Performance line, it made sense and was clear. You had the UL line which was the high end, light line, and the PS line which had a lower price point, and heavier weight. Now you have those two lines still, and you add in the DIST line, (after the Accuswitch fiasco? Really? Accogroove took such a hit after that, you hear them mentioned less and less now because of it. If this Epi line is anything other than true dual voice coils, then this may be the worse product line introduction ever!), the EpiFunky line which is lower priced AND lightweight (so what's the point of the PS line?) and then the Underground series which is a line that is even cheaper than the PS line, but it looks just like the PS and UL line. (So is the Epifunky line in between the PS and Underground? All in all, you're talking about FIVE product lines, two high end (UL and DIST) and three lower prices (PS, EpiFunky, and Underground).

On top of this, Epi has had trouble in the past with introducing new products. The 902 head was listed on the website 2 or 3 years before it actually came out. There were delays on the PS line and the Piccolo amp as well. I understand the delays, but at this NAMM they are trying to introduce three entire lines of cabs. After the previous delays I would think they would wait until a line is sent out and ready to ship before introducing it. With him saying on that video that the line may ship around September, I'm guessing that it isn't ready to go yet. I'd also think that would be bad for their current business - why would you buy a PS cab now when you know that they are coming out with two other new low priced lines at some point (one of which is lightweight). Look at what Apple does with new product releases - they keep people guessing on what they will bring out, and when they do announce it the new product is available that same day. The only time they didn't do this was with the first iphone launch, and that makes sense because if you are bringing out something completely new (they had no phone before this) you aren't killing a current product.

I absolutely LOVE my Epifani 410UL(S1), and I want the company to do well. but any time you have a press release announcing two new products, and you have a good chunk of your current customers thinking it's a joke, that's not a good sign.
 
#818
USAJO said:
And now you have added Lakland into the mix? You're a marketing professional in your day job. I'm sure the people advising Epifani and Lakland would also make that claim.
Click to expand...

What Ken was saying about Lakland was not negative, he was simply pointing out what Epi may possibly be thinking with all of this. You may have not understood from just that post, but Ken has talked about Lakland before in that they brought out the Skyline range (which they actually make more per bass on than the US line, I believe.) Since their profit margin is greater on the cheaper line, it makes sense for them to push that line by making it look like the US line. Sadowsky does something similar with the Metros. (Although I'm sure the percentages are a little different.) Lakland and Sadowsky have been very successful with this, but there is a delicate balance that if you don't get right could really harm the brand image of the high end name. I think it's easier to maintain that balance with basses than with amps/cabs. With basses, the high end line will always have a certain allure because of the romanticism involved with that bass being US made, built and setup by the guys at the shop. I don't think that allure is as strong with amps and cabs - as long as the end product is the same alot of guys don't care where the cab or head was made.
 
#819
I understood the comments. Ken implying that again a poor marketing decision was made. Ken's comments about Epifani have become a mantra.
It got to the point where the volume of criticism and little digs lead me to question what is going on. It affects me the same way when someone who endorses a particular brand runs non ending quasi commercial posts on the forum promoting the stuff. It gets to the point where I am so annoyed I would avoid buying the brand because of it. This situation is the opposite. So as much as I have tried to avoid responding like this it wore me down. My justification is if you have the right to be so opinionated on a forum there is also the right to question those opinions in a civil manner. As I said KJung has always been someone that I enjoyed reading posts by. I was surprised he has chosen to make an anti Epifani campaign. :hmm:
 
#820
USAJO said:
I understood the comments. Ken implying that again a poor marketing decision was made. Ken's comments about Epifani have become a mantra.
It got to the point where the volume of criticism and little digs lead me to question what is going on. It affects me the same way when someone who endorses a particular brand runs non ending quasi commercial posts on the forum promoting the stuff. It gets to the point where I am so annoyed I would avoid buying the brand because of it. This situation is the opposite. So as much as I have tried to avoid responding like this it wore me down. My justification is if you have the right to be so opinionated on a forum there is also the right to question those opinions in a civil manner. As I said KJung has always been someone that I enjoyed reading posts by. I was surprised he has chosen to make an anti Epifani campaign. :hmm:
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more! Ken's points make sense to me. A campaign is a bit of a stretch I just think he's being consistent. Epi is no longer the lightest, cheapest or best sounding; a top company has to excel at at least one of them. IMO IMO IMO

You don't have to be a genius to see why the "Accu switch" concept (if that's what it is), long delay on Piccollo and a website which still shows the UL502 with a limiter knob puzzling...:rollno::rollno::rollno:
 
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