Looks matter: What's the cheapest/easiest way to get the caramel bezel CHP-70 in EU?

[Squeak]

Well as the title suggests, I want the brown/caramel plastic frame CHP-70, that MA for some inexplicable reason chose not to release in the EU. Instead we are treated to the boring black.
Were do I get it for the least amount of money and waiting time?

[Scottmoose]

I believe that frame was only used in the initial production run of CHP70s, which were made for the Japanese market about 2 years ago. Later runs have had the black frame at the request of distributors. On the up-side, you should get a slightly better drive unit; if memory serves, the black-frame models were produced at the same time as the Omnes branded version of the Gen.2 CHR, and share the same minor suspension modifications that should improve linearity at high loads. So I suppose you could call it (and the Omnes branded CHR) a kind of Gen.2.5 driver.

[Squeak]

Then it's really false advertising to put the picture of the original colour op wherever the driver is sold. It's seems people clearly prefer the original (in both senses) colour. Why not give them what they want?

[planet10]

You should take up the colour schemes with the European Distributor... they would welcome the feedback. To get the creme coloured bezel, 1st you ask Mark directly, he might have some... or, thru Norio, hook you up with a dealer in Japan that has them.

Personally I like th beige cone, but in the black bezel.

dave

[markaudio]

Originally Posted by Squeak

Then it's really false advertising to put the picture of the original colour op wherever the driver is sold. It's seems people clearly prefer the original (in both senses) colour. Why not give them what they want?

Squeak,
So what makes you think I wouldn't supply cream framed CHP's to the EU? A commercial death-wish? Clearly not the case, I'm not that stupid. Nick's supplying the black frame driver because its the popular colour:

Markaudio CHP-70 - Lautsprecher Selbstbau by blue planet acoustic

You appear to have specific knowledge on EU DIYer frame colour preferences so buy 250 cream pairs (minimum quantity), promote and sell them in the EU. We can give you an excellent wholesale price and will be happy to support you. Its great to have passionate DIYers involved in developing full-range as the future for many audio applications.

The Markaudio web-site is being re-vamped and will change once the new CHR and other drivers launch in the coming weeks.

Mark.

[joe58]

I know this may sound dumb, but on that link is that price(35 euros) for a pair of drivers or one?? As it shows a picture of two drivers?

Joe

[planet10]

It is per unit. Given that they are packaged 2 to a box it could be confusing.

Pretty driver.

dave

[joe58]

Thanks, I thought it was, but just on the off chance....

Joe

[Squeak]

Originally Posted by markaudio

Squeak,
So what makes you think I wouldn't supply cream framed CHP's to the EU? A commercial death-wish? Clearly not the case, I'm not that stupid. Nick's supplying the black frame driver because its the popular colour:

Markaudio CHP-70 - Lautsprecher Selbstbau by blue planet acoustic

You appear to have specific knowledge on EU DIYer frame colour preferences so buy 250 cream pairs (minimum quantity), promote and sell them in the EU. We can give you an excellent wholesale price and will be happy to support you. Its great to have passionate DIYers involved in developing full-range as the future for many audio applications.

The Markaudio web-site is being re-vamped and will change once the new CHR and other drivers launch in the coming weeks.

Mark.

I'm not questioning your will to survive, I'm questioning your methods of deducting what consumers in a give region want. One of the worst ways to know what people want is to directly ask them, 50 years of focus groups and market research efforts show as much.
People tend to answer what is expected of them and what they think is reasonable to like. For a famous example of this, read the chapter on the Aeron chair in Malcolm Gladwells Blink. Focus groups hated it, because they had never seen anything like it, but today it's the best-selling office chair of all time.
Product localization is at best mostly a way of keeping a few "experts" employed. At worst it makes your sales in a given territory worse than they could be, by tampering with an already perfectly crystallized design.

The strongest early pull-in attractor with the CHP-70 is the unusual (beautiful) colour scheme. It makes you pay notice and read the specs, look at the price and then buy. Why do you think most sites use the picture with the caramel colour frame, even though they only sell the black?

I don't have the money or time to start a driver shop, but I think it highly unlikely that there shouldn't be someone willing to distribute, and more important, lots of costumers for the CHP-70 in the original colour.

[planet10]

Squeak,

The distributors choose the colour scheme. In Europe Ble Planet. Their site has a black basket.

Originally the CHP was a special request by the Japanese distributor and only available in Japan. Only the original order of 250 drivers had creame coloured* frames. They later found that the black frames sold much better. Blue Planet only ever wanted black.

The creame basket is still on the Mark Audio website only because Mark has not had anyone to maintain his website fro over a year.

* the colour always reminded me of the colour of maggots, but that is just me.

dave