Acoustic Energy AE1active

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jonathanRD

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plastic penguin said:
"Clearly you don't watch the apprentice all ears. If you have something at RRP of £200, and something of £200,000, which do you think will produce the most profit. ? I can assure you the profit on the latter will be more than £20."

That's one way of looking at it. But if you take it on percentage terms, the cheaper items often give you more of a mark up. That's why some companies, such as Richer Sounds, have a 'pile it high and sell them cheap' policy . They would rather sell in volume and lower profit rather than huge profits with a small turnover. I know making hi-fi products is different but higher price doesn't guarantee bigger profits.

So this started out by Al ears talking about making more money, but AEjim said other models make more money. I think I know what Al ears meant and AE's cost accountant may have given a different answer to their Head of Design. Usually markup is focused on one selling unit, expressing in percentage terms, its retail price over its direct costs (and sometimes both direct and indirect costs such as distribution). Effectively higher markups are where there is a big increase from the direct/indirect costs to the selling price.

Profit is usually more accurately measured by the overall financial performance of the range of products together. The overall revenue from all products, less all direct/indirect costs, then less all overhead costs (those that cannot be directly attributed to each individial product). Richer Sounds will mainly have overhead costs, much of it fixed, so they can forecast their costs and can them calculate how many items they need to sell, based on each item giving a small contribution to cover their costs. They certainly won't sell items below what they paid for them (unless they have cash flow issues), but could conceivably sell every item for £1 more than they paid for it, as long as they sold enough items multiplied by £1 to cover their total costs.

For manufacturers, its volumes that help the most, rather than any huge markup. There are economies of scale in the manufacturing process and it is generally the volume items that contribute most to the overheads, and could be argued are the most valuable to the business, as opposed to the most profitable.

There's also the issue of the cost of keeping an item in stock, that's another cost that could affect which items you make most money from. Oh I do miss cost accounting in manufacturing. *sad*
 
jonathanRD said:
plastic penguin said:
"Clearly you don't watch the apprentice all ears. If you have something at RRP of £200, and something of £200,000, which do you think will produce the most profit. ? I can assure you the profit on the latter will be more than £20."

That's one way of looking at it. But if you take it on percentage terms, the cheaper items often give you more of a mark up. That's why some companies, such as Richer Sounds, have a 'pile it high and sell them cheap' policy . They would rather sell in volume and lower profit rather than huge profits with a small turnover. I know making hi-fi products is different but higher price doesn't guarantee bigger profits.

So this started out by Al ears talking about making more money, but AEjim said other models make more money. I think I know what Al ears meant and AE's cost accountant may have given a different answer to their Head of Design. Usually markup is focused on one selling unit, expressing in percentage terms, its retail price over its direct costs (and sometimes both direct and indirect costs such as distribution). Effectively higher markups are where there is a big increase from the direct/indirect costs to the selling price.

Profit is usually more accurately measured by the overall financial performance of the range of products together. The overall revenue from all products, less all direct/indirect costs, then less all overhead costs (those that cannot be directly attributed to each individial product). Richer Sounds will mainly have overhead costs, much of it fixed, so they can forecast their costs and can them calculate how many items they need to sell, based on each item giving a small contribution to cover their costs. They certainly won't sell items below what they paid for them (unless they have cash flow issues), but could conceivably sell every item for £1 more than they paid for it, as long as they sold enough items multiplied by £1 to cover their total costs.

For manufacturers, its volumes that help the most, rather than any huge markup. There are economies of scale in the manufacturing process and it is generally the volume items that contribute most to the overheads, and could be argued are the most valuable to the business, as opposed to the most profitable.

There's also the issue of the cost of keeping an item in stock, that's another cost that could affect which items you make most money from. Oh I do miss cost accounting in manufacturing. *sad*
Thanks for the explanation, as this was intriguing me too. I was thinking the basic confusion is between markup or margin, and profit. I think of profit in £s so if you sell tens of thousands and make a few quid on each, that’s still more profit than selling a dozen with £500 markup each.

I appreciate your wider perspective of cost of sales, workforce, premises, advertising, warehousing, stock tied up, etc. Interesting stuff, and explains why so many businesses fail because these things aren’t grasped.
 

Pedro2

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drummerman said:
C'mon owners ... more user feedback and old system comparisons please.

@Drummerman

I've given most of mine. I could continue to wax lyrical about these speakers but will give others a chance *biggrin*

They continue to impress me. The SCM11 + Nord (£2600 approx) were excellent but don't quite match the AE1a for sheer musical qualities. Very hard to be critical, especially at the price!
 

Pedro2

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Thought I’d post a brief update on my newish speakers. Now got a couple of months use on the clock and initial favourable impressions remain. If anything, my respect for these speakers increases.

They are now sited closer to a back wall (approx 15cm in) and I’m still applying some limited room correction frequency adjustment via the Linn streamer. Overall sound is open, detailed and very engaging. Some days over Christmas, music was being played non stop for several hours and there was no evidence of listener fatigue. If you like deep (below 40 hz) bass, then these are not the speakers for you (without a sub) but otherwise, I would recommend an audition. Paired with a reasonable source/pre amp (e.g. second hand Linn streamer), you will grab a top notch sound system for £2k or less. It would take some beating (personal opinion obviously).

The AEs will not jump down your ears, hit you with an over energetic sound or provide the very last scintilla of detail. However, most listeners probably don’t want an ear bashing or have the funds for the latter. Not sure if anyone else on the forum has got a pair of these but would be interested in your thoughts if you have bought or heard them. Happy New Year!
 

MajorFubar

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Nice update Pedro, thanks for taking the time. I haven't heard the AE1 actives, but the audible benefits/attributes you've summed-up there are the reasons I too went active, and I would wholly agree. I don't for one minute think a passive set up can't compete (some active converts think this; very myopic IMO), but I have been convinced from listening to both 'hifi' and 'pro' actives that they give you such a head start that a passive setup costing the same price is always going to be playing catch-up, probably until you reach silly money when the differences between similar-priced products become a matter of taste.
 

drummerman

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I just spoke to Musicraft and they can't speak highly enough of them. That is in comparison to much more expensive products.

It just confirms what I am reading elsewhere (and here).

A must try for me very soon.

Glad you are enjoying yours Pedro2 and it seems you have found your hifi for some time to come.
 
drummerman said:
I just spoke to Musicraft and they can't speak highly enough of them. That is in comparison to much more expensive products.

It just confirms what I am reading elsewhere (and here).

A must try for me very soon.

Glad you are enjoying yours Pedro2 and it seems you have found your hifi for some time to come.

Hi drummerman

AE1A’s are amongst my ten favourite loudspeakers of all time. A classic activated *smile*

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft
 

Pedro2

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drummerman said:
I just spoke to Musicraft and they can't speak highly enough of them. That is in comparison to much more expensive products.

It just confirms what I am reading elsewhere (and here).

A must try for me very soon.

Glad you are enjoying yours Pedro2 and it seems you have found your hifi for some time to come.

Cheers Drummerman,

I'd like to think that 'this is it' for several years regarding my hi fi kit but never say never usually holds true in this game! I'm certainly happier with the sound from my present kit than I've ever been. The previous passive set up with ATC SCM11s and Nord power amp was very, very good. Level of detail and speed of response were both top notch. WIth the AE actives, however, there is an additional ingredient that for me, better captures the music at an emotional level. It might be the slightly lower bass response or the sound that appears to be more out of the boxes. It could be that the AEs just hold everything together in a more believable way. I could even understand some preferring the Nord/ATC combo; it would certainly go louder (ear splitting levels were possible!). To me, however, these little speakers are capable of producing great sound and at times, it's just difficult to switch them off and do something more useful with my time (is this possible?)

All the best and try to grab a listen if you can.
 

Pedro2

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They're piano black with the matching stands. They look good (as in the promotional photos on the AE website). Not sure why you've got an amp on its way. Is it for a second system or is it a pre?
 

gasolin

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wonder why they only gave it 9 in sound quality https://www.avforums.com/review/acoustic-energy-ae1-active-speaker-review.13767

Mission LX-2 10 (out of 10) for sound quality https://www.avforums.com/review/mission-lx2-standmount-speaker-review.13229
 

drummerman

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gasolin said:
wonder why they only gave it 9 in sound quality https://www.avforums.com/review/acoustic-energy-ae1-active-speaker-review.13767

 

Mission LX-2 10 (out of 10) for sound quality https://www.avforums.com/review/mission-lx2-standmount-speaker-review.13229

'Only' 9 stars ... ? :)
 

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