wilmslow Audio K100

[Frank Harvey]

I have no extra info. It does say they're selling to retire, and are willing to ease the new owners into the role and introduce them to suppliers etc, so they seem keen for the business to continue. I suppose it just depends if they find a buyer before actually retiring. I was surprised to see a seemingly low turnover figure on the website I saw the ad on, and thought they'd be turning over much more. I've seen stores close down turning over more. New owners making the investment may want to increase prices to help turnover and profitability. But who knows, we're just guessing.

 

[expat_mike]

I have no extra info. It does say they're selling to retire, and are willing to ease the new owners into the role and introduce them to suppliers etc, so they seem keen for the business to continue. I suppose it just depends if they find a buyer before actually retiring. I was surprised to see a seemingly low turnover figure on the website I saw the ad on, and thought they'd be turning over much more. I've seen stores close down turning over more. New owners making the investment may want to increase prices to help turnover and profitability. But who knows, we're just guessing.

Yes the turnover figure did seem very low to me.

 

[hg]

They have been up for sale for a few years. A while ago one of the posters on another forum was keen but did not proceed because the value they placed on the business was a lot more than he could see. If the current owners can sell a running business they will get substantially more than shutting down the business. If the OP is concerned I would ask when the lease is due for renewal which is one of the things that is likely to shutdown a business when it is not doing well and the owners want out.

The business about adjusting prices would be down not up for their drivers which are not in line with the competition like Falcon. ATC would be an exception since I think they are the only outlet for DIYers. As someone that potters with speaker DIY I find there is no reason to visit the site because the prices are uncompetitive and what is being sold is where speaker DIY was quarter of a century ago. So there is clearly potential if they were to stock some more popular brands, more current speaker kit designs, measurement hardware, active crossovers, etc... bringing things into this century. I assume the chap looking to buy was intending to do this but I don't know how big the DIY speaker market is in the UK. It may simply be too small. I don't know. Falcon seems to have gone seriously retro.

 

[lpv]

Andrew, is it - correct me if I'm wrong - the hegel amp that dictate passive route?

As ive already spent a lot on the hegel yes.

BTW as you have avi dm10 and atc active scm40s how do they compare?

Andrew.. I did not really want to mix DM10s review with endless comparision with other speakers/ systems so yeah, this is good time to compare the two..

stereo image - DM10's hands down [ soundstage the 10s can throw? an immersive experience]

bass - once you add sub to DM10s both are equally great [ I would say 10s + sub are more flexible as you can perfectly tune the sub to your room, not really possible with 40s.. also, my BK Gemini II got better extension; the integration between sub and monitors is seamless]

treble - DM10s... smooth, no fatigue listening

midrange - detailed, clear but not analytical.. vocals and real instruments the best I've heard

I thought ATC are honest, true to the recording speakers but once you start comparing you can hear the difference.. DM10s are the new king - faithful, neutral & honest sound what describe them the best... also go incredibly loud and stay composed... this is what I've posted on AVI forum once I've got them set up:

ok.. got them.. 2 hours skipping thru library.. tarika blue, angela bofill, essaie pas, quantic, yutaka, tisha, tokimonsta, danielle decosmo... vivaldi, bacewicz...

martin, ash - in one word: SUPERB
thank you for developing DM10s.
thanks to anyone who - intentionally or not - directed me to AVI
violin sounds incredibly real for the first time in any speaker I've heard; best stereo image I've ever heard; I would call them - most interesting speakers I've ever heard; I'm not missing anything;

Andrew.. no matter what sort of money you've spent so far ( I've spent even more on full ATC set up) you need to listen to DM10s with sub.. clear window to your music; highly recommended.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Andrew, is it - correct me if I'm wrong - the hegel amp that dictate passive route? 

As ive already spent a lot on the hegel yes.

BTW as you have avi dm10 and atc active scm40s how do they compare?

Andrew.. I did not really want to mix DM10s review with endless comparision with other speakers/ systems so yeah, this is good time to compare the two.. 

stereo image - DM10's hands down [ soundstage the 10s can throw? an immersive experience]

bass - once you add sub to DM10s both are equally great [ I would say 10s + sub are more flexible as you can perfectly tune the sub to your room, not really possible with 40s.. also, my BK Gemini II got better extension; the integration between sub and monitors is seamless]

treble - DM10s... smooth, no fatigue listening

midrange - detailed, clear but not analytical.. vocals and real instruments the best I've heard

I thought ATC are honest, true to the recording speakers but once you start comparing you can hear the difference.. DM10s are the new king - faithful, neutral & honest sound what describe them the best... also go incredibly loud and stay composed... this is what I've posted on AVI forum once I've got them set up:

ok.. got them.. 2 hours skipping thru library.. tarika blue, angela bofill, essaie pas, quantic, yutaka, tisha, tokimonsta, danielle decosmo... vivaldi, bacewicz...

martin, ash - in one word: SUPERBthank you for developing DM10s.thanks to anyone who - intentionally or not - directed me to AVIviolin sounds incredibly real for the first time in any speaker I've heard; best stereo image I've ever heard; I would call them - most interesting speakers I've ever heard; I'm not missing anything; 

Andrew.. no matter what sort of money you've spent so far ( I've spent even more on full ATC set up) you need to listen to DM10s with sub..  clear window to your music; highly recommended. 

Wow I thought they would be good but not as good as them. Maybe need to hear them

 

[shadders]

The business about adjusting prices would be down not up for their drivers which are not in line with the competition like Falcon. ATC would be an exception since I think they are the only outlet for DIYers. As someone that potters with speaker DIY I find there is no reason to visit the site because the prices are uncompetitive and what is being sold is where speaker DIY was quarter of a century ago. So there is clearly potential if they were to stock some more popular brands, more current speaker kit designs, measurement hardware, active crossovers, etc... bringing things into this century. I assume the chap looking to buy was intending to do this but I don't know how big the DIY speaker market is in the UK. It may simply be too small. I don't know. Falcon seems to have gone seriously retro.

Hi,

I checked the prices, seem similar to Falcon Acoustics. Are there any other sites you know of to compare prices?

Thanks and regards,

Shadders.

 

[hg]

I checked the prices, seem similar to Falcon Acoustics. Are there any other sites you know of to compare prices?

The first woofer in the list at the Wilmslow site is a SEAS CA12RCY at £56 + VAT + £10 postage = £77.20. The same driver at Falcon is £35.50 + VAT = £42.60 with free delivery plus it is in stock which it almost certainly won't be at Wilmslow. So the first driver at Wilmslow is over 80% more expensive and you would very likely have to wait longer to get it. I am not going to check anymore because this is how it has been for quite a while and I only did it to see if something had changed.

The DIY market for speaker drivers is tiny and the few companies that do sell to the public tend to do it as sideline with the main focus being smaller speaker manufacturers. Larger speaker manufacturers typically order a batch of a few hundred drivers direct from the driver manufacturer. In some ways it is a bit old fashioned with an email/phone call often able to sort out all sorts of queries and negotiations.

You don't say which drivers you are after but a company offering a lower price than the local distributor will probably have to get the driver from the local distributor. There can be exceptions where they have a got batch from somewhere else but that is not usually the case. So a chat with the local distributor is likely to lead to a price match. Official distributors tend to be more reliable to deal with but because they hold significant stock their costs are higher compared to companies that have a website front, hold almost no stock and rely on a business model of slightly undercutting the distributors advertised price. There is a company in Holland that keeps changing its name that has operated like this for a while.

 

[shadders]

Hi,

Thanks, I was checking the scanspeak tweeters and they were similar prices for the more expensive units.

Thanks for the advice, will check other suppliers in future. What does seem to be less available are audax speaker units from Wilmslow Audio.

On another note, DIY seems to be more of a geek type hobby, than it used to be many years ago. We seem to have a throwaway society here in the UK, and peoples approach to technology is much less in trying to understand how it works. So DIY in regards to Electronics and Speaker Building has declined significantly.

Regards,

Shadders

 

[hg]

Thanks, I was checking the scanspeak tweeters and they were similar prices for the more expensive units.

Neither are distributors and so probably don't stock much of the expensive stuff. Scan-Speak increased all their prices by 15% a few months ago and so if you are lucky you may find someone with pre-increase stock willing to sell at the pre-increase price.

What does seem to be less available are audax speaker units from Wilmslow Audio.

As a company I think Audax ceased to exist quite a few years ago. Nonetheless whoever/whatever obtained the remains seems to run off a batch of one or two of their old popular drivers now and again. The motor design is a bit below modern standards and I don't think much if anything is happening in terms of development. They are not bad drivers but I think one would need a firm reason to opt for one today compared to, say, a higher performing driver from an active company like SB Acoustics. I notice that Falcon are not listing the HM100Z0 and so are possibly waiting for the next batch to be run off assuming there is going to be another batch. I don't know but if you ring Falcon they very likely will.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Bear in mind that wilmslow are the only supplier to sell ATC drivers

 

[Andrewjvt]

Andrew, is it - correct me if I'm wrong - the hegel amp that dictate passive aroute? 

As ive already spent a lot on the hegel yes.

BTW as you have avi dm10 and atc active scm40s how do they compare?

Andrew.. I did not really want to mix DM10s review with endless comparision with other speakers/ systems so yeah, this is good time to compare the two.. 

stereo image - DM10's hands down [ soundstage the 10s can throw? an immersive experience]

bass - once you add sub to DM10s both are equally great [ I would say 10s + sub are more flexible as you can perfectly tune the sub to your room, not really possible with 40s.. also, my BK Gemini II got better extension; the integration between sub and monitors is seamless]

treble - DM10s... smooth, no fatigue listening

midrange - detailed, clear but not analytical.. vocals and real instruments the best I've heard

I thought ATC are honest, true to the recording speakers but once you start comparing you can hear the difference.. DM10s are the new king - faithful, neutral & honest sound what describe them the best... also go incredibly loud and stay composed... this is what I've posted on AVI forum once I've got them set up:

ok.. got them.. 2 hours skipping thru library.. tarika blue, angela bofill, essaie pas, quantic, yutaka, tisha, tokimonsta, danielle decosmo... vivaldi, bacewicz...

martin, ash - in one word: SUPERBthank you for developing DM10s.thanks to anyone who - intentionally or not - directed me to AVIviolin sounds incredibly real for the first time in any speaker I've heard; best stereo image I've ever heard; I would call them - most interesting speakers I've ever heard; I'm not missing anything; 

Andrew.. no matter what sort of money you've spent so far ( I've spent even more on full ATC set up) you need to listen to DM10s with sub..  clear window to your music; highly recommended. 

Are you going to sell the acts?

Also do you have surround sound? What would you do for centre speaker

 

[lpv]

as I did not have atc's long I've managed to return them with little loss..

Not sure if DM10s are suitable for av duties? I know others use DM5s.. possibly 10s as main and 5s as rears and centre + appropriate processor..

 

[hg]

Bear in mind that wilmslow are the only supplier to sell ATC drivers

They are the only company selling drivers to the DIY market that I have seen advertising them. I haven't tried (not in my price range) but if you went to a shop selling ATC speakers and asked to buy a non-S replacement driver for a particular speaker there is a fair chance you would get one. I have bought drivers that are not on the DIY market in this way. ATC make some efforts to keep the S drivers for their own speakers and so they may require you to prove you own the relevant speaker before supplying one of those as a replacement. But perhaps they won't I haven't tried.