Emotiva Goes Brick and Mortar

emotiva seems to be changing a couple of things--adding retailers and moving their manufacturing back to the states. though they claim otherwise, you have to believe this will have the effect of raising prices (or at least keeping prices higher than they would be under the internet only/made in china model), though i guess they gain some cost benefit from scaling. it'll be interseting to see what this does to thier brand cachet.

Dan Laufman proclaimed: “By the end of the year, over half of our revenue will be derived from American-made product, and we’ll do it without raising prices.”

That's a laugh coming from the guy who raised the price on the their flagship XMC-1 from $1595 to $1995 and now to $2495 - all in the past year. And a good part of their entire lineup have gotten price increases in the past year in addition to eliminating several options Emo offered to lower prices - eClub, etc....

-RW-

And the XMC-1 I ordered 6 weeks ago has STILL NOT SHIPPED...

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i see emotiva's prices are still significantly cheaper than comparable gear from the other "affordable hifi" players (parasound/rotel), though they seem to be moving their product line more towards higher-priced (presumably higher margin) "reference" gear. i'm curious to see if they can retain their momentum with the new model--i've always suspected that their customer base, sorta like hyundai's, is highly cost-driven

Who do they think they are, Bose?

They tried the retail model with Sherbourn and failed miserably. Saying prices will not go up means they've probably been getting far bigger margins than they let on with the ID model. These amps must cost 20% or so of their sticker price if there's room for a retail chain. An XPA-2 costs $899 at present. What does it cost them to manufacture that amp, $150-180?

I never liked Emotiva's bright house sound, but I simply don't want an amp whose parts are so cheaply made. My Parasound Halo has better quality parts, looks, and sound. There is no free lunch.

Also I concur with the above comment that they've been raising prices leading up to this move. I think there have been at least 2 price increases in the last 3 years.