[joshuamercer]

Can't say for sure, only that it's a brand new company and he hasn't officially launched the product.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Why don't they have more of a web presence? I'm all in favor of new companies, but this is like vaporware.

Look up Livewires on head-fi. You'll see what they are known for (terrible service).
 

 

[music_4321]

 
Quote:

I tried the ES3X demo unit, but (as even discussed on here) the differences between that and a full custom are negligable.  At least in my opinion, if you're getting a good seal then the sound is reaching your ear drums fairly accurately. 
 
As for it being odd, sure.  I had initially selected Livewires after having my fears assuaged when talking with Marc and Amy (the new operators of Livewires), and upon speaking with him he suggested his new brand that he hasn't debuted when i mentioned that i wasn't crazy about those Frankenstein's Monster bolts on the side of the orginal LW sets. 
 
The only reason i mentioned that it's the new High-end brand is because Marc actually used those words.  Whether or not you'd notice a difference in quality between Alclair and LW remains to be seen in this generation of LW products.  All i know, man, is that i experienced the kind of customer support experience i personally require before pulling the trigger on a custom product.  I feel totally comfortable in saying that people will have a great experience with the new operators of LW when they call for more information or for orders. 

 

No matter how far or how close the sound differences between the ES3X demos and ES3X full customs are, it's always better, more honest & accurate to clearly state they were demos, otherwise, at least to me, it seems (somewhat) misleading and biased.
 
There are, in fact, more people who claim sound differences are substantial, others (fewer people) say they're not. I'm inclined to believe they're not substantial, but saying they're "negligible" suggests there really aren't any differences. Let readers judge by themselves by stating clearly the ES3Xs you tried were demos.
 

 

[joshuamercer]

The ES3X's i tried were demos.  The sound difference between the Alclair Flatlines and the ES3X are modest at best. 
 
Hopefully you guys can form your own opinion around this instead of taking what i say as absolute fact. 

 

[sari0n]

Well, to be fair, despite Livewire's bad reputation their headphones are known to sound pretty good, I'm not too surprised that they rival the ES3x's.  You will get more attention for sure if you post a more detailed review and maybe some more pictures.

 

[goodvibes]

But does Alclair actually exist? It's been a while to not have paticipation on their social sites or to not have a web site.

 

[ttblondey]

what's the price for their alclair 2/3 drivers or how many drivers do they have.I have bought from them Marc and Amy 2drivers which i like very much so far no complain about them from me.

 

[joshuamercer]

I paid $399 for the triple driver version he's calling Flatliner, they've got a dual driver (not sure on the price), and a quad driver (also not sure on the price).  Just call the guy, he's very well informed about his products and he's committed to restoring Livewires name. 

 

[average_joe]

I spoke with Marc today from Alclair/Livewires. First Livewires. Staring in 08 his company took over manufacture for Livewires, which was run out of CA while manufacture was done in Minnesota. In September 2010 his company took over all operations of Livewires. Recently he has tweaked both the Dual ($249) and Trips ($379) for better sound with new dirvers/crossovers, but it is still along the same sound signature. Livewires is alive and well!
 
Alclair is his new company that he is still working on starting in addition to running Livewires and his other related businesses. Alclair has two triples ($399 to $499 price range TBD) and a dual ($249 to $299 price range, TBD) at this time and some others in development. The new models have been designed from scratch which have different sound signatures than the Livewires. Marc is a great guy and the recommendation to call or email him is a good one!

 

[rroseperry]

Maybe I missed it, but was there contact information posted for Marc and/or the new company? I'm not personally interested, but there may be people reading this thread who would like to contact him.

 

[joshuamercer]

It's the same contact information for the Livewires support but i'll post it anyways so it's handy. 
 
http://www.earimpressions.com/contact/contactus.cfm
 
 
MATRICS IMPRESSION SYSTEMS
8780 Jefferson Highway
Osseo, MN 55369
USA
Telephone: 763.315.3007
Toll-Free: 800.933.9899
Fax: 763.315.3118

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

I spoke with Marc today from Alclair/Livewires. First Livewires. Staring in 08 his company took over manufacture for Livewires, which was run out of CA while manufacture was done in Minnesota. In September 2010 his company took over all operations of Livewires. Recently he has tweaked both the Dual ($249) and Trips ($379) for better sound with new dirvers/crossovers, but it is still along the same sound signature. Livewires is alive and well!
 
Alclair is his new company that he is still working on starting in addition to running Livewires and his other related businesses. Alclair has two triples ($399 to $499 price range TBD) and a dual ($249 to $299 price range, TBD) at this time and some others in development. The new models have been designed from scratch which have different sound signatures than the Livewires. Marc is a great guy and the recommendation to call or email him is a good one!

Really? Because if Livewires is alive and well, and buying from them is a good idea, then why was their reputation so terrible that Marc had to change the name of the company so people wouldn't realize it was Livewires?
 
I'm really surprised that people would want to work the same guy who was behind Livewires--people on head-fi had very, very bad experiences with him. Just do a search on Livewires, it's not like it's a secret or something.
 
It seems like awful advice to work with Marc. Hopefully people will go with 1964 Ears or another company instead.
 

 
 

 

[rroseperry]

The Livewire threads are pretty horrible. But since the USA is the land of second acts, I'm not completely willing to write this company off.

But, and there's a big but, the website is not identified as being Alclair, but an impressions company. The whole thing seems incredibly opaque, imo. There are three names of three companies presumably sharing an address, linked by this guy Marc.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

The Livewire threads are pretty horrible. But since the USA is the land of second acts, I'm not completely willing to write this company off.

But, and there's a big but, the website is not identified as being Alclair, but an impressions company. The whole thing seems incredibly opaque, imo. There are three names of three companies presumably sharing an address, linked by this guy Marc.

It's very sketchy and Marc is known for being very nice until you give him money and then, when you need a refit or there's a quality control issue, he does what he is known for: Terrible, terrible service, ignored emails and calls, months and months of waiting.

 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

So to be clear, as I'm quite lost in the sauce, Marc has two customs companies or he renamed Livewires?  Otherwise why have two separate operations?  No real good reason I can think of.  Though I could think of some others.