Let me clarify, guys & gals...
I will share a little more info with you than is typical from a manufacturer; I hope you don't mind.
When we announced NightHawk and began exhibiting at tradeshows, our many dealers & distributors worldwide were quite excited after listening to and experiencing these 'phones. Our dealers wanted to reserve their "spot in line" for the first shipping units given how much excitement surrounded NightHawk (we don't typically do this). This gave us some idea of demand, and back in January we doubled our initial production run, procuring the necessary parts and materials at that time. Note: these were not true pre-orders since no money was exchanged. And we have no knowledge if any of our dealers have allowed pre-orders with their customers, but I highly doubt that these initial units have entirely been spoken for by end-users.
As of last week, we have begun shipping units to dealers/distributors worldwide, but it will take us a couple weeks to fulfill our total back-order. There are hundreds of selling locations (both online and brick & mortar) who will have units by the end of this week if they don't already have them.
Quote:
I'm a dealer for audioquest, I called my rep to get a pair and was told that the nighthawks are sold out and the next production run won't be until December. What is that about? Go on sale for two days, now we can't get a pair for another 6 months? That's insanity. I've already waited a year. Skylar, mind commenting?
You may have gotten some incorrect info. We are not sold out, but we have to fulfill our back-orders first. This will take a couple weeks if you didn't already reserve your spot in line. The next production run is most definitely not December! Don't worry about that. Once we get over this initial back-order hump in the next couple weeks, there should be no issues with NightHawk supply.
Uh oh!
If this is true, Skylar's got sum 'splaning to do!
To be fair, this kind of Schiit happens all the time when a company (even a well established one like Audioquest) decides to manufacture a complex product (like an all-new headphone design that uses
all one-of-a-kind parts) from scratch. All it takes is
just one critical part to become unavailable for whatever reason, and 'poof', there goes your supply chain lead times.
True, there have been numerous challenges associated with the many new materials, parts, assemblies, and processes involved in making NightHawk. By the way, I really appreciate everyone's patience. We are trying to move the state of headphone design and manufacturing forward by improving performance while also creating a more sustainable product. Anyway, we have an efficiently controlled supply chain...no need to worry about delays associated with materials or parts, barring some kind of natural disaster affecting the supply of neodymium from Japan or something similar.
I've been in custom AV for a long time, this doesn't happen often, if ever, especially not without notice. If a vendor told my firm that they would have to wait 6+ months for a production run, they would get kicked to the curb real quick like. It would make more sense for them to not release the product until they can fill orders.
I'm real curious about what the deal is.
I agree. We don't do this at AQ.
Is it possible that the entire first run were all spoken for/purchased through pre-orders? I know that is unlikely and , if so , they haven't produced nearly enough units for their initial release , obviously , but thought maybe it's possible??? thoughts?
Not possible. We have dealers/distributors who have reserved spots in line to get theirs first. But after a couple weeks, dealers will be stocked up, and we will have more units to spare for future orders. Note that this is dealers not end-users. As far as I know, there are no pre-orders from an end-user standpoint. Check out your local dealer (online or physical)...should be able to start purchasing before the end of this week.
I was told online retailers like crutchfield and Amazon got the bulk of it. That's why Id like to hear what skylar says.
Nope. Not true at all. By the way, we don't sell to Amazon. NightHawk will be available on Amazon by some of our authorized dealers only.
Just did a quick check. Hi-Def Lifestyles and Electronics Expo are selling NightHawk via Amazon as of this moment.
