[hadron70]

I m in

Me too! (finally I got to say that)

 

[Om ma Ni]

I've been away for a time, now I have to read that.
This is very sad.
But no real surprise. We already guessed that.
Already starting with the low KS prices made me suspicious.

As one who paid the low price I would be willing to pay even a few hundred "credit units" (my term for punds/dollars/euros) extra, but I don't think every body else would do so also.
I'd even pay a monthly amount of 10-20 credit units for Realiser exchange/as a service fee to keep up at least the support.

It's so so sad that they're good technicians but not so good businessmen.

Stephen even wanted to give me the hardware upgrades for free because I contributed a little bit to the debugging process!
I declined that!
At least Imwould have said that he gives me a little discount, not totally free, but I didn't want to send the unit back and forth, it's too precious to me to get lost or damaged.

I can not really afford to buy a 2nd A16 at the moment. And this doesn't really help much In the long run they'll need a constant cash flow, at least for support.

How can we help them and who's willing to do so?

Nice to see you back Audiohobbit..
I paid the extra to have my A16 earlier as i was a preorder customer in beginning...then went for the hardware upgrade etc.. now i know that this money was directed to support the flow for their small business..
After all this silence we discovered that they are struggling..we should help them as A16 members around the world.

 

[Litlgi74]

Hello Friends...

I'm all for helping a struggling business... Especially one that I've already invested in... But instead of throwing money at the problem... Maybe they could offer something that would cost them nothing up front but would be valuable, and worth the cost to the end user... Such as an extended warranty. Having gone through an under warranty repair, I for one would be very interested in financial peace of mind in future repairs.


I will send Mike an email to get his take on things.

I also have updates from the Smyth's about my 24 channel problems which I will post soon.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

They should have told us that story a long time ago. I understand now what they are going through though it is still a big question mark for every kickstarters and pre-orders involved.
No more “what is going on” on our part…They are in deep sh..That I can put a face on.
The thing that worries me the most is the timing of their “coming out” ; if you state things as they are, it usually means that you have nothing left to lose by saying it. Strangely, now that I know, I feel even more worried. And yet I wanted to know the truth in the 1st place.

There is still a hopeful prospect, they are hanging by the skin of their teeth. Meaning they have not yet given up.

This situation was quite apparent for a long time now. They got the pricing wrong, and they are experiencing cash flow issues. I think I wrote that three years ago. I also wrote that the sale of product at retail pricing was the only thing keeping the doors open. I paid full retail, b/c I think the product is worthwhile and I think they just might be able to thread that needle. They almost have the kickstarters orders fulfilled. All they need to do is fill out the 150 or so presales, and they'll be able to do business nornally. Hopefully this will take no more than a year or at most two. It speaks to their perseverance that they continue to soldier on with this endeavor.

 

[sander99]

an extended warranty

I think that is an excellent idea.

 

[Thomasphoenix98]

I’m not a Kickstarter backer, got it at full price . I would still pitch in, It's a unique and special product the A16, no corporation would ever make a product like this. The Smyths deserve my support.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I think that is an excellent idea.

If they wanted to sell an extended warranty of, say, five years for $500, I would buy into that.

 

[ivanrocks321]

Very sad to hear this news but it was also on my mind this may have been the case. I’m a bit surprised still since they have successfully dev and sold the A8. But I’m all in for starting a support funding and or ideas like extra warranty or room measurements. But it would be a good idea to know what kind of target they need to reach to get back to normal functioning or closer to that. For ppl with units already more reviews and awareness to other markets besides us HF ppl may increase msrp sales as well.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Very sad to hear this news but it was also on my mind this may have been the case. I’m a bit surprised still since they have successfully dev and sold the A8. But I’m all in for starting a support funding and or ideas like extra warranty or room measurements. But it would be a good idea to know what kind of target they need to reach to get back to normal functioning or closer to that. For ppl with units already more reviews and awareness to other markets besides us HF ppl may increase msrp sales as well.

It isn't exactly news, it has been posted here for a few years that Smyth is slow with delivering Kickstarters and preorders and selling items at full price meanwhile to keep in business.
Also, a large Asian distributor has invested in them and distributes worldwide at full price.
So no news at all, apart from the fact that they gave a 20% BF discount on full price for a limited time.

 

[You Gene]

Last communication from James mentioned on the HCFR forum :
https://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum...-realiser-a16-voir-post-1-t30075654-1950.html
..."We are running low in boards and plan to buy more in Q1 2021. So an estimation would be 4 months at the earliest."...

I am all in favour of helping them out as suggested earlier but do we know how far gone they are ?

 

[pervysage]

Do y'all think the life expectancy of the screen on the A16 is of any concern for someone who keeps the unit on pretty much all the time? I've been using the screen saver feature it has so it just turns off (although I don't think it actually fully turns off because you can just barely see the screen still on just very, very dimmed down) after 5 minutes of inactivity but just curious. I do enjoy having the screen on but use the screen off feature anyways... am I worrying for no reason? lol.

 

[Om ma Ni]

Do y'all think the life expectancy of the screen on the A16 is of any concern for someone who keeps the unit on pretty much all the time? I've been using the screen saver feature it has so it just turns off (although I don't think it actually fully turns off because you can just barely see the screen still on just very, very dimmed down) after 5 minutes of inactivity but just curious. I do enjoy having the screen on but use the screen off feature anyways... am I worrying for no reason? lol.

Good question...interesting concern..from my side..i just had issue with the genuine A16 AC/DC power adapter...it s making noise and hot when the A16 is on atm..so i think that it will be gone soon...I am not sure if it s bc the hardware upgrade (new hdmi card and 24 channel etc) and also bc i am running the a16 on balanced HP mode (sucking too much power from the power adaptor)?..
Should i replace it with a generic one with a bit more power output? The genuine one is rated 12V DC 3A as output so 32W power output..
Everyone should check this issue as it can be tricky to detect bc we are wearing HP with loud sound most of the time when using the A16..

 

[audiohobbit]

It seems that the display itself is not turned off, just the backlight.

On the AC adapter possible replacement I already had an answer from Stephen:

I would recommend 9 volts (minimum 3 amps or 27 watts). But often 12 volt supplies are easier to find since the voltage is common for LED PSUs. You can use a regulated or switching PSU. Regulated supplies are bigger and much less efficient, but they are quiet. Irrespective of the voltage, the power needs to 27 watts or greater. The DC connector is 2.5mm x 5.5mm.

Damn, if I woul be living in Northern Ireland near the Smyths I'd go to them and assemble A16s for free in my spare time.

The Realiser is so important to me, without it, I can give up my hobby, because I don't think that I will find again an apartment without neighbours to be as loud as I want to. I was so lucky to have this for 7 years and I got used to listen to movies and music at relatively high volume (as loud as in real cinema) which is not possible in normal apartments.

 

[Om ma Ni]

It seems that the display itself is not turned off, just the backlight.

On the AC adapter possible replacement I already had an answer from Stephen:


Damn, if I woul be living in Northern Ireland near the Smyths I'd go to them and assemble A16s for free in my spare time.

The Realiser is so important to me, without it, I can give up my hobby, because I don't think that I will find again an apartment without neighbours to be as loud as I want to. I was so lucky to have this for 7 years and I got used to listen to movies and music at relatively high volume (as loud as in real cinema) which is not possible in normal apartments.

What does Stephen mean by Quiet for the regulated power supplies? Are they making less db noise or electronic inline noise?
Asking bc i was planning to get a medical grade AC DC power adaptor 12V 3.34A..

 

[audiohobbit]

I think he mainly was talking about audible noise from the unit itself. The reason for my question (back in May) was the complaints of some users about high pitched noises from the power adapter.
But I can imagine that a non switching unit also puts out less "dirty" signals, but I don't really know for sure.