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Heritage pricing?


jimjimbo

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^^^ 1997 Dealer Pricing & Brochures, someone please post in plain text; don't know how to do that...

I have access to Acrobat at work. So I may be able to split it up into individual pages... and either convert it to a high res jpg or plain text.

 

 

Installing acrobat would be easier than viewing 12 individual pictures. Doing OCR on the pages gives pretty disastrous results.

 

Here's some as JPGs:

 

 

post-5045-0-06160000-1429412535_thumb.jp

post-5045-0-85360000-1429412547_thumb.jp

post-5045-0-94200000-1429412560_thumb.jp

post-5045-0-22080000-1429412572_thumb.jp

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Heritage pricing seems fine to me.  All speakers need a certain amount of engineering to design and tune, and horn speakers may need more engineering than simple box speakers do.

 

The engineering cost doesn't show up in the parts list, but it still has to be paid by the company.  And if it's eventually considered to be amortized in the case of a long-running design, should the company then reap the benefits or should they then lower the prices?

 

Simple objects like living room furniture usually have a 50% markup at the dealer level, I was told long ago by someone in the business, and their engineering is not in the league of speaker engineering.  This is because it costs so much to rent or buy the space to display all that bulky merchandise.  Even if it's not in a showroom, it has to be stored somewhere, and warehouses cost money, too.

 

Porsche cars have a 30% markup, but they sell all they can make, and you don't hear much grumbling about the prices.  They're high-quality high-performance products that make their owners very happy.  The size of the markup keeps the company healthy, which lets its customers know the company won't be disappearing anytime soon.

 

Klipsch Heritage speakers are a similar product.  They're built to perform well, and to keep performing well.  My 1974 La Scalas cost me close to their original price when I bought them in 2006, and I'm not complaining at all.  They probably sound better now than they did when they were new, because of their updated and upgraded caps and tweeters.

 

How many home audio products are likely to be listed in a person's will?  With Heritage speakers, it's almost a given.

 

PWK himself said something to the effect of, "I don't make these expensive speakers for everyone.  I make them for the 1% who can appreciate fine music and its accurate reproduction."

Edited by Islander
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From seti's tagline:

 

 

...Judging from what contact I have with the general public, though, I conclude that 99 percent of the general public doesn't even know what accuracy of reproduction is.

 

My company is for the one percent composed of perfectionists who buy these expensive speakers.

 

PWK

 

That's a pretty interesting quote, IMHO.  It also tells you something about why his loudspeaker designs live on--70 years after their original design (e.g., the Khorn bass bin) basically unchanged and why they still function properly after all those years without much more than replacing capacitors in the passive crossovers every twenty years or so.

 

Chris

Edited by Chris A
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From seti's tagline:

 

 

...Judging from what contact I have with the general public, though, I conclude that 99 percent of the general public doesn't even know what accuracy of reproduction is.

 

My company is for the one percent composed of perfectionists who buy these expensive speakers.

 

PWK

 

That's a pretty interesting quote, IMHO.  It also tells you something about why his loudspeaker designs live on--70 years after their original design (e.g., the Khorn bass bin) basically unchanged and why they still function properly after all those years without much more than replacing capacitors in the passive crossovers every twenty years or so.

 

Chris

 

 

I wish audio retailers still had listening/comparison rooms.  I believe given the opportunity a good percentage of the general public could discern "accuracy of reproduction".

 

While this doesn't answer the question of higher pricing I think this story is worth sharing.    PWK used to set up a pair of Khorns and set up a pair of Heresies in front of them.  He would first play the Heresies for the listener, of course they thought the sound was coming from the Khorn.  Needless to say, the listener thought the Heresies were awesome compared to the "run of the mill" speaker.  Only then did PWK play the Khorns for them.  It was almost always a sure sale for Heresies, leaving the customer longing for the higher end Khorn,which ultimately led to future sales. This sales method probably resulted in lower sales initially, but based on stories of upgrades by our own forum members I think that sales presentation worked out just fine for PWK.

Edited by dtel's wife
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"You've been mis-informed..."

 

No, the margins have increased over the years when I was a dealer ('78~'88). Klipsch had less margin in the 70's, but it increased a bit in the 80's.

 

Back then the basic discount was only 35 points off of list, there was a prompt payment discount, and you had to order at least $3500 (at cost level) to qualify for free freight, and if you couldn't pay the bill promptly you lost the freight as well.

 

Now it looks like if you pay promptly the discount can be right at 50 points, and freight is paid at only $2000.

 

I see from the two sheets that they increased the basic disount in '97, but decreased the prompt payment discount, and you had to pay faster too.

 

If you expect brick-and-mortar dealers to have product for you to listen to they need about 30 points to keep the doors open.

 

 

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"You've been mis-informed..."

 

No, the margins have increased over the years when I was a dealer ('78~'88). Klipsch had less margin in the 70's, but it increased a bit in the 80's.

 

Back then the basic discount was only 35 points off of list, there was a prompt payment discount, and you had to order at least $3500 (at cost level) to qualify for free freight, and if you couldn't pay the bill promptly you lost the freight as well.

 

Now it looks like if you pay promptly the discount can be right at 50 points, and freight is paid at only $2000.

 

I see from the two sheets that they increased the basic disount in '97, but decreased the prompt payment discount, and you had to pay faster too.

 

If you expect brick-and-mortar dealers to have product for you to listen to they need about 30 points to keep the doors open.

I was in a high end Audio Boutique in San Antonio about 2 years ago and they had brand new Klipschorns on display with brand new high end McIntosh gear.

Roger

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Nevermind, I see right at 50% below.

"You've been mis-informed..."

No, the margins have increased over the years when I was a dealer ('78~'88). Klipsch had less margin in the 70's, but it increased a bit in the 80's.

Back then the basic discount was only 35 points off of list, there was a prompt payment discount, and you had to order at least $3500 (at cost level) to qualify for free freight, and if you couldn't pay the bill promptly you lost the freight as well.

Now it looks like if you pay promptly the discount can be right at 50 points, and freight is paid at only $2000.

I see from the two sheets that they increased the basic disount in '97, but decreased the prompt payment discount, and you had to pay faster too.

If you expect brick-and-mortar dealers to have product for you to listen to they need about 30 points to keep the doors open.

Edited by Sancho Panza
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