I think companies should charge what they need to for service to turn a profit on it. I suspect Thiel could charge a lot since they have such devoted owners and there's very little new being sold that would be a legitimate replacement.
Since Thiel has discontinued all of the traditional Thiel designs and concepts I wonder if they could sell/give away the service part of the business to a former competitor. There must be a company that could carry on the servicing of older Thiel products that would like to get a foot in the door with Thiel owners. Say Vandersteen bought it so when the 30 year old Thiel speaker can't be repaired anymore they can offer a replacement that has at least some of the qualities that Thiel owners value.
The idea that anybody is going to buy a pair of Thiels once a year is silly. There probably are a few people who will do it for a few years while they're moving up the line but nobody will do it for long.
How does buying from a discounter deprive a manufacturer of revenue? Haven't you already been paid at that point? For almost 100% of people price is a factor. Once you've been in the hobby for a while you really don't need the dealer as much. I'm comfortable buying with little or no audition in a store. I would be willing in some cases to rent a product for a while to see if I want to buy it. I don't know if anyone has that service. Some dealers let you try something out for free. I tend to think the dealer should get something for this as it is a very valuable service. If I don't buy then the dealer gets nothing. If I do then maybe take what I paid in rent off of the price.
Since Thiel has discontinued all of the traditional Thiel designs and concepts I wonder if they could sell/give away the service part of the business to a former competitor. There must be a company that could carry on the servicing of older Thiel products that would like to get a foot in the door with Thiel owners. Say Vandersteen bought it so when the 30 year old Thiel speaker can't be repaired anymore they can offer a replacement that has at least some of the qualities that Thiel owners value.
The idea that anybody is going to buy a pair of Thiels once a year is silly. There probably are a few people who will do it for a few years while they're moving up the line but nobody will do it for long.
How does buying from a discounter deprive a manufacturer of revenue? Haven't you already been paid at that point? For almost 100% of people price is a factor. Once you've been in the hobby for a while you really don't need the dealer as much. I'm comfortable buying with little or no audition in a store. I would be willing in some cases to rent a product for a while to see if I want to buy it. I don't know if anyone has that service. Some dealers let you try something out for free. I tend to think the dealer should get something for this as it is a very valuable service. If I don't buy then the dealer gets nothing. If I do then maybe take what I paid in rent off of the price.