A strange business model for audio


I purchased a Technic sug700 integrated amp used on here and while it is not perfect (only70 watts aside from class d) I  am enjoying my time with it, as Ricardo would say it looks and sounds marvelous. There were a number of factors I took into consideration including two stellar reviews.
So naturally, I am interested in Panasonic/Technics and what they might be planning. So the buzz is they are getting back in the USA in a big way. Yet when I try to contact either the parent corp. or Technics I either get a nonworking number, nonworking email address, or some useless computer directing me to those nonworking numbers. I also found out if something went wrong with the amp.it  would have to be shipped 2000mi to fla. When I called their dealers none of the locals had any of my amps in inventory and were awaiting their first shipments. I have not run across any ads or other reviews son I guess they are not reaching out to them why not I  wonder,if it was a kef LS50 there would be a dozen reviews. This product line has been out for at least 3 years. It is as if they abandoned the US market or the marketing and distribution  depts. are incompetent. Just saying my experence.

scott22
This is even true with cars. For example, an Austrian company, called Steyer something, makes the current Supra that everyone thinks is a BMW. The fact is that the BMW is also a Steyer, as are all 5 series BMW's, the Mercedes G series etc.



You mean Magna Steyr, who would be similar to Foxconn in that they are a contract manufacturer, but in the same sense Apple phones are very much Apple products and not Foxconn, the Supra is very much a Toyota, as BMWs are BMWs.  Yes there are companies that simply sell products that are made by someone else, called private labelling, your examples are not an accurate representation of this even if Foxconn especially participates in this practice.


Everyone wants everything cheap, now, and from anywhere in the world. Support costs money.  Given the choice of paying $1,100 with support of $1,000 without, most will take $1,000.  What does a 15 minute phone call cost a company?  Every time you need to "touch" the customer, it costs money.  That comes out of profit which after everyone is paid may not be much. Companies makes choices. I suspect most here own cars. How much direct contact have you had directly with the car manufacturer and not their independently operated dealers?  If you a customer that expects lots of support, pick companies that specialize in that and expect to pay a premium.
Purchased a Mytek DAC from Music Direct.  Had a problem with it, contacted Mytek, 3 days to respond only to tell me to do a reset.  That did not work. Never heard from them again.  Packed it up and sent it back to Music Direct for refund.  The only way to change this behavior is for people like us to get the word out about manufacturers who do not respond.  I will never buy another Mytek device.
Purchased a Mytek DAC from Music Direct.  Had a problem with it, contacted Mytek, 3 days to respond only to tell me to do a reset.  That did not work. Never heard from them again.  Packed it up and sent it back to Music Direct for refund.  The only way to change this behavior is for people like us to get the word out about manufacturers who do not respond.  I will never buy another Mytek device.
Mytek is a very small company.  Michal ran it out of an apartment in NY for many years, handled everything himself.  He's quite bright, which is why Mytek is ahead of many others in product development.  One of the reasons Mytek is affordable is due to far lower operating costs than say, a Panasonic, which has legions of people to feed all over the world.   Panasonic needs to multiply their build cost times 6 at least to stay in business.  Mytek likely marks build cost up by 1.5 to stay in business.  In this way they can deliver a much higher performance product than Panasonic for a much lower price.  Given all that, logic says they are smaller, fewer people, with those people doing more jobs than a big company to keep costs down.   So you want to trash them because they didn't call you back fast enough?    What "behavior" are you are trying to change?   
Lone Mountain