Hovland Company was done in by a combination of low cash reserves and the extremely high cost of manufacturing its hand-built products. See the link below for the full story. http://www.stereophile.com/content/hovland-calls-it-quits |
Don't I know it. 8 years on since I bought my Hovland HP200 tube pre and Radia SS power amp, it still rankles with me that this fantastic company, with brilliantly engineered products, and a design aesthetic years ahead of the competition, went to the wall. I won't let you on fully to the details of which I know plenty, but the pressure for disproportionately higher markups of European distributors wrt US ones really did it for the company. Once you have to keep raising prices to satisfy middlemen margins, your market will shrink. And magnified by the hugher prices needing to be charged to produce the high quality of their hand built products. No wonder Wyetech labs go for direct sales model. Eight years on, I haven't found a pre to displace the HP200 (the Ruby Std may be v.interesting), and my Radia is still in use, as my rear spkrs AV duty, while SET monoblocks have taken over music duties. What I'm even more amazed by is that Hovland seem to be one of the few, if maybe only, high end companies with a 5 star reputation, that went to the wall. If Hovland died, how come eg BAT, Ayre etc managed to survive? |
I will have a chance to listen to the new Ruby STD next week. I came real close to purchasing an Opal but could not get my mind around the cosmetics, lack of remote, and the very industrial looking design. If the Ruby STD is that much better than the Opal, I just might get over my former reservations. I just wish Roger would give us a remote option, a non-purple option, and cleaner less homemade look. At a minimum, bring back the gold plated knobs |
