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Is Mana Back?

Poor Hermann got taken to the cleaners big time with a very large order not getting delivered despite payment. Hope he's well. Nice guy.
 
Paskin, I am in agreement with you, I was very into Mana back in the 90's, spent lots of money and time setting up but after a few years I gave up on all the angle iron and glass and went over to Torlyte from Russ Andrews. Mana did inject excitement into the music but ultimately I got listener fatigue, Torlyte is the polar opposite really. Mana was very addictive which is why it sold so well for a long time. I still use the wall shelf for my turntable with a Torlyte base and I still occasionally wear the Mana t shirt!!
 
Spike said:
Poor Hermann got taken to the cleaners big time with a very large order not getting delivered despite payment. Hope he's well. Nice guy.
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Indeed, he posted a public statement on his own cube-m.de site, which no loner exists, though I do have a copy safely archived (along with many examples of Mana unpleasantness). Here is Hermann's statement in it's entirety exactly as it appeared on his web site:

Some background info on the end of the co-operation between Cube Media and Mana Audio, UK

Because of the numerous requests for some information about why we ended our co-operation with Mana Audio, Cube Media would like to make a general statement. Please note that the following will inevitably be the personal viewpoint of Cube Media’s owner, and that there will certainly be different views of the facts.

Distribution was started in October 2004 with the aim of improved customer contact and better service for non-English-speaking customers and interested parties. Cube Media saw a very successful start in its new venture. Thanks to a presentation of Mana Audio products in the German magazine ‘Audio’, a co-operation with three other companies in the hi-fi industry and the enthusiastic hard work of Cube Media’s owner, Mana Audio products established a strong market presence and much-improved brand recognition in the German-speaking countries, all this in a relatively short time.

Not long after the start of the distribution, problems started to appear. Mana Audio’s delivery times for some products were more than twice as long as promised. Requests for product info were sometimes answered only after 7-9 months and after massive pressure from Cube Media.

Because of this situation, many customers cancelled their orders and – understandably – went for other products. Cube Media was unable to change this situation as all attempts to establish delivery times that were in line with market requirements were in vain. On the contrary, after the first deliveries, the delivery times got even longer, in some cases up to nine months. Cube Media was in the unfortunate position of having won many new customers, but not being able to fulfil orders.

Cube Media’s last order was dated June 23rd, 2005. In light of the then friendship between the principals of the two companies, Cube Media had been prepared to pay half the order amount upfront with orders (in the case of the last order, an amount of 2,340.58 euros) and the balance upon delivery. However, shortly after the transfer of the first instalment, Mana Audio asked for payment of the balance (in this case 2,427.5 euros) and offered to include two products free of charge in compensation. The bank transfer was made by Cube Media on July 5th, 2005.

The order was to be delivered 6-8 weeks after receiving the first payment. On September 9th, 2005, Cube Media contacted the Mana Audio factory to enquire about the state of the order. The staff member said that at that time, not even the materials which were necessary to fulfil all of the open orders had been delivered to Mana Audio.

In a phone call in mid-December, John Watson/Mana Audio said the business had been closed in November 2005, and that all production materials had been stored in a container. He offered those materials to Cube Media free of charge, on condition of collection, as “compensation in part” of the loss from the last order. However, the list that he sent revealed that the materials were basically scrap which could only be sold as replacement parts, if at all. The costs of collection were out of all proportion to the possible benefit. Cube Media declined this offer.

In a phone call on February 18th, 2006, John Watson said that he was shortly going to start production again. Cube Media declined to act as distributor for the new venture.

On November 7th, 2005, John Watson had signed an application to strike off Mana Audio Ltd. (see the link). Through this, he also declared that Mana Audio had not been trading for a period of at least three months, i.e. at least since August 7th, 2005. It is difficult to imagine that John Watson could not have foreseen the cessation of business on July 5th, 2005 (the date of the request for paying the second instalment for Cube Media’s last order).

Cube Media is going public with this to alert others about the potential risks of doing business with a future venture in which John Watson may be the owner or the managing director. Mana Audio products could be bought (direct from Mana Audio) only on condition of payment in advance. Obviously, in the previous venture in which John Watson was the managing director, customer monies were used to finance production. The risk was thus exclusively on the side of the customer.

The facts are that to this day, Mana Audio has not fulfilled an order from Cube Media and has not returned the money that was paid in advance.
For further info, please contact us.

Cube Media

Wuppertal 24.03.2006
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John said:
Looking at this photo, it looks like the front right spikes are significantly more imbedded in to the boards than the other spikes. Didn't Mana make stronger boards to handle the extra weight? I can't imagine that would be a good thing.

DSC_0220_zpsbf55daf5.jpg
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Blzebub said:
What that photo shows is nothing of the sort. It shows nice bokeh.
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To me it looks like the front right spikes are imbedded into the board about 4mm, are you saying they're not?

sinkage2.jpg
 
Tony L said:
Indeed, he posted a public statement on his own cube-m.de site, which no loner exists, though I do have a copy safely archived (along with many examples of Mana unpleasantness). Here is Hermann's statement in it's entirety exactly as it appeared on his web site:
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The Wrapping-up Mana docs posted on companies' house *before* orders were taken (and not delivered) was naughty as well.

Trust Mana 2.0 with a credit card? Holey moley.

I particularly don't like bullies like John Watson who sit at home and get stoned or drunk or whatever it is they get pumped up on and think they can intimidate people, friends of mine, from the safety of their telephone. Its cheap, its cowardly and when more people stand up to this kind of asinine behaviour that kind of coward goes away. They work on people in isolation. I'm not exactly afraid of that kind of tactic. As time went on I heard reports it was common and is one reason pretty much why everyone went away.

Cowardly bullies need putting in their place. Line drawn. No excuses, zero tolerance.
 
fox said:
The Wrapping-up Mana docs posted on companies' house *before* orders were taken (and not delivered) was naughty as well.

....

Bullies need putting in their place. Line drawn. No excuses, zero tolerance.
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One of the reasons I keep the pfm 'The End Of Mana Audio' thread safely tucked away in the reference room is it documents both the time-line and the behaviour. There's a hell of a lot of noise on that thread (much just to keep the topic alive and fight the blanket of silence / denial elsewhere) but read between the lines and it is a wealth of information. Post time-stamps can be most useful things!
 
I once developed an equipment support back in the early 90’s. It was called Greenline.

Very simply it was 10mm clear float glass that had a rounded profile edge and was supported by some clear polyurethane feet (with rounded bottoms) that I had made up for me. It did work well and was good VFM. It was sold through a small number of retailers including the Radford chain.

John Watson happened across one of our pamphlets and gave me a call. He was very pumped up, certainly threatening, and seemed to think that in some way I had stolen his design.

I calmly explained to him that all the two designs had in common were the fact that we both used glass. I even, quite generously I thought, told him that having tried tinted glass the clear 10mm float was a lot better at doing the job. I also told him that I had tried a more angular edge profile but I found the rounded to be better at doing the job. I also told him that my sonic goals were very different to his.

We have never contacted each other since or exchanged Christmas Cards.
 
Just an observation, but any non Hi-Fi person reading the reams of posts on just this one subject would probably think we were all f*cking mental.

I feel so at home here:D:D
 
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Reminds me of a joke, the punch line of which is "It's turtles all the way down!"
 
See that Sony DVD?
[snif]
Took on a dCS Puccini it did.
Yep.
Creamed it [bubbles through bong]
Silly grins all round
Nice one.
 
John said:
To me it looks like the front right spikes are imbedded into the board about 4mm, are you saying they're not?
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John, you frequently give a very convincing impression of a man in search of a clue, so here's one: yes, that's what I'm saying.
 
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