advertisement


Product Positioning - Forum Marketing

Yes like this cracker by Fox:


"And when I had a pair of burned out and flooded ATC 100s ATC offered to send me a pair of loaner 100s in flight cases next day gratis while they assessed the damage in order to finish a very important (to my career) bit of audio work, and I got the feeling ATC had a pair just for this sort of eventuality.

Unusual? Not sure but rather backs up james' destruction of darrenwm's comment. ATC's offer means a lot to a user. Forges trust and confidence in their tools.. Its good business practice when you've a customer about to drop £12k for starters on speakers... I see no evidence of anything other than AVI being a very very small garage based business using old 50s legacy test equipment and a former ATC salesman with a huge chip on his shoulder. Masses o 'tude, and nearly all of it bad.

No sales figures, everything on trust, no verifiable real data from the manufacturer, no customers of note or a pro-cv, shady interpretation of the distance selling rules, Expected to unquestioningly accept what its said as "fact", outright bunny boiler of a vocal online user base, aggressive online presence... To a customer everything screams "walk away"... trust is earned, not bulshitted.

Superb job. Makes it easier to tick AVI off the massive list of innovative speaker suppliers in the future."
 
An old complaint, but much of the problem would disappear if people had to use their real names....being anonymous is rarely a good thing for honest comment. I can see why it might be necessary in politically repressive societies, but in hi fi? I think not.
 
adiep, which jealous hifi manufacturer do you work for?

Clearly you have an agenda as everything you have so far posted is baloney and you have ignored all the posters who have in various ways pointed this out, only to keep making the same point.

Put up or shut up!
 
technobear said:
adiep, which jealous hifi manufacturer do you work for?

Clearly you have an agenda as everything you have so far posted is baloney and you have ignored all the posters who have in various ways pointed this out, only to keep making the same point.

Put up or shut up!
Click to expand...

+1 :)
 
adiep said:
Honestly, why are we allowing these guys to plump up their marketing threads so for weeks on end they remain in the top 10 threads. Its obviously being manipulated. The MDAC and now the AVI thread. Cant we just close them?
Click to expand...

I think it goes deeper than this in that forums are now generally more commercialised than even five years ago. Product placement and recommendation, not just from manufacturers but also distributers and their more vocal fanboys is ever on the increase. However I don't think anything can be done to stop all but the worst excesses and it's a pain of a job for the forum owners.

We have a shrinking market, coupled with shrinking power of the traditional audio press and proportional increase in the power of forums to communicate.
This makes the behaviour you describe inevitable, but I'm far from convinced that the alternative would be better. A crack-down on product placement and even subtle marketing in the main audio rooms would IMO risk introducing an unwelcome air of fear and control on what is an open and very lightly moderated forum - probably it's biggest plus over other large uk forums IMO.

You can sometimes see a glimpse of what life might be like under a different, more restrictive regime and you see it in microcosm on certain 'lively' threads from time to time. Loudspeaker manufacturers playing down the role of the amplifier, turntable manufacturers (and part suppliers) promoting 'source first', dac manufacturers having a downer on vinyl - all sometimes have to stomach the accusation of commercial motivation form the cries of 'well you would say that wouldn't you', even when the opinions are genuinely held.
Make this kind of attitude the norm and you end up with paranoia such that people no longer speak so freely, and that can only be bad.

So I'd tend to support Martin's view:

martin clark said:
If pepe didnt pick scabs things would heal quicker without scarring.

Best strategy on webforums is just to ignore what annoys you / refuse to play the game.
Click to expand...

...and that's why on threads such as the current AVI discussion, I find the moaners and mockers slightly more irritating than anything posted by Ash or JCB ;)
When I can be bothered to skim it, which is about twice a week.

Just to pick up on the power of forums, the larger ones have over 10,000 members but the number of regular contributors looks to be very small - perhaps 100-200 IMO and this is something for those looking to use forums as a primary marketing tool to keep in mind. There are mostly the same small group of people talking among themselves about the same things. Depressing isn't it.
Of course what's hard to determine are the numbers of thread viewers who actually read the content. We can easily measure visits, but not so easy to monitor what those visitors actually do!
 
rbrown said:
The Santa Claus remark was hilarious :D

Rich
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. Ashley James assumes everyone else was born yesterday.

Yer 'tis!

Ashley James said:
Massive praise for £1200 AVI ADM 9.1 Active Speakers incl DAC.. vs. Linn Majik DS???


Hi guys,

This may be a fairly ridiculous post, but as someone who still has no direct experience with the Linn DS range, I was wondering if someone could shed some light on my latest dilemma.

I have been very carefully considering "going" with the Linn DS range, my funds would prohibit me from going above the Majik range, which I have been told is still an awesomely musical range of products.

I stumbled across a company called AVI while online, who make a set of active speakers called the AMD 9.1s, which retail for approximately £1200. Not only are they actively driven, they also have an internal DAC - a true all in one solution.

Does anyone here have direct experience with these speakers? Because online, ranging from professional reviewers to people on Hi Fi forums, all I have really been able to find is absolutely astonishing praise for these speakers...

People are routinely saying that they can destroy, or at least equal, most £5k systems, and that they are simply some of the best sounding speakers around...

It must be a conspiracy!

The guy who owns the company, Ashley James, is apparently very outspoken in his views on audio, claiming that the general world of "high end" audio is a total rip off and he has come up with "the" product... The guy certainly has a lot more experience with Hi Fi than me anyway, but so do Linn, so that's pretty besides the point!

There's definitely something to be said for active speakers, that much I know (and that much Linn says!), and I know you can go active with Linn too, but that would have to be a later option for me, again because of cost..

So I'm just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with these beefy bookshelf speakers? And even better, does anyone have experience with both the ADM 9.1 speakers, AND the Linn DS range?

Unfortunately I think it will prove quite difficult for me to get a demo of these ADM speakers, but they have received genuinely high praise from many people with "high rep" on various internet forums - people who have spend tens of thousands on audio equipment over the years, and suddenly found "perfection" in the ADM 9.1s...lol

I would be very interested if anyone could tell me how they stack up against the Linn DS range, especially the Majik DS...

Ashley James, owner of AVI, has a whole host of very strong opinions about why his speakers are so good, including the use of 'paper' woofers etc but obviously that could be total marketing BS...

Still, if £1200 is gonna give the sound quality I crave, instead of a much pricier Linn DS setup from scratch, I would be a very happy bunny indeed...!

Also, whether I like it or not, I know I'll end up listening to some 'lossy' music whichever way I go, including internet radio and some odd mp3 downloads etc. where I don't want to buy the whole album on CD.. Still, majority will be lossless so not a big issue... Apparently these ADM speakers are very good with 'lossy' music (many people do claim that 320kbps MP3s are indistinguishable from lossless files anyway), and I'm not sure if the Linn DS might be too "truthful" for lossy music...

Any thoughts very much appreciated,

Keyser Wink
Click to expand...
 
Blzebub said:
Clumsy, painful-to-read marketing by AVI. The Linn boys spotted it straight away.
Click to expand...

It isn't unique by any means.
I've come across manufacturers setting up fake accounts and then initiating discussions with themselves.

I disagree that the AVI stuff was painful to read. Quite amusing in fact.
I mean come on, It's even signed 'Keyser ;) '!
 
It was most certainly painful to read over here: the faux electronics bullshit and the happy clappy evangelism meant i gravitated between wincing and holding in my bladder nearly pissing myself with laughter. The body cannot that kind of abuse without at least a pang and a twinge.
 
Here's what he meant:

Massive praise for £1200 AVI ADM 9.1 Active Speakers incl DAC.. much better than everything!

Hi guys,

This is a fairly ridiculous post, but as someone who still has no direct experience with current hi-fi products, I was wondering if someone could shed some light on my latest dilemma.

I have been very carefully considering "going" with the Linn DS range, my funds would prohibit me from going above the Majik range, which I have been told is still an awesomely musical range of products.

I stumbled across a company called AVI in my garage, we make a set of active speakers called the AMD 9.1s, which retail for approximately £1200. Not only are they actively driven, they also have an internal DAC - a true all in one solution.

Does anyone here have direct experience with these speakers? Because if you haven't, I'm going to tell you how brilliant they are. From professional reviewers to people on Hi Fi forums, all I have really been able to find is absolutely astonishing praise for these brilliant speakers...

People are routinely saying that they can destroy, or at least equal, most £5k systems, and that they are simply some of the best sounding speakers around...

It is a conspiracy!

The guy who owns the company, Ashley James, i.e. me, is apparently very outspoken in his views on audio, claiming that the general world of "high end" audio is a total rip off and he has come up with "the" product... The guy certainly has a lot more experience with Hi Fi than me anyway, but so do Linn, so that's pretty besides the point!

There's definitely something to be said for active speakers, that much I know (and that much Linn says!), and I know you can go active with Linn too, but that would have to be a later option for me, again because of cost..

So I'm just wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with these beefy brilliant bookshelf speakers? I doubt it, because we won't let anyone listen to them, heh heh. And even better, does anyone have experience with both the ADM 9.1 speakers, AND the Linn DS range (not a chance)?

Unfortunately I think it will prove quite difficult for me to get a demo of these ADM speakers, but they have received genuinely high praise from many shills with "low rep" on various internet forums - people who have spend tens of hours posting hype on the internet over the years, and who are too mean to spend more than £1200.

I would be very interested if anyone could tell me how they stack up against the Linn DS range, especially the Majik DS...

Ashley James (me), owner of AVI, has a whole host of very strong opinions about why his speakers are so good, including the use of 'paper' woofers etc but obviously that is total marketing BS...

Still, if £1200 is gonna give the sound quality I crave, instead of a much pricier Linn DS setup from scratch, I would be a very happy bunny indeed...!

Also, whether I like it or not, I know I'll end up listening to some 'lossy' music whichever way I go, including internet radio and some odd mp3 downloads etc. where I don't want to buy the whole album on CD.. Still, majority will be lossless so not a big issue... Apparently these ADM speakers are very good with 'lossy' music (many people do claim that 320kbps MP3s are indistinguishable from lossless files anyway), and I'm not sure if the Linn DS might be too "truthful" for lossy music...

Any thoughts very much appreciated,

Keyser Wink
 
fox said:
It was most certainly painful to read over here: the faux electronics bullshit and the happy clappy evangelism meant i gravitated between wincing and holding in my bladder nearly pissing myself with laughter. The body cannot that kind of abuse without at least a pang and a twinge.
Click to expand...

Really?

Faux bullshit is par for the course with audiophilia surely?

Just enjoy it and as Martin says, don't play the game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top