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Vivante RIP

No idea at all, but something is up - the online shop says closed - hard to believe they got through the reducing sales years and now volumes are up they have trouble - hopefully this is a change of ownership or something and not totally terminal
 
Can I recommend you import from Elusive Disc?

Probably one of the reasons Vivante have gone under, all the Audiophile pressings available at considerably lower prices. Everything I've ordered arrives well packaged and within 5 days. Excellent service. I refused to pay Vivante prices when I could shop so easily on the net.
 
thanks, sounds good. Vivantes big problem as far as I'm concerned is that they were so slow sometimes and didn't communicate. They got some great stock though
 
Elusive disc - wonderful if you are in the states - I placed an order for 20 or so albums, and got hit with £75 worth of import duty - you have been warned....
I have to second Lordsummits comment about a lack of communication and slow delivery...Big shame though..
 
Steve,

even factoring in duty, the Elusive Disc prices are typically 30% lower than Vivante's.
 
Merlin - sure, but I meant just to warn - I got carried away with buying cheaply, then it hurt when the postman demanded so much from me..
 
Ouch! I understand now! Basically work to adding 20% to your total. The Mingus reissues are $14.99 , so end up less than a tenner landed to the door. Vivante were charging £17.95 IIRC.
 
That website used to drive me mad.

Had a bad experience with them sending repeat items and not crediting back my card when I returned them - looks like I'll not be getting that cash back in a hurry...
 
I think it's a great shame that Vivante have gone bust. Their stand was sometimes the best feature at hi-fi shows.Also used to enjoy their newsletter and I don't think it was necessarily their fault they were slow as incoming stock would regularly be delayed.
I think there might be a bit of a vacuum now as Diverse are more rock and indie orientated whereas Vivante was more jazz/classical.
Is the market for new vinyl really that small?
 
I for one will not be sorry to see the back of them!

To the limited extent I've ever done business with them I am now the proud owner of a number of warped LP's, often branded as audiophile superior quality, yet often worse sounding than the standard CD.

If my (and others) experience had been better I might have been prepared to do more business with them and they might still be here!
 
Agreed, it is a great shame but when I think about the overall state of the market (plus my own recent dealings with them) I can't say that I'm really suprised. I used to deal with them a lot about 5-6 years ago and even visited them one time. I well remember the time when after MoFi's sad demise they marked up their existing stock (after then proprietor Steven Carr went into print to condemn rivals for doing likewise). I too will certainly miss their stand at the various Hi-Fi fairs but the last guy that 'served' me (or rather forgot to hand back my credit card and then started to talk to another customer, and then gave me cheek afterwards when I politely pointed out his oversight). More recently I had an arrangement with a local record shop to order through Vivante and the owner had to discontinue using them as the service had just got so bad, I well remember one day when after months of waiting he was asked to "phone back tomorrow" because there was no one there who could help on the status of an outstanding order. I will certainly miss dealing with both Tim Bright and Sean Ormonde, gentlemen both.

Diverse Vinyl are good but are even more expensive then Vivante used to be!
 
I buy loads of Vinyl from Amazon and they are great, In my limited dealings with Vivante I always found them helpfully expensive.

Now I buy most stuff from Langley Records or Beggars Banquet who both keep the faith alive!
 
Thanks to Merlin for the link to Elusive Records, which looks interesting. However, and I'm probably being dim here, there's something I don't understand. I made a selection of three albums, all about the same in dollars as they would be in pounds sterling (so nearly half-price), then clicked the "estimate postage" button. The cheapest option cost the same as the albums, thereby bringing them to the same as buying here, before import VAT. As the VAT will be calculated on the cost+shipping+insurance, how does it work out cheaper than buying here? As I said, I'm probably being dim and have missed something, but can someone tell me what..?

Thanks
Richard
 
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