I'll start this off saying, I like both the SD2.5/HD3 and SDC2.5/HDC3 models, but if I had a choice I would take the SD2.5/HD3 and pay that little extra.
I could only remember the exact price of the HD3 15", so thats why I compared them, so Im sure the math would be about the same 10's and 12's. And wasn't the SD2.5's very close in pricing to the SDC2.5's.
HD3 15" $409 Shipped
HDC3-15" Copper coils $289 Shipped
HDC3-15" Aluminum Coils $370 Shipped
I know its all about making money, but damn when your products was already selling like meth, there is no reason to go overseas.IMO
We made the HD3 series in house and machined the motors in house. The HD315 sold for $369 plus shipping. The HDC315 series sells for $249 plus shipping.
There were some improvements we wanted to make to the HD3 motor which were very expensive to do in house and maintain pricing levels. The price of steel had increased over 30 percent as well as the labor cost and everything else that goes into the production cost of the sub.
We, like any good business, looked to other sources to reduce production cost. The most expensive items in the subwoofer were the steel and machining cost. We purchased an "off the shelf" motor in China and had it machined to our design specs. We had cooling slots machined into the motor, cross drilled the pole piece for additional cooling and made internal changes. We changed the top and bottom plate to accomodate our design goal and had custom coils made with cross drilled formers. We sourced and tested the soft parts we wanted in the sub and designed the suspension package and specified the assembly methods for the coil/spider assembly. The developement of the HDC series took 18 months from the time we machined and built the first prototypes in house until the first production model was delivered. We build and tested over a dozen prototypes in house and tested hundreds of hours in real boxes in real cars before we settled on the production sub. We continue to tweak the design between each production run. We do the final assembly and QC in house. We power test each and every sub before shipping.
The end result is an improved design with increased cooling, stronger motor, and about 1.5db louder.
We did not lay off a single employee; in fact with the money we saved we gave our employees a raise in salary and reduced the price to the enduser by $120 per sub. Our employees no longer have to build motors so they are able to do other duties which greatly reduces our turn around time on filling orders.
We build the aluminum coil versions in house with American spiders and coils of our own design. We do this because there are some things we will not share with our Chinese partners. The companies building the AQ knock offs will have to figure out how to do some things on their own.
In many respects China is just like the USA; there are good parts and bad parts, good companies and bad ones. You just have to know the good ones from the bad ones.
If the truth be known most of the subs sold in America to day are either made in China or assembled from Chinese parts. Most companies just don't tell you. We tell you up front where our parts come from; that's why I have the "C" in the model name.
Yes they sold like "meth" for $369 and at $249 they are a steal.
ha like i said in the other forum, aluminum coils are built in house using most of the same great quality parts as dd. they surpass the old model in all ways and you are still talking about the old model? mmm i dont get it. i guess if thats your thing...
From our own testing and customer feedback, and we do listen to our customers, it is quite the opposite. We test our products and make improvements to make them better. The HDC3 is louder in the lanes, sounds better and is $120 cheaper. Sales of the HDC3 have far exceeded the original HD3 and continue to increase every day.
We do not build for the spl market but many competitors use our products and some have set world records with them. World class competitors who have run the original HD3, the new copper coil HDC and the new aluminum coil version swear by the newer versions. The aluminum coil suspension package is optimized for competition and higher power.
We sell our products at the same price to everyone, everyday. We offer no discounts or sponsorships to anyone. World champions pay the same price as everyone else. Our prices are clearly indicated on our web site. You don't have to"call for best pricing". If I could offer discounts it would mean that the prices were to high to begin with. Nothing in life is free, someone has to pay for it and I don't believe our customers should have to pay for the select few to get free or reduced pricing.
Most companies who save money by going off shore for parts or production lay off employees, keep the pricing levels the same and put the savings in their pocket. With the money we saved we bought the best parts and production methods available, improved our products, gave our employees a raise and passed the rest of the savings to our customers in the form of lower prices.
Did the company profit? Sure we did. Our margins on sales remain the same but our sales have far exceeded our projected goals.
I believe you should service what you sell and we offer recones at reduced prices as a customer service. We sell recones only to AQ customers and they will not fit the AQ knock offs. Recones for the copper coil are only $50-$65, the aluminum coil recones are $80-$95. Recones for the SDC2.5 series range from $35-$45.
Why