There has been a dramatic shift in buying habits and expectations over the last 30 years and companies are responding to it. One thing long gone is fair trade laws that had manufacturers able to set prices that all dealers had to sell for as a minimum. Before those policies were made illegal, a small dealer had a protected margin and could afford to have the buying experience itself be the main reason to buy from dealer A instead of Dealer B. That meant if your amp broke, the in-house tech would resolve it immediately, or even come to you to take care of a problem, and offer a free loaner, music lessons, etc. It also meant that competent adults could be employed, and every small town could support local shops the dispensed expertise and loyalty inducing benefits.
Fast forward to current day, price is all that matters, mail order, to save local taxes, is enough to cause wholesale destruction of the concept of locally owned small businesses, personal service and expertise. With price being the only criteria for a sale, a 18 year old kid with no product or field knowledge is all that is needed to move boxes out the door or in the mail order shipping department. So, Behringer figures that he will have customers beating down his door if he offers very low prices. It worked in musician gear as well as it worked in all aspects of consumer marketing, price trumps all. People might complain if there is a lack of services but it does not stop them from seeking the lowest price as if there is no tomorrow or need for support, or even making an informed decision.
The Mackie law suit was the stuff of legend, no details have been released of the final agreement but Mackie did not win except some PR by posting a flamboyantly untruthful court petition on the web. The assumption was that Mackie mixers were reverse engineered and sold as Behringer, the forums were full of people swearing they took apart 8bus Mackie's and Behringer 9000 and found identical pc boards copies right down to the mistakes and initials of Mackie designers. That of course was hogwash, there was a great deal of difference in the designs and layout. I was probably one of the few people at the time with schematics for both and knew it was all a Mackie disinformation campaign. Mackie lawyers approached me trying to get Behringer serivice info but I just told them that if they did manage to find it somewhere, it would be embarrassing to them after claiming in court the two products were identical, or even very similar.
Mackie was a company with one good idea and tried to milk it too long and the market rejected them for the same reason Mackie captured the small mixer market 8 years before..... dropping the price drastically for a given number of input channels. The 1604 crushed Soundcraft, and a dozen other smalll mixer companies by being 1/3 the price, which set a new expectation for cost/features ratio. Several years later Behringer does the same thing but not just to Mackie, but many fields and common brands such as compressors and speakers. Price is all that matters for that segment of the market, the segment with the most upside potential. A dozen Chinese based companies are trying to do the same with Behringer but it is just muddying the waters.
A good amp cost 1 month gross salary in 1970. A similar amp now costs 2 Days gross salary, but with the greatly lowered relative price, support and customer service have disappeared for the most part. That is the model consumers want, it must be because that is the segment that gives rewards in growth and profits.
By all rights, an amp built to last 30 years, with after sale support and personal service still can be had, by the few people who care about those extras. Boutique amps for $5000 are still a bargain compared to 1970 prices in terms of gross income to pay for it. Since most people do not even consider a high quality, high personal service product, they much not really care. That is what Behringer was betting on and he won. Personally I think that a lot of Behringer units are better than their reptuation, and a true bargain. I have a few old compressors and a digital mixer still that are quite good. The compressors were $89 and used a very similar circuit as dbx costing 4 times as much...both patterned after the application notes from the gain cell IC maker.
Getting any parts or independent service after warranty that many countries do not have. Here in Russia the two importers of all the pro audio gear refuse to allow any parts, service information or even after warranty repair at all. They have taught a lot of stores and pro audio users to believe that when something breaks after warranty, the only recourse is buying a new one. There are few if any repair shops because there are no parts available.
Fast forward to current day, price is all that matters, mail order, to save local taxes, is enough to cause wholesale destruction of the concept of locally owned small businesses, personal service and expertise. With price being the only criteria for a sale, a 18 year old kid with no product or field knowledge is all that is needed to move boxes out the door or in the mail order shipping department. So, Behringer figures that he will have customers beating down his door if he offers very low prices. It worked in musician gear as well as it worked in all aspects of consumer marketing, price trumps all. People might complain if there is a lack of services but it does not stop them from seeking the lowest price as if there is no tomorrow or need for support, or even making an informed decision.
The Mackie law suit was the stuff of legend, no details have been released of the final agreement but Mackie did not win except some PR by posting a flamboyantly untruthful court petition on the web. The assumption was that Mackie mixers were reverse engineered and sold as Behringer, the forums were full of people swearing they took apart 8bus Mackie's and Behringer 9000 and found identical pc boards copies right down to the mistakes and initials of Mackie designers. That of course was hogwash, there was a great deal of difference in the designs and layout. I was probably one of the few people at the time with schematics for both and knew it was all a Mackie disinformation campaign. Mackie lawyers approached me trying to get Behringer serivice info but I just told them that if they did manage to find it somewhere, it would be embarrassing to them after claiming in court the two products were identical, or even very similar.
Mackie was a company with one good idea and tried to milk it too long and the market rejected them for the same reason Mackie captured the small mixer market 8 years before..... dropping the price drastically for a given number of input channels. The 1604 crushed Soundcraft, and a dozen other smalll mixer companies by being 1/3 the price, which set a new expectation for cost/features ratio. Several years later Behringer does the same thing but not just to Mackie, but many fields and common brands such as compressors and speakers. Price is all that matters for that segment of the market, the segment with the most upside potential. A dozen Chinese based companies are trying to do the same with Behringer but it is just muddying the waters.
A good amp cost 1 month gross salary in 1970. A similar amp now costs 2 Days gross salary, but with the greatly lowered relative price, support and customer service have disappeared for the most part. That is the model consumers want, it must be because that is the segment that gives rewards in growth and profits.
By all rights, an amp built to last 30 years, with after sale support and personal service still can be had, by the few people who care about those extras. Boutique amps for $5000 are still a bargain compared to 1970 prices in terms of gross income to pay for it. Since most people do not even consider a high quality, high personal service product, they much not really care. That is what Behringer was betting on and he won. Personally I think that a lot of Behringer units are better than their reptuation, and a true bargain. I have a few old compressors and a digital mixer still that are quite good. The compressors were $89 and used a very similar circuit as dbx costing 4 times as much...both patterned after the application notes from the gain cell IC maker.
Getting any parts or independent service after warranty that many countries do not have. Here in Russia the two importers of all the pro audio gear refuse to allow any parts, service information or even after warranty repair at all. They have taught a lot of stores and pro audio users to believe that when something breaks after warranty, the only recourse is buying a new one. There are few if any repair shops because there are no parts available.
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