I read the press release stuff and it’s clear that Mr Sherriff wants to attract a younger customer base with new innovative products.
The reality is that perhaps 95%+ of audio products are iterations of the same old thing. If a new customer came to PS Audio for a DAC, last year it would have been a Mk1, this year a Mk2, and they’d likely be none the wiser of the difference. Older people really struggle to innovate because they have so much baggage, few if any really new ideas, are generally more risk-averse, and so they tend to work on the old ones. The AN-3 speaker was a classic case, trying to re-invent past Infinity glories, and it took Chris Brunhaver (and a good external designer) to do something wonderfully different. Some would argue it’s still just another big passive stereo speaker, personally I think it’s great and different enough to attract lots of customers. Paul really deserves a lot of credit for the trust he placed in Chris.
Whilst Darren’s role includes to incrementally update existing products, it’ll be very interesting to see in time what these innovative ideas are. The chances are they will be software driven, which costs $millions, so I hope Mr Sherriff has deep pockets. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Some elitists think cheaper more consumer-orientated products are dumbing down, personally I think it’s wising up.
I was checking on the status of my P1200 repair yesterday and received an automated email that TJ Tomasetti is not with PSA anymore. I wonder if Darren is taking people with him to Parasound.
Perhaps a projection? A Survey of Nobel prize winners shows a bump in those in their mid 50’s. Many writers in film and tv do their best and most innovative work as older adults.
You could have fooled me: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, all in their 20s, MacFarlane of Sonos was about 30, even the likes of Auralic and Roon were 20somethings. Science? Einstein was done at 26. It just takes the Nobel guys 30 years to make their minds up. The quickest was the DNA lot, who were in their late 20s and early 30s. Newton was near ancient at 45 when he published Principia, then went totally off the rails.
Hoping Darren comes up with a winner sooner at her than later.
I think most suffer the same. I heard today, one of my staff members got the notice, his Audi Q4 etron, which he ordered Jan 2022 will be delayed 6 months more until end of 2023 due to parts missing for the memory seat function.
He now decides to cancel the order, as 1. he needs a new car before that date and 2. because when it would come, this car would be already 2 years old and maybe not the best choice anymore by then. This may be the risk for all delayed products.
Maybe a wise move. When our Audi was in for service the Sales Manager noted a certain frustration with parts availability. New Audi’s were being delivered without the power seat option, now remedied (?), among other things. Customer’s were cancelling orders or rolling the sale over to a lease. Really, how does one resell it wihout that feature.
On a different note he was most impressed with his new RS6 Avant. He offered a drive I declined, not needing the temptation. I did direct a friend to him who ordered the Mercedes AMG E63 S, no guarantee on delivery date or price.
IME personnel matters are best left behind closed doors. Happy for Darrell. PSA will certainly sort it out, change being inevitable as well as an opportunity.
I just avoid buying anything on deferred delivery. If it’s not in stock, I’m not interested. This applies to cars, appliances, anything really. My only exceptions were Innuos, which was on a 2 week delivery as the hard drive was installed to order (the machine was in stock) and my phono stage as the dealer let me keep the demo unit until mine arrived.
