Blumenstein Orcas

Same here. Wonder what's causing all the delay.

 

I hate that shit. You shouldn't even have to email-they should proactively keep you in the loop about any delays in production or delivery.

 

https://instagram.com/p/BN7587RgVDE/

You guys should follow Clark on instagram. He's been swamped with setting up the new place and on top of that, has been working through injuries. He should be up and running at full speed very soon.

I'm sure he'll address all your concerns soon!

 

Well, I take it back. I went to search my email and turns out Clark did reply to me, it didn't show up until I searched for some reason. I told him I was having company over to hear the speakers on the 23rd and asked if he could get them to me by then. He replied that he could and apologized for the delays, sounds like he had issues setting up the new shop, including some injuries!

I hope he's able to fill everyone else's orders ASAP.

 

Good news!

 

Just received word that my Orcas made it and is currently being held by customs. However my whole family is on a trip to Turkey so it won't be for a while until I get to listen to them. Hope you guys receive yours soon.

 

I didn't get mine on the 23rd. I'm following up to see what to expect.

 

Today on New Year's Day I returned from Istanbul (right before a terrorist gun massacre that killed around 40 there), set up the Orcas that had arrived and gave them a listen.

With the exception of a few tracks that are inherently recorded as low volume, my 6W Studio amp seems to provide ample power to drive these desktop speakers to satisfactory SPL.

I cannot comment whether these speakers are excellent, because they are my very first true hi-fi speakers and I don't have anything else to compare them to. I'm not even sure these require burn-in and significantly scale by doing so. Since I could only listen to them once a week, I think it's going to take a significantly long time before I start noticing any meaningful improvements, if any.

I also ordered the grills for protection, but I may not really need them (no pets or toddlers in my home). I haven't removed the grills to see if it changes/improves sound in any way, I need to get a new screwdriver for it. Has anyone compared Orcas with and without grills?

 

I didn't realize they had grills! Every photo shows them without.

 

Wildlife Proof Speaker Grills - http://www.blumensteinaudio.com/all-products/speaker-grills

 

Sucks. Even more so that you have to 'follow up'. Hope you get them soon, I'm sure they'll be worth the wait.

 

I did write Clark a lengthy email listing the history of our correspondence from the time of my initial order and my frustration with the timeline and relative lack of communication. I did my best to stress that I did understand the setbacks and delays caused by the shop being moved and that my frustration was borne out of a desire to hear his great work.

He responded with a firm shipping date, which I had requested, along with some further details of the situation. I don't think ill of him because of it, and provided the speakers are shipped out by the date he gave me and sound as good as I expect, I will recommend Blumenstein to others.

 

On all correspondences I've had with Clark, he is one of the good guys. This seems out of character for him, so just wait it out and see how it all plays out.
I hope whatever difficulties he is facing (move, injuries etc.) subside soon and you folks all get your Orcas!

Last night, we had dinner with some friends. One of them has been playing piano since she was 4 years old. She LOVED the Blumenstein speakers and commented on how natural they sound...she was lost in the sound and almost came to tears at a couple times. I think the speakers communicate in the most wonderful of ways.

Can't wait to see the happy posts in this thread!

 

the drivers in the orca are 50$ cad each.
one of the thing to consider is how much experiement with different cabinet was done in order to make the small driver sound as good as it can. same with Lowther drivers commercial speaker that use 2k worth of Lowther drivers and sell for 20k. the cabinet is what will make or break those small drivers. id pesonally go with the rear mounted as they are much cheaper. imo, with such designs, it makes a lot of sense to go DIY. I built a fonken fe127, alpair 12p BR and it wasnt hard at all.

Finally, I cannot imagine listening to them at more then 75 db, without a sub, and a highpass. the Orca use a 3 inch driver, be careful. but paired with a sub with highpass capabilities, you can probably make a crazy good system for 2k...

not my experience.

birch plywood for such speakers is 30$. wires, ports, + drivers is not exceeding 150$. you can get your wood cut witht he best tools at some shops for about 50 to 100$. for diy, I could easily build the same speaker for 250$ CAD. he sell his pair 875 USD which equals 1100$ CAD (excluding shipping price). that is just insane from my point of view.

In the care of Blumenstein, once you have the tools to build such speakers, it cannot take more then 3 hours to build a pair (and im sure its less then that). exotic Wood for such small speakers wouldnt cost more then 50$ per pair. so all in all, im pretty sure Blumenstein makes at least 700$ per pair he sell.

 

These kind of posts always confuse me. Looking at your signature, you have a Lifatec Glass Toslink. You have an R2R DAC. You have an Ifi Ican. You also have sonarworks. What do you think is the marginal cost on each of these? For that last item- it's definitely zero. Ergo, profit margin: infinity. Is this 'insane'? I assume not, since you paid for it.

...But you're right! This is NOT insane. This is economics! I've seen this again and again. Lots of people say they can do better for cheaper. They start doing research. They're going to change the world, by building and selling items for rational, sane prices! Fast forward two years later, they're still doing research. They haven't figured out how to ramp up production. They haven't been paid in two years, they're knee deep in designs that don't work- or at least that nobody would pay for, and they need to feed their family. And then they start production. Now they're only selling what, 10 pairs a month anyway, which translates to a $7000 profit before taxes, office space, shithappens, marketing, customer support (someone's gotta reply to those emails!), etc etc. And if they happen to well, get sick or something, that $7000 profit drops to zero.

If your point is that you can build a similar speaker yourself for cheaper, then yes that's probably true. But if you're saying that you can run a business with your own designs for prices that are not 'insane', then.... Let me know when you start selling your speakers for $250.

PS, I expect similar quality to the Orca's, but I wouldn't want them to be Orca clones. If I wanted that, I'd send the Orca's to a woodmaker on Taobao, and get them replicated at probably $100 each. Shipping included.

 

@murphythecat

Cool, if you can make me a set that look and sound as nice as the Blumensteins, I'll pay you $400 CAD all in. I estimated about $25/hr for three hours of labour, and $75 in shipping to account for the difference. If shipping comes out cheaper, you can keep the difference.

 

"Time is money."

Why do I buy furniture instead of wood? Groceries instead of farming?

 

1. In the free market prices are set by demand.
2. The cost of selling one software product unit is not zero. Even if our programmers would code it for free.