Sad to say there is an update on these drivers. Now the covid stuff has come and gone for some years now but the ripple effects are still here with B&C. For some time they could get away with the idea that production had been crippled by this thing. Covid however is way behind us now and so the letter I received this week really baffles me. I had my last delivery of DE-120’s two weeks ago and I am being told the next production of these will be in TWO MONTHS!.
So once the factory has them done, and then waits for the full shipping container before shipping and then shipping and I think it could easily be three months between available DE-120’s. This is hardly a way to support customers whose income depends on your product which mine does in part. I have responded that this is not the right answer and will be offering the Celestion CDX1-1412 as an alternative both here and on my EBay site to the DE-120.
I have not listened to the CDX1 in person but a number of people who have heard the DE-120 and the CDX1 from places like the AudioKarma forum state they are extremely close. Curves run on these two drivers say the same thing and most importantly the CDX1 will fit everywhere the DE-120 does. I have stock coming in on the CDX1 within a week to try out and see what customers will think. Based on what the AK forum members say these CDX1’s will be an admirable alternative and if you like one you will like the other.
For myself I have to admit to being more then a little disgusted that B&C would find that a three month delay in product is OK. Surely they can’t believe that! The other alternative is their supply of factory capacity or rare earth magnets is not up to the job. This same problem came up a year ago so it is not the first time and they normally run us out at least twice a year. A year ago I was told supply was not a problem any more and I quit placing larger orders since the $$$ pile up real fast with these. Judging by what was on hand at various times and who runs out I have a pretty good feel for answering the question “did they make enough or not”. NO they do not make enough for whatever reason and here we all sit once again.
I am not going down this path and so seek to make sure either the CDX1 or the DE-120 is on hand at all times from now on. B&C, if you do not want me to have stock perhaps Celestion will be happy to sell to me.
I wonder if this is part of China’s plan though. Rare earths are something that the EPA has eliminated production of in the USA just like they killed off the magnet production for speakers. So today our adversary has control of our rare earth magnets and mining and refining of the same. It could very well be that all these speaker companies get what they are allotted by China. They can hardly admit that since they foolishly allowed all our production to be hijacked by CPA MBA morons who sent it all over to China to save money and avoid onerous diktats in the EPA. The end result is horrible pollution because China does not care about the environment and never ending supply bottlenecks because MBA’s and CPA’s can’t see past the next quarters manipulated earnings report.
As you might be able to tell I am pretty frustrated by conditions that stymie my production. I am working on it though and hope between the two companies I can keep my valued customers supplied with SMAHL’s and LMAHL’s.
Sitting here and thinking about MBA brilliance. Like this gem. “Stock sitting on your shelf is not earning you money so don’t stock what you sell. Produce it when the demand is there.” Of course you can’t sell what you don’t have and since you had none your customers did not place an order. In MBA babble speak logic this means that next year for your projected needs based production you won’t need as many since the year earlier when you had none to sell you did not sell as many. Pretty cool huh?
Machined Audio Horn Lens 