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Berg ae series shelved..


JMT3781
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For those of you who dont recieve that, here's what mark said:

Cost of Neodymium
This week the cost of Neodymium sky rocketed by 100% - this is due to the Chinese, who are the sole producer of Neodymium at present having a huge tax imposed on mining by the government in China. This may have serious repercussions across the MI industry with large increases in Neodymium loaded cabinets inevitable. We shall see how this plays out over the next few weeks and months, but Eminence, who are one of the largest speaker producing companies in the world, shelving many Neodymium speakers projects and the possibility of ceasing try to sell Neodymium design speakers.


It is because of this situation that Bergantino Audio have taken the decision to withdrawn the whole AE range of cabinets with immediate effect. Once the current stocks of AE speakers and cabinets have gone there will be no more for the foreseeable future. I would suggest that if you are considering purchasing one of these class leading cabinets then do so a soon as you can. However there will be new Ceramic loaded cabinets coming soon - watch this space!

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Ha! No way man!! All kudos to you on this one, I wouldnt have thought to post otherwise! :)

[quote name='JMT3781' post='1190731' date='Apr 6 2011, 05:44 PM']I feel a bit of a disgrace now, therefore, salt on your bass deserves all the kudos :)[/quote]

Yeah, does this affect all manufacturers/brands then? I guess it will if eminence are effected......??

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I don't suppose it'll put anyone out of business. Just that the price of lightweight speakers will go up for anyone who wants to buy them. It's too big an increase for the manufacturers to absorb so the end user will end up having to pay.

I also think we'll see more of this sort of thing going on in the future as China flexes it's economic muscles

Edited by AndyMartin
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Good point. However isnt it the man in the car (manufacturers) that has to adjust to the hike and either pays through the nose or adjusts his life and has to drive less?

[quote name='stevie' post='1190796' date='Apr 6 2011, 06:31 PM']I've heard that Shell has cancelled petrol because the price of oil has gone up.[/quote]

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[quote name='Merton' post='1190747' date='Apr 6 2011, 05:54 PM']Is the fact that Eminence is involved going to screw Barefaced as well? :)[/quote]

It's not just Eminence, it's anyone and everyone that uses neodymium - neo loudspeakers, electric motors, generators, etc. The result for us is that prices are going up and may continue to go up. If the cost of neo goes stupid high then we'll look into comparable quality ferrite drivers, which would make the cabs heavier but still as light as most other neo cabs are now.

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There are solutions out there...

Keep your old (Non Neo) cabs, fit castors, get a gym membership and/or a chiropractor. Use Modular rigs- 2x2x10 instead of a 4x10- 2 trips, but less weight in each trip. Yes, I know Neo cabs are good, but if this is what's going to happen, people will just seek alternatives, in whatever form they may manifest themselves.

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1190751' date='Apr 6 2011, 05:57 PM']Hasn't Jim just scrapped the ceramic range? Does that mean he's selling nowt now?[/quote]


yes, I recall a that.

Personally, I wasn't that bothered about NEO..but did think the AE212 concept had legs at 55lbs.
What that will do now with ceramics, I don't know, weightwise....but a single 212 cab in ceramics hasn't been attractive from a weight POV, IMO

hmmmm

Edited by JTUK
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[quote name='JTUK' post='1190863' date='Apr 6 2011, 02:20 PM']yes, I recall a that.

Personally, I wasn't that bothered that NEO..but did think the AE212 concept had legs at 55lbs.
What that will do now with ceramics, I don't know, weightwise....but a single 212 cab in ceramics hasn't been attractive from a weight POV, IMO

hmmmm[/quote]Within a year worldwide production of neo will more than double, the Chinese market share (which, BTW, was ceded to them by default) will drop from 97% to less than 60% and all will be well again. And as is usually the case with these things most of the price increase isn't due to lack of supply, it's due to speculation on the futures market. That will probably cause the price of neo to start coming back down within months.

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Car industry is heavily invested in neo.

You can bet that a load of other industries none of us can even think of want neo.

China are making hay while the sun shines, simply because they can. As Bill says, when the profit margins are this good who wouldnt want to be making neo right now?

As he says all will go back to normal as soon as the market balances back out when other suppliers appear.

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[quote name='alexclaber' post='1190832' date='Apr 6 2011, 07:01 PM']It's not just Eminence, it's anyone and everyone that uses neodymium - neo loudspeakers, electric motors, generators, etc. The result for us is that prices are going up and may continue to go up. If the cost of neo goes stupid high then we'll look into comparable quality ferrite drivers, which would make the cabs heavier but still as light as most other neo cabs are now.[/quote]
That's what I figured, but had to ask the question :)

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1190751' date='Apr 6 2011, 05:57 PM']Hasn't Jim just scrapped the ceramic range? Does that mean he's selling nowt now?[/quote]

He said that although he was stopping the ceramic speakers it would only take a couple of phone calls to get
them into production again.

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[quote name='Musicman20' post='1190924' date='Apr 6 2011, 02:51 PM']I welcome new ceramic cabs.[/quote]The fact of the matter is that no significant R&D has been done with respect to new models of ceramic drivers, as they were in the process of being phased out. No new ones will come along now, as it takes over a year to bring new products to market, and by then the neo crisis will have passed.

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