Is Velodyne going out of business?
- Thread starter jvrestore
- Start date
Mark Seaton
WBF Technical Expert (Speaker & Acoustics)
I suspect it's more a matter of loosing interest in the market with all that they've been doing in other markets with much grander potential. Just check out the main Velodyne website.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your thoughts in the matter. That's pretty much the impression one gets. Still, it would have been the right thing to return the three phone messages left and one email I sent in the last week.
Jesse
Hello, I can tell you that Velodyne Acoustics which is / was part of Lidar is out of business... Verified By A Employee who worked there 20 years.
SVS is a better product. Their new SB series looks very well made and better than Velodyne and I own a FSR18, but will add 2 SB 4000’s soon.
I myself have never owned a SVS product but I can tell you that we have never had one in our shop so they must be reliable.
Thanks, I appreciate the confirmation. It is a shame though as they made fantastic subs.
I'm not sure how you jumped to your conclusion since it appears you haven't heard the SVS yet. As the owner of two Velodyne subs and the SVS in question I can say the Velodyne subs sound better, have more connectivity options and more calibration/fine tuning options. The SVS isn't bad though.
I've just installed a Velodyne DD+10 in my control room and I love the sound. Too bad if it's true that Velodyne is going out of business.
A friend and HiFi-dealer came back from the Münich HiFi Messe and according to him, the Velodyne people were talking about a new DD-series being launched in a year or two. Go figure.
Any more information regarding the closure?
Cheers
Fred
Interesting...as a big fan and long-time owner of Velodyne (consecutively since 1993?)...would also be interested to know if they are indeed going to bring out a new DD+...or have closed.
6 of their 17 subs are listed as out of stock, some have been for a good while and one DD Plus is listed as one left. A few dealer sites note the Optimum series as discontinued.
I still have not received a reply to my emails or phone calls.
I have owned multiple different Velodyne subs, starting in 1992 and then, many years later, a pair of DD18's. They were great subs but given competition from ID companies like Seaton, SVS, and a number of others, they could not really compete (IMO) given price/performance. I also owned multiple different models of SVS subs after my Velodynes and I found them to be a far better sounding product (but lacking the auto EQ feature of the DD18s) for a lot less money. The higher end sub market (e.g. REL) has focused on 2 channel and (apparently ) been successful doing so.
Today, subs offered from companies like Seaton Sound can compete in both the music market as well as the HT market, and again a much better price/performance than Velodyne. Not at all a surprise if Velodyne has shut their doors.
Today, subs offered from companies like Seaton Sound can compete in both the music market as well as the HT market, and again a much better price/performance than Velodyne. Not at all a surprise if Velodyne has shut their doors.
You are most likely right about the price/performance comparing Velodyne with its competitors.
But personally, I have yet to find another subwoofer brand that can compete with the performance of the Velodyne DD+ series. The digital servo does a fantastic job tightening up the woofer performance and lower the distortion.
If there is another subwoofer brand that utilize a digital servo, I'd love to hear about it.
Until then, IMHO, Velodyne makes the most impressive and tight sounding subwoofer. Very musical low-end with tons of body and punch.
Cheers
Fred
Having owned the DD18 and SVS and Seaton, I have a different experience. I owned the SVS and DD18 at the same time and the DD18 and the Seaton at the same time so was able to directly compare. I found (and still find) the Seaton to meet my needs far better than either of the other two -- for either music or home theater But that is why we don't all own the same stuff since we hear things differently and have different priorities and preferences
As long as you are happy with your sub choice that is the only thing that matters.
He is obsessive/fastidious/anal about the details of his products. He might miss the product delivery date of a new sub design, but when it is finally released, it is best in class. A very smart guy. A very nice guy. And if he had gone to Georgia Tech we could say "one hell of an Engineer". (Actually, we can say it anyway
)I used to own a pair of REL Stadium III subs but I was always fiddling with the crossover point, output level, and room position, trying to get them to integrate with my main speakers. I finally gave up and sold them. After reading some reviews of current forward-firing subs from REL, JL Audio, Seaton, and Funk, I'm curious to hear what they would do in my system. I'm also curious about the effect of line arrays of subs.
Other than system integration, I have a concern about disturbing the neighbours in my building -- especially those below me. My floors and walls are 8" poured concrete but I remember getting a complaint when I first moved in with my RELs. Since getting rid of them I have never had a noise complaint. I listen at mid to high 80s dB with peaks to 90dB. I'm hoping it was the down-firing nature of the RELs that led to the disturbance and not the fact that they were producing very low frequency waves that could penetrate the concrete more easily than higher frequencies.
Other than system integration, I have a concern about disturbing the neighbours in my building -- especially those below me. My floors and walls are 8" poured concrete but I remember getting a complaint when I first moved in with my RELs. Since getting rid of them I have never had a noise complaint. I listen at mid to high 80s dB with peaks to 90dB. I'm hoping it was the down-firing nature of the RELs that led to the disturbance and not the fact that they were producing very low frequency waves that could penetrate the concrete more easily than higher frequencies.
Given the wave lengths of the frequencies put out by a sub (80hz is about 14 feet - longer as you go lower), the direction of the driver will have, unfortunately, very little impact on what your downstairs neighbors hear.
I don't know if you used any kind of room correction in your RELs, but if you did not and had some frequency that had some kind of large peak, that could potentially explain why you got complaints. Whatever sub you select next, be sure that you get some kind of room correction (either as part of the subs or external) to insure you get a more balanced frequency response with the mains. Many of the external boxes (for example miniDSP) also has a tools to help with setting the crossover type and slope with the mains. And FWIW, I have owned lots of subs and am partial to Seaton. The ONLY downside is you will need an external box to perform room correction and mains integration.
I wasn't using room correction in my RELs.
I actually had an acoustic analysis of my room done, using just my speakers and no subs, and it showed:
"Both speakers show peaks at 38Hz and 49Hz, though the left dominates the combined response. Higher up there's a peak in the right speaker at 91Hz that dominates the combined response."
I've since changed the position of the speakers and though it sounds more musical with better articulation in the bass, I have no idea how it measures.
I actually had an acoustic analysis of my room done, using just my speakers and no subs, and it showed:
"Both speakers show peaks at 38Hz and 49Hz, though the left dominates the combined response. Higher up there's a peak in the right speaker at 91Hz that dominates the combined response."
I've since changed the position of the speakers and though it sounds more musical with better articulation in the bass, I have no idea how it measures.
