Paradigm Actives Discontinued (1 Viewer)

[John Corkery]

I'm wondering if Paradigm ran into a temporary production problem with the Actives causing a shortage of the product which then set the rumor mill in motion...?

 

[Craig Beierlein]

Yes, I am near Greg but deal with a different dealer. My dealer did not get official notification from Paradigm, but his response was "I've been hearing rumors in the industry grapevine, and through our rep that they were going to be disc"
Having said that, I was not told this by them. I was told this by someone in Maine who was going to purchase the speakers in Canada for me. I did not fully believe this when I was told about it so I called Paradigm USA who knew nothing about it, and then I called Paradigm Canada and was told YES they will be out of production after in house orders are filled. (No, I don't remember who I talked to)
I don't know what to say about this, maybe I was given bad info, but if you read between the lines it seems to me Paradigm just has not made an official announcement yet.
Sorry if anyone feels I misled them. I was just trying to pass along some info I was told that I thought would be of interest to some. I certainly was not trying to start a viscous rumor.

 

[John Cain]

OK I now have this from several different sources.
Paradigm have NOT, repeat NOT discontinued the Active 20 and 40 series.
They are some of their better selers.
-- John
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[John Cain]

OK, I now have this from several different sources.
Paradigm have NOT, repeat NOT discontinued the Active 20 and 40 series.
They are some of their better sellers.
-- John
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[Zbigniew]

Well, I have to eat my own words.
Just got a word that this sad news is really true.
Paradigm will not admit in public, but message for dealers is - order what you need, because Active line is terminated. Not successfull enough.
So, if you are thinking about Actives, you better place your order soon.
Life sucks.
_zjt

 

[John Corkery]

You know, all these contradictory posts aren't really very helpful. Maybe some of you could at least let us know who your "sources" are?
Zbigniew:
What do you mean by "eat my own words"? I didn't notice any other post by you in this thread.
[Edited last by John Corkery on October 06, 2001 at 09:49 AM]

 

[John Cain]

My Source was Paradigm (multiple e-mails), and their local mfg Rep who called Canada and spoke with three different folks.
-- John
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[John Corkery]

Thanks for clarifying, John.
So far, I have also contacted Paradigm several times via e-mail and gotten responses from Gary Takeda saying that the Actives have not been discontinued. My local dealer has also been in touch with Paradigm, at my request, and was told the same thing, so Zbigniew's statement, "...but message for dealers is - order what you need, because Active line is terminated" is apparently NOT true. However, a dealer in Canada told me that he was informed "in a roundabout way" that the Actives ARE being discontinued.
I still believe that Brian Florian's post is the most credible one in this thread.

 

[Randy G]

Like I said, gotta get rid of the stuff in the pipeline.
And as a point of reference, Paradigm was supposed to come out with a mini-sub about 4 years ago to compete with the Sunfires and Velodynes...even showed a mockup at CES back then. I called them for over a year and a half, and each time, they would repeat "It should be coming out next month". I must have called them 15-20 times, and they NEVER admitted to scrapping the idea. That's Paradigm.

 

[Craig Beierlein]

I'll accept everyone's apology being that I ended up being correct from the begining

.......no hard feelings

 

[John Corkery]

Randy G:
And your "source" is...?
I'm not sure how keeping this news a secret would help Paradigm "get rid of the stuff in the pipeline" if the Actives are being discontinued because of lack of interest. If anything, coming right out and announcing their discontinuance would probably generate more interest and create a "buy them now or never" type of atmosphere.
I'm not trying to step on anybody's toes here; just trying to get people to be a little more specific about their information.
Craig:
Am I missing something? Because I haven't noticed anything definitive here yet, just a bunch of conflicting posts, and I'm not really sure why I should believe certain posts over others. John Cain's most recent post which lists his sources corresponds to his earlier post saying the Actives have NOT been discontinued.
[Edited last by John Corkery on October 06, 2001 at 11:13 AM]

 

[Brian Florian]

In response to all these post I again spoke with Mark Aling, Marketing Manager at Paradigm on Wednesday (Oct 3rd).
While it would be Paradigm's right and prerogative to discontinue the Actives in the future, at this moment it simply is not true. Mark had just witnessed a run of Active/40s come off the assembly line and that same line was being tooled to do a run of Active/20s.
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Brian Florian
Editor, Canada
Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity Link Removed

 

[John Corkery]

Brian:
Thank you for jumping back into this tiring, ping-pong match of a thread. You've provided some much needed credibility here.

 

[Randy G]

John,
Source for what? My opinion?!
My own dealings with Paradigm would indicate to ME, that they're not always completely forthright with what they tell consumers. You're entitled to feel otherwise, of course.
And how would it help them by keeping the info to themselves???
It's been my experience that when a company announces a discontinuation, that sometimes scares potential customers into thinking that perhaps that product might not be supported if there are future problems...ie- the damned crossover!, the internal amps!, and other doohickeys that make the Active series unique. Yeah, sure they'll keep stuff on hand for a couple of years, but what about 5 years from now, 10 etc? Also, many customers feel that if it's a discontinued product, they'll want a DISCOUNT to make up for that future risk...DUH!! I remember that shortly after they discontinued the 1st version of the Active series, there was a guy on one of the classifieds websites selling as many Active 20s as you'd care to buy for about 50% off list. I kinda figured that Paradigm blew em all out to this guy for cheap so they wouldn't be stuck with them while getting out the Version 2. Who knows, I could be wrong, but the math wouldn't add up otherwise. And THAT'S why they'd want to keep discontinued info to themselves. Not saying that they are, but it wouldn't surpise me. If you go to most any Paradigm dealer, they'll tell you what a small percentage of sales the Actives are. Plus, it costs dealers ALOT to keep them in stock. They ARE great speakers, though.

 

[Zbigniew]

Looks like my early post did not made it - happens sometimes.
Anyway, after first round of posts, I talked to a friendly dealer in Eastern US. His quick response was - Bullshit, Paradigm is aware that such gossip started specifically on HTW. I thought I posted this message before - but maybe not.
Today I am received a call from him that he got a unofficial word from another frinendly fellow in Paradigm that they will EOL Active.
I understand that we have a gossip - friend of a friend - versus offical Paradigm statement. The statement does not say that they will continue - only that they are are manufacturing them right now.
I am deadly aware that Active do create miniscule amount of Paradigm sales; also that Paradigm is in consumer/wholesale market, and that costs of maintaining Active line must keep margins slim.
We will see - and I will have to check my finances, to see if I can get my 2 pairs of 40 now or look at other options.
_zjt

 

[John Corkery]

Randy:
>> Source for what? My opinion?! > It's been my experience that when a company announces a discontinuation, that sometimes scares potential customers into thinking that perhaps that product might not be supported if there are future problems...ie- the damned crossover!, the internal amps!, and other doohickeys that make the Active series unique. Yeah, sure they'll keep stuff on hand for a couple of years, but what about 5 years from now, 10 etc?

 

[Randy G]

John,
>>You claimed that Paradigm was keeping the news a secret so they could get rid of their inventory

 

[John Corkery]

Randy:
I never accused you of anything. I simply asked you a question about your post:
>> Like I said, gotta get rid of the stuff in the pipeline.

 

[Randy G]

I love you, man.

 

[John Corkery]

Yeah, I can tell!
Again, it wasn't my intention to offend anyone. I just thought it would be important in a thread like this, with conflicting posts flying around, for people to clearly state whether what they're posting is speculation, hearsay, or from a reliable source--and who that reliable source is.
[Edited last by John Corkery on October 06, 2001 at 02:15 PM]