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[scottstephens]

Hey, All.

  So, I've been a loyal Audio-Technica fan for years; I've even purchased 12 of their 3000 series wireless units. They have been absolutely great! But now, you can't order any transmitters, receivers or damn near anything because they've been prepping their new lines.  I even tried to spend money by upgrading to their 4000 series for a couple of upcoming events. And my supplier, a certified A.T. dealer, tells me the day after I placed an order that A. T. has stopped making the 4000 series and didn't even tell the dealers.  Why is everything still on their website? I understand the whole 600 Mghz thing, but come on. Stupid bastards!

I contacted A. T. and they said:  " well, the 4th generation 3000 series will be available "sometime" this summer."

I might start shopping for senny's.

Scott 

[Caleb Dueck]

I might start shopping for senny's.

Scott

Sounds like a great idea.  The EW100-935 are great.  My path, through various employers, was A-T 3k, 4k, 5k, Sennheiser EW100/500, then now Axient Digital/ULX-D/QLX-D.  I still like the EW100 , it's my pick for low cost but still good.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

[John Roberts {JR}]

Manufacturers can't afford to throw away a ton of old inventory after a product upgrade/transition. It requires hard work and finesse to not both lose a pile of money*** and pissing off customers.

Been there, worked to not do that.

JR

*** years ago in the wild and crazy early days of the PC business, I recall one small company that literally bankrupted themselves, by announcing their next generation computer model too soon, killing off sales on their current model.

[Lyle Williams]

Sometimes new products are not driven by innovation, but forced by component unavaiability.

If a company was suprised by a component becoming unavailable, they could end up running out of stock while desperately trying to design a replacement.

[John Roberts {JR}]

Sometimes new products are not driven by innovation, but forced by component unavaiability.

In my experience large customers often get offered last time buys when components are being obsoleted. It happens but is rarely a surprise.

If a company was suprised by a component becoming unavailable, they could end up running out of stock while desperately trying to design a replacement.

I had a consulting relationship with a manufacturer back in the 80's. That company changed hands and the new guy running it, tried to screw me out of my royalties. Shortly thereafter a key IC in the product was discontinued requiring a product redesign. Of course I told the new sleazeball owner to pound sand when he asked me to redesign the product. Karma. 

JR

   

[Scott Helmke]

Wireless has become a very tough business. A lot of the OEM/rebadge stuff really isn't going to be up to the coming crunch, leaving mostly Shure vs. Sennheiser.  And neither of those two seems interested in letting anybody rebadge their products.

[Ray Aberle]

*** years ago in the wild and crazy early days of the PC business, I recall one small company that literally bankrupted themselves, by announcing their next generation computer model too soon, killing off sales on their current model.

There's plenty of Dilbert cartoons about that... the sales person promising that the NEXT model will solve every problem the client has, and cure cancer, so the customer decides to wait until it's released..... which is a year or two away. Whooopsie.

[Mike Caldwell]

Hey, All.

  So, I've been a loyal Audio-Technica fan for years; I've even purchased 12 of their 3000 series wireless units. They have been absolutely great! But now, you can't order any transmitters, receivers or damn near anything because they've been prepping their new lines.  I even tried to spend money by upgrading to their 4000 series for a couple of upcoming events. And my supplier, a certified A.T. dealer, tells me the day after I placed an order that A. T. has stopped making the 4000 series and didn't even tell the dealers.  Why is everything still on their website? I understand the whole 600 Mghz thing, but come on. Stupid bastards!

I contacted A. T. and they said:  " well, the 4th generation 3000 series will be available "sometime" this summer."

I might start shopping for senny's.

Scott

I'm kind of in the same spot with my system of 24 AT 3000 series systems 12 of them are in 600mhz. At least here in Ohio it looks like T Mobile is holding off till later this year to flip the switch.

The day AT announced a new 3000 series "release" and had some pictures and info up on their site I was looking them over, I'm not really into the complete new make over look but oh well, but get this....they changed the HIROSE connector on the body pack to another completely different style of connector.

Any mic inventory you now have will not work with the new 3000 series body packs.

The new handheld mics with the inter changeable mic capsules look good though.

It appears the HIROSE connector is still used on all the other wireless series with the exception of their new 6000 series digital.

I called AT and the tech I talked to confirmed it but did say there maybe an adapter offered.

For what it's worth I never had any issues with the HIROSE connector, B&H has some HIROSE bulk connectors from Point Source that are good.

[Scott Helmke]

but get this....they changed the HIROSE connector on the body pack to another completely different style of connector.

What did they change it to?  Anything common in the industry?

[John Roberts {JR}]

There's plenty of Dilbert cartoons about that... the sales person promising that the NEXT model will solve every problem the client has, and cure cancer, so the customer decides to wait until it's released..... which is a year or two away. Whooopsie.

Yup, Scott Adams was a working engineer so drew from his real life experiences.

JR

[brian maddox]

What did they change it to?  Anything common in the industry?

AT says it's a "cH-style screw-down 4-pin connector"

The only pictures i can find for it are from AT, so it doesn't feel/sound like anything all that standard.

The variety of beltpack connectors for wireless is a personal pet peeve of mine, so the idea of adding another connector to the mix does not make me super keen on using AT systems....

[Mike Caldwell]

AT says it's a "cH-style screw-down 4-pin connector"

The only pictures i can find for it are from AT, so it doesn't feel/sound like anything all that standard.

The variety of beltpack connectors for wireless is a personal pet peeve of mine, so the idea of adding another connector to the mix does not make me super keen on using AT systems....

I was just about to post that same picture!!

I have no clue as to why they would change the connector on a well established wireless system that has been around and working well for years.

Just looking at the connector it looks HIROSE like with the four pins only with a completely different locking concept.
Maybe it was cost, but the connector doesn't appear to that much simpler in design.

I always felt the AT 3000 series was at the sweet spot of good price point and performance. 

So far I have not heard any pricing info on the new series.

[Mike Caldwell]

From what I've seen it looks like the new 3000 series will be noticeably higher priced than the recently discontinued 3000 series.

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