W4-1720 Nla

[cooper]

I ordered a pair last week (to build Lou's Picolattas) and they arrived yesterday.

This morning I noticed that they are NLA.

To bad, the Speedster's and Picolattas seem to be popular builds.

[Taterworks]

I'm also extremely disappointed, as I have a design in the works using a pair of these drivers (which I already have, thankfully, and have verified as working).

Who's calling the shots there in the PE purchasing department? It's not like this driver has a Neodymium magnet, thus it doesn't suffer from that pricing instability. This is one of the more popular drivers from Tang Band's line of underhung-motor paper cone drivers, and Tang Band appears to still exist, so why has PE discontinued this driver? It looks like the other underhung drivers that were less popular were also discontinued from PE's stock, but this is just throwing the baby out with the bathwater if the other drivers in the line weren't popular. Discontinuing this driver would be a poor decision; I hope the driver will be returning when stock is available.

[Wolf]

That's a major bummer! The Speedsters/Piccolata/Coppers were destined for greatness.
Later,
Wolf

PS- we never even saw the W8-1722, the one I wanted to try.
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w8-1722.htm

[jsr]

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I was working on a design with this woofer also as I really liked it in the Speedsters. But lots of delays and I never bought it for the project. D'oh! Guess I have to find another driver.
I agree, it seemed like a popular driver and I dont see the reason for discontinuing carrying it.

[ReissM]

1. Does anyone else carry the Tang Band W4-1720 or the W5-1685?

2. I'm currently working on a design with the W5-1685 and I'm going to want to build more than one pair. I really like the motor structure in these... wish I could get more of them. What other 5 inch mid-woofer has 6.1mm Xmax, shorting ring in motor, very smooth FR out to 10kHz?

[Wolf]

1. Does anyone else carry the Tang Band W4-1720 or the W5-1685?

2. I'm currently working on a design with the W5-1685 and I'm going to want to build more than one pair. I really like the motor structure in these... wish I could get more of them. What other 5 inch mid-woofer has 6.1mm Xmax, shorting ring in motor, very smooth FR out to 10kHz?

http://www.solen.ca/pub/cms_nf_catalogue.php?man=47

Have a look!
Wolf

[fastbike1]

Meniscus Audio shows them in stock.

[Taterworks]

Meniscus Audio shows them in stock.

PE is the U.S. distributor for Tang Band, if I recall correctly. If they don't carry them, then eventually you won't be able to get them in the U.S.

It sure would be great if we could get an explanation. If this isn't resolved by the time MWAF rolls around, my introduction of my Neutrino project will contain a rant about driver availability.

[curt_c]

Its always been my understanding that T-B is the one who determines which drivers are made available for purchase. I sincerely doubt this was PE's choice to quit carrying them.

C

[Wolf]

Its always been my understanding that T-B is the one who determines which drivers are made available for purchase. I sincerely doubt this was PE's choice to quit carrying them.

C

Yep, and PE does not stock everything TB wants them to carry either. There is also another issue with lot counts of purchases, as the shipping is high, and the higher the count the less shipped later. TB wants a lot of stock kept, but the cost is pretty high.

Then there is the constant revitalization of TB's product line. They crank off soooo many new units that have not yet been sold, and want that inventory to move, but yet they have not a standard product line that does not get touched/revamped/improved/discontinued.

Combine that with the stock kept at PE, and you get product that may run far past its expiration date.

(I woulda liked to use the sugar-cane units from a few years back, the W3-517S1 is the best 3" wide-ranger I've used, and I missed out on the W8Q-1071's.)

Just my 2c,
Wolf

[johnnyrichards]

Drivers reaching end-of-life or becoming NLA through normal channels is frustrating, but part of DIY unfortunately.

[LouC]

Dunno. Maybe weight is part of the equation. All those TB underhung drivers are heavy for their weight class -- fairly pricey too. Probably better margins in smaller lighter tweeters and full range. The rash of OEM buyouts probably cut into sales of new drivers pretty deeply. Looking around the board, cheap & small still seem to be the two most common adjectives.

I gave up waiting to buy drivers. I buy when they look interesting, build from stock. I have a pair of the 6.5 inch too that I have yet to use.

[Taterworks]

Its always been my understanding that T-B is the one who determines which drivers are made available for purchase. I sincerely doubt this was PE's choice to quit carrying them.

C

This just seems backwards compared to any other manufacturer-distributor relationship I've ever heard of, except maybe in the auto industry. Otherwise every distributor of every manufacturer's product would carry the manufacturer's entire product line in stock, and we'd have continuous access to the entire TB product line, all the time, and the channel would constantly be fully stuffed. If TB doesn't want to manufacture a driver, they should pull it off their web site or mark its entry on the web site as discontinued, and all the underhung-ferrite drivers are still there.

Rant still on.

[Wolf]

This just seems backwards compared to any other manufacturer-distributor relationship I've ever heard of, except maybe in the auto industry. Otherwise every distributor of every manufacturer's product would carry the manufacturer's entire product line in stock, and we'd have continuous access to the entire TB product line, all the time, and the channel would constantly be fully stuffed. If TB doesn't want to manufacture a driver, they should pull it off their web site or mark its entry on the web site as discontinued, and all the underhung-ferrite drivers are still there.

Rant still on.

It doesn't work that way. A distributor can only stock what they have credit for or capability for. You don't want to go belly up stocking product and then product flow ceases and hands out bankruptcy pamphlets.

When I worked in a former job that worked this way for retail You could always order it for a customer, but we may not have always had it on hand.

Later,
Wolf

[craigk]

it looks like meniscusaudio might have them.

[Taterworks]

it looks like meniscusaudio might have them.

As noted before, Meniscus gets their stock from other sources (specifically PE for this driver). Once those are gone, they're gone. It's possible that Meniscus hasn't updated their web site yet.

I'll see what I can find out through some other channels.

[ROTECH]

Well, there goes my ladies' birthday present. She wanted some fire engine red speedsters for the kitchen.
I guess I really have to keep a $200-300 running driver budget so I can buy when the gettin is good.

[bkeane1259]

I was going to call Meniscus actually and ask them why they show the TB W4-1720 and Fountek NeoCD1.0 drivers as out of stock, but they still show the Speedster kit as in stock.

It's also pretty impossible to find in-stock Fountek NeoCD1.0's as well.

Ryan if you want red Speedsters, you might still be in luck.

[Taterworks]

Meniscus might still have parts purchased and in stock for a number of Speedsters kits, since the kit itself is their product. I know Madisound does this - they keep the parts for a number of kits together even after the drivers themselves go NLA.

It looks like Madisound is also a U.S. distributor of Tang Band products. If the W4-1720 is still available, and PE isn't interested in carrying it, maybe we can encourage Madisound to pick up the product.

[joeybutts]

That would be awesome as the 1720 has become one of my favorite drivers. I'm sitting on a pair for my arcade cabinet build and was actually thinking of making a third pair.....