Is Velodyne gone?

Don't know the current details, other than the website does not work.  Here is an article from last year of them moving from sub-woofers to sell driving vehicles.

https://www.audioholics.com/news/lidar-velodyne-shifts-from-subwoofers-to-self-driving-cars 

The lidar thing is huge numbers. Huge. 10’s of billions huge. At least in today’s soon to be self driving world, it is.
Tesla is not using lidar, google is. Others may be as well.
Lidar, if it was on the Tesla cars, might have prevented all deaths so far. That’s how good it is.
Elon may be ignoring it due to licensing costs, and implementation costs.

The militaries of the world tend to exclusively use Lidar, and Velodyne really does not need the subwoofer hassle ...with selling such expensive Lidar products to the biggest clients imaginable.

To be fair, Tesla has repeatedly warned and explained that the 'autopilot' feature isn't intended to take the place of an alert driver.  It can help prevent accidents on the freeway due to driver distraction, but it's not a replacement for a driver behind the wheel, and the accidents that have come from it have been from people giving complete control to the car and no longer paying attention to the road and their surroundings. 

As far as self driving cars in general go, they'll be coming, but there's a long road ahead.  Systems such as lidar that can detect other vehicles, pedestrians, and obstacles in the roadway better than cameras are a step forwards, but the big challenges are still going to be in the algorithms to predict what other vehicles and pedestrians are going to do, dealing with changes in traffic patterns due to construction and accidents, dealing with poorly marked roads and obstructed road signs, and dealing with extreme snow and rain that can potentially block or reduce the resolution of the various sensors.  

Controlled tests are one thing, putting millions of vehicles on the road across the nation is another matter entirely.

As far as Velodyne goes, their subwoofers were well regarding, but Rythmik seems to be the big name in servo-subs now, and they've been offering more for the money than Velodyne for a while.

  Velodyne might as well be gone. I'm stuck with one of their DD-12 subs from 2006. I replaced the amplifier in 2010 and now the amp is out again. No customer support from Velodyne. This is still another case of a high end company bailing, leaving thousands of customers without access to repairs/parts. 

When the class d amps go out, it is many times due to a few small electrolytic capacitors aging and going off spec.

Repair patterns emerge.

Class D amplifiers are very hard on some of the capacitors and other components in their designs, and age rapidly with no signs of immanent failure. This is a generalization but it is a potent part of the high failure and low lifespan, in general, of class D products. Manufacturers love this built in timed fuse aspect. Don't expect them to get rid of pulse power systems any time soon.

Old school amplifiers, due to how they stress components, can generally last 2-3-4-6 times longer.

@teo_audio...…………….
"Lidar, if it was on the Tesla cars, might have prevented all deaths so far. That’s how good it is."


This is pure speculation on your part.  Do you have any REAL proof of this?

I am currently shopping for a new subwoofer for home theater. I've looked at subs with longer warranties, 5 years on all parts, including the amplifiers. So far, I've looked online at subs built by Axiom and SVS. Any opinions about these companies?

I've got a 2006ish Velodyne DD18 that was a floor model at a closing tweeter.  I got it cheap and it's still going strong.  I've heard the bigger ones last longer because the amps are stressed a lot less.  I'll be disappointed if I can't get parts for it when it croaks, though.  It's been a great sub.  I use a Behringer ultracurve to EQ out the room nodes so I really don't need a sub with all of the signal processing available.  When the time comes my next sub will probably be a cheaper, simpler one. 

I had JL on my radar for upgrade time. I found a post here with a LOT of people saying JLs are prone to failure due to some cheap internal part (last month?). Can't find the post now, however. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I had a HGS 10 and so does my Dad.  Both have needed amp repair, Velodyne acted like they were surprised at the failure when all along they knew and abandoned support 

I sent his amp to a place in Jersey and it works like new for $150

I took an HGS-10 to Velodyne some years ago when I was in Monterey for the car weekend.  I got the impression that subs were just a sideline activity of a tech company that saw a good application for its high-gain servo technology.  I have two HGS-15s, four HGS-10s, and two SMS-1 bass managers.  At the time, SRI had a similar project aimed at sound cancellation.

Kosst_amojan, please tell us about the car company that you started.

kosst_amojan

This is where Elon Musk is an asshat. He genuinely cannot think ...  I honestly can't stand that fool. I knew he was and idiot ... All his windbag jive ... a complete idiot ... he knows nothing about much of anything. He doesn't understand ... He doesn't understand ... how stupid his hyperloop ideas are ... What a clown!

Hey kosst, why so angry? Your remarks reveal much more about you than they do Elon Musk.

@dweller I bought 2 JL F112s that both died at different times while I left them on overnight. I’ve never had that happen to any other sub. Also both JLs I had some pretty audible humming coming out of the drivers, which to me is a sign of either cheap electronics or too much internal amp gain. While I've had a few other subs that hummed slightly, if you put your ear right next to them, nothing like JLs which you could hear from several feet away.

I think Rythmik and SVS are probably the two best names out there. Velodyne and JL in the past were great if you wanted excellent performance out of a compact sub...but I believe big box retail companies overcharge and also skimp on quality parts typically. Most retail companies charge multiples more than internet direct companies and have parts that cost only a fraction as much at the same time--publicly traded companies are driven by short term profit to placate shareholders.

I have a Def Tech PF15 I bought new for LFE duty in 1994.  Still going strong, and I leave it powered on most of the time.  Not the last word in accuracy, but for LFE, it gets the job done (it gets a signal via a Pioneer AVR with MCACC).  I just tighten the Allen bolts on the driver frame once every few years.

Too bad!  For many years I had a Velodyne sub woofer and enjoyed it.

I has a HGS 18 sub for many years. Velodyne repaired it twice with no problems at the factory. Each time I took it in the sub side of their business was becoming smaller and smaller part of the company.

I believe Velodyne starting having problems when the father died and his sons took over. As a one time dealer I still believe they were the best sub available at the time because of their room tuning capabilitiy.

Part number for the accessory kit is 80-DDAK. As for the remote, I see two numbers inside the battery compartment: G100602 and 3436BG0-002-R. I am really sorry to hear that Veloydyne is kaput. I love my DD-15 and will be very upset if it dies and cannot be repaired. I also have the online manual in pdf form if you need it.

UPDATE: They seem to still be in business. Their 2018 website is working: 
http://velodyneacoustics.com

Good to know.  Maybe their website was just offline for some reason.

I interviewed at Velodyne last fall for the Linux systems admin position they had at their LIDAR research facility.  I'm still kicking myself for turning down their offer.

At the time, they said they still had an audio manufacturer division, so I'd assume that part of the business is still in operation.

And in case you're wondering why I turned 'em down, my old manager made me an offer I couldn't refuse, so today I'm making about $22k more than I was 6 months ago.

macnut5, thanks for the link to Velodyne. It seems that they are still selling subwoofers. Now, to go to their fine print: they offer just a two year warranty on their subs. Two years, and that is all. Contrast that with SVS and Axion, who both offer a full five year warranty on their subs. As on owner of a Velodyne DD12 that has had amplifier failures, I would never buy another Velodyne product. 

scorpio1951 
Did you purchase the subwoofer from an authorized dealer?
Could you elaborate a bit more regarding the service Velodyne provided?
What customer support were you denied?

I  bought it new from an authorized dealer in 2006. The amp failed in 2010. I bought a new amp direct from Velodyne and installed it myself. By 2010, the original amp was out of warranty. The 2010 amp failed in 2016. 
At that time, Velodyne announced on their website they were no longer supporting discontinued models. My DD-12 was discontinued. I contacted Velodyne again this year about getting a replacement amp, but there was no reply to my email 

There is a velodyne repair place in NJ. You just send them the amp. Google it.

@scorpio1951   I bought a pair of SVS SB16's about 2 months ago. I am quite pleased with my purchase. They have a great demo policy as well. Use them in your own home for 45 days, and if not satisfied for any reason, return them, "no questions asked" for a full refund of purchase price, and shipping cost.

  Thanks, Kestner, and crazyeddy

Just to update this thread, as of November 22, 2019 Velodyne has been purchased by Audio Reference in Germany.  You can read a little about it and the year long negotiation on the site https://www.velodyneacoustics.com

So it appears Velodyne will be back shortly selling and servicing subwoofers.

This is great news.  I have a pair of DD10+ I use to supplement my TAD’s below 40hz and have always loved the results.

My remote died (I can’t seem to locate the other one I never used) and searching around found the notice on their site.