We have a Winner -- Major "MINI" monitors

Their far from a "flavor" of the month speaker...I've owner my SP Tech speaker...the Timepiece 2.0 for a few years now. If you get the chance to hear an SP Tech....you'll understand what all the fuss is about. Happy listening.....

Chris

Hi Cleaneduphippy-

Hate to say it, but youra and Doubleugly reviews of these speakers comes across to much like hype.

No need to hate it; if I were in your place, I'd no doubt feel the same way.

To my knowledge, there are only 4 people in the US with direct ties to SP Technology Loudspeakers - Bob Smith (designer/owner) and his son Jason, Steve Chang (Chang Audio Network) and Mike Garner (Tweekgeek.com).

There may be others, but I'm not aware of them.

Regards,

Cleaneduphippy,

I have been watching this thread since its beginning and had chosen to stay clear of the debate...until I read your post. I appreciate everyone's skepticism as this is healthy for the consumer and audio market in general. As we all know too well, many claims are rooted in hype and many products are little more than "snake oil."

Being the designer and president of SP Technology I am well aware of the limited weight any words that I might write here on this (or any other forum) will carry. In light of this I would still ask you to consider the following.

First, if you were to research our products and particularly our website, you will find that our design philosophy and marketing approach is to eschew most of the very concepts embodied in the vast majority of today's audio products. In other words, we don't play up the use of exotic materials or use the latest industry "buzz words" to promote our stuff. Rather, we base our designs on optimizing the fundamentals of the physics involved... then attempt to inform the consumer of those efforts.

Second, of all the systems we have delivered I can count on one hand the number that has been sold on the used market. Out of 5 pairs sold used, only one was for the purpose of finding a better performer - and that customer has now returned and purchased our new "top of the line" model that is still in the research phase. Delivery for that is not expected until at least March of 2008. The other customers have sold their systems due either to financial needs or to move up to our larger models. The bottom line is that our customers keep their systems and very few ever end up on the used market. That fact alone is a testimony to the legitimacy of the recent claims being made here and seems to fulfill you requirement for exemption from the "hype club."

Finally, I will add one other little “qualifier.” Most of you are familiar with NuForce amplifiers, I assume? What you may not know is that we were the “primary contractor” that they selected to assist them in the design of their “S-9” loudspeaker. Sales to the consumer can be about almost any level of performance and value – or lack thereof. Sales and contracts between companies are a different story. Typically a company doesn’t get selected if all they have to offer is “hype” – especially if they have no marketing to back it up, as in our case.

Nevertheless, I am not here to "shill" our products in any way and am being as forthright as I know how to be – so please excuse the intrusion. I am posting here now to simply point out that we have been in business since 2003 and unfortunately, put all of our financial resources into manufacturing and fabricating capacity. Our investment in a considerable amount of machinery including a quite advanced CNC boring/milling center and a 13,000 sq.ft. facility is far from the largest of investments made in the industry, but nevertheless that combined with the ongoing overhead is quite a substantial financial risk and burden.

In our short sightedness, this heavy investment left virtually nothing for advertising – until just recently. This is why most of you here on Audiogon have either never heard or have heard very little of us. With only “word of mouth” sales to sustain us, and the considerable overhead, if our products did not offer tremendous value we would have been out of business long ago.

So…to sum up… whether or not our products fulfill yours or anyone else’s requirements… to suggest SP Tech’s products are about “hype” couldn’t be much further from the truth. I hope my efforts here have shed a little light on the matter. Have a great Holiday Season and…

Take care,
Bob Smith
SP Technology Loudspeakers

Bob Smith,
Thank you for joining the discussion. I always appreciate it when the person behind a product adds their own personal take on it. I have looked at your website and it is quite informative. I will definitely get at least an audition of your Timepeice Mini and 3.0 in the sring before I move from Ohio back to Montana.

this is a case of 'everyone is right'. the beat goes on