AMEK is dead! RIP.

[Guest]

Harmon is discontinuing the Amek brand as of December 2004. Jakob, maybe you should let Harmon run your company.

If you ask me it's a shame. Amek had what it takes to break a two company world monopoly.

Oh well,

elco

 

[MikoKensington]

Who? Wal-Mart and Starbuck's?

 

[NewYorkDave]

Ha! Good one!

 

[AudioJunkie]

Don't forget Walgreens. I swear, you can't go 2 miles around any suburb here without seeing another Walgreens. They're throwing them up faster than bacteria can multiply in sweaty gym socks!

There's one area where i teach private lessons that has 4 in just over a square mile.

 

[NewYorkDave]

On route 9 in Poughkeepsie, there are two Starbucks literally right across the street from one another.

 

[Rob Flinn]

On route 9 in Poughkeepsie, there are two Starbucks literally right across the street from one another.

There`s a few places round London where Starbucks have that sort of presence!

 

[NewYorkDave]

Starbucks must be stopped.

Their coffee is excellent, but their business practices are reprehensible. When they opened up in my town, they used some rather underhanded tactics to crush a little privately-owned coffee shop that had been doing business in our town since long before Starbucks arrived. I've since learned that this is S.O.P. for Starbucks and was not an isolated case.

Starbucks... The Walmart of the coffee world

 

[SonsOfThunder]

Well...you know its GOTTA be because Mr. N abandoned them...I saw he is coming out with his own line of "new" products soon. I wonder if that has anything to do with this?

head down...

Charlie

 

[JPrisus]

As much as I LOVE the Ameks i've worked on, it's a damn shame they never really carved much of a niche in the world market. The 9098i pretty much sunk them, and i'm sure Harman didn't exactly help much. As amazing a console as the 9098i is, they most likely never recouped the development and production costs for those first 8 or 9 units.

 

[JPrisus]

[quote author="SonsOfThunder"]Well...you know its GOTTA be because Mr. N abandoned them...I saw he is coming out with his own line of "new" products soon. I wonder if that has anything to do with this?

head down...

Charlie[/quote]

I don't know if it was abandonment exactly... i think he did some designs, made some money and left, just as he did with Focusrite and Summit in the past, although I could be very wrong...

 

[AudioJunkie]

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]On route 9 in Poughkeepsie, there are two Starbucks literally right across the street from one another.[/quote]

River Oaks here in Houston is the same way. I think the buildings are even mirror images of each other, directly across the street from each other.

In the Woodlands (and several other places i've been) there is a Barnes & Noble with a Starbucks in it, then in the same parking lot there will be a free-standing Starbucks.

I'm not a coffee drinker, so maybe I can't fully understand the reason people pay $5 or more for a cup. If I'm paying that kind of money for a drink, I want it to have some premium alcohol content so I won't remember paying that much for it.

Daniel

 

[Scodiddly]

Pity about Amek - I've been sort of worried that people with the laptop-controlled systems are going to start running into serious troubles with that old computer hardware going bad.

Regarding Starbucks, it's not even very good coffee. A friend who worked at a long-established coffee place had a rant about how they roast their beans the wrong way, resulting in burnt-flavored coffee.

 

[soundguy]

In my neighborhood, there was a big starbucks in this pedestrian mecca right out side a subway station. Across the square, about 60 yards away, a company had the bright idea of opening their own coffee shop which lasted about a year before starbucks bought that, so on 8th and 4th, there is a starbucks, 8th and 3d there is a starbucks and on 9th and 2nd there is a starbucks. Inside the barnes and noble between 4th annd broadway on 8th, there is a starbucks which of course is right across the street from the main one, and this must be normal as the starbucks on 17th and broadway is right across the street from a barnes and noble on union square north which has a starbucks. I can go on, but you get the picture with starbucks and the east village...

dave

 

[tubejay]

I know this is going to cause me much trouble here, but I LOVE WAL-MART, and I love capitalism!!! Great prices, cheap crap, and really great cheap drugs and bathroom goods. I think Wal-Mart has empowered more poor people who need food, clothing, furniture, you name it, by providing goods at MUCH MUCH cheaper prices, than the small businesses that they put under, which were charging way more, in turn costing poor people much more of their hard earned cash. My brother in law works as an exec at Wal-Mart, has a great job and makes a ton of cash, my aunt works there as a lower down, and makes a fair wage for her education level, and gets fairly decent medical coverage. They've both worked there for over a decade and absolutely love the place. I think it's a big, easy target, and often gets unfairly beat up. Before Wal-Mart MANY people didn't have access to the cheap, yet decent goods that Wal-Mart sells, and I think it's helped lift a lot of people out of poverty. Just my 2 cents...

Starbucks coffee sucks though...and it's WAY to pricey. I'd take Folgers in a coffee maker over Starbucks any day of the week.

Lastly, it is a pity about Amek, they were making some decent stuff.

 

[Ethan]

Even if I have to pay a little more, I like knowing that the money that I spend is very much appreciated (on a personal level) by the independent store owners that remember me by name, show interest in me, and ask about my family. We collectively create a sense of community.

I work for a business like that, and I like to spend my money in other businesses with the same model.

Of course I have shopped in mega-stores whenever it's the only practical solution at the time, but I try to be mindful of the small business owner whenever I can.

 

[jrmintz]

Jay, the problem is not just Wal-Mart and it's certainly not the people who work for them. There's nothing you're saying that I don't agree with - the jobs, the prices and all that stuff. And Wal-Mart is certainly the easiest target. That problem is that you're seeing Wal-Mart in a vacuum. Those kinds of stores, not just Wal-Mart, have done tremendous damage in more far-reaching social ways - driven out smaller retailers, putting the people who work for them out of business, destroying downtown shopping districts and their real estate values. By importing products at prices that American manufaturers can't meet more people get thrown out of work. This is not a question of capitalism being right or wrong, it's about companies and the people who run them seeing thenselves as part of a larger whole, and what responsibilities that implies. And this discussion belongs in the brewery I think.

 

[Guest]

Better jump on any AMEK stuff you like now, as soon as they're gone I'm sure the 'Vintage' and 'Rare' adjectives will be slapped in front of any piece of gear you see for sale. Of course the requisite price increase will go along with the new description. :evil:

Zach

 

[kent]

SPG,

All I know is... anyone who uses a picture of Bruce Campbell with a chainsaw on one severed hand and a shotgun in the other is alright by me

cheers,
kent

 

[Ethan]

[quote author="SPG"]Better jump on any AMEK stuff you like now, as soon as they're gone I'm sure the 'Vintage' and 'Rare' adjectives will be slapped in front of any piece of gear you see for sale. Of course the requisite price increase will go along with the new description. :evil:
Zach[/quote]

Ain't that the truth! :shock:

 

[Guest]

anyone who uses a picture of Bruce Campbell with a chainsaw on one severed hand and a shotgun in the other is alright by me

You can't beat the Evil Dead movies. They even had a PS2 game of Army of Darkness, and one of the buttons would make him spit out those awful one-liners! When I found that pic I knew I had to use it.

Enjoy:
http://www.unrealisticexpectations.com/soundboards/bc.asp

Zach