HALCRO is back!

[Newman]

Didn't know these were Class D amps.

 

Sorry, which model? Not the classic Halcros!

[Phantom]

Sorry, my bad.

 

One of the links in the thread where they are being offered at special prices is to a review which I thought mentioned Class D. Not sure which model, but I'm not dreaming.

 

I shall see if it can be found and I will post a link to it.

[Phantom]

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/406halcro/index.html

[Newman]

Interesting, cheers. The classic models are AB with a fair bit of A. Hence the 2-foot-tall heatsinks!  

[WhakPak]

.... building an amplifier of the calibre of a DM78 and beyond is a really expensive exercise.  Have you ever looked inside one?

...or ever tried to pick one up!

[lemnoc]

Sorry, my bad.

 

One of the links in the thread where they are being offered at special prices is to a review which I thought mentioned Class D. Not sure which model, but I'm not dreaming.

 

I shall see if it can be found and I will post a link to it.

 

I believe the low distortion class-D amps are their entry level models aimed at the multi-channel home theater market.

 

regards

[Sir Triode]

Well done Magenta Audio !!

 

In a country where manufacturing is on the decline it's good to see some people still willing to take a risk and take up the challenge. We need more people like this in Australia and less real estate agents. Also did anyone see Motan guitars on Lateline business the other night ? People advised the owner to make cheap guitars and instead they concentrated on the high end custom jobs which has been successful for them and they are now looking at export markets into china and other parts of asia. So not everything has to always be cheaper cheaper

 

Here is a good review of the dm88 in Stereophile with some good pictures of the insides.

 

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/806halcro

 

I'm going to spell it out so that the slower ones on this thread can understand where I am coming from.

 

It is not about going cheap and neither is it about pricing your products so high that only those with very deep pockets can afford. Make a range of high quality products at prices that a large majority of the market are willing to pay a bit more for. e.g. ARC, Manley, Conrad Johnson. Understand your market and market within the bell curve.

 

If you price it like Nagra, FM acoustics, Goldmund, Wilson Audio. Then better have someone with deep pockets willing to back your company up. But seeing that companies can be wrestled away from the founders by investors. e.g. Krell  - best to not go down that path. 

 

P.S. it is Maton not Motan Guitars.  And they don't make guitars that are that high end and neither are they all custom jobs.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Sir Triode

[Briz Vegas]

It will be interesting to watch Halcro's progress. I have now gone to valve amps so I can' t get too excited. Would not be right.

It is interesting that some of you mentioned Bentley because Bentley equals Naim and Naim's $200,000.00 Statement has a similar vibe to the DM model, both sort of visually and in its " best of the best" approach. I am referring particularly to the heat sinks either side. 746 watts into eight ohms.

Then there is the Devialet, the giant killer in a pizza box......well, I kinda prefer my valve amps so maybe not.

Point being, it's an interesting world out there in high end amp land, very different to 10 years ago. It will be interesting to see how Halcro tackle the new landscape, when times are tough you focus on you richest customers as they will still be buying.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Briz Vegas

[lemnoc]

I'm going to spell it out so that the slower ones on this thread can understand where I am coming from.

 

It is not about going cheap and neither is it about pricing your products so high that only those with very deep pockets can afford. Make a range of high quality products at prices that a large majority of the market are willing to pay a bit more for. e.g. ARC, Manley, Conrad Johnson. Understand your market and market within the bell curve.

 

If you price it like Nagra, FM acoustics, Goldmund, Wilson Audio. Then better have someone with deep pockets willing to back your company up. But seeing that companies can be wrestled away from the founders by investors. e.g. Krell  - best to not go down that path. 

 

P.S. it is Maton not Motan Guitars.  And they don't make guitars that are that high end and neither are they all custom jobs.

 

yes my mistake on the spelling of the Maton guitars but here is the original report with video.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-04/australias-maton-the-guitar-to-the-stars-wont-be/5298888

 

 

Australia's Maton, the guitar to the stars, won't be Made in China

Updated Wed 5 Mar 2014, 6:42am AEDT

Australian manufacturing may be on a low note but a small guitar maker in Melbourne is not only surviving but thriving.

Despite facing a high dollar and problems with its biggest domestic retail outlet, Maton is growing and is now even striking a chord with China.

 

Regarding Halcro I think that everyone is jumping the gun a bit and making a lot of presumptions. They may very well have different levels of product offerings to cater for different market segments but having said that even if they decide to sell some big ticket items then so what ? Unlike a lot of high priced imported gear with fancy boxes and not much technology under the bonnet, Halcro can honestly boast a pedigree which is backed up by sold engineering rather than a lot of hype. They may not sell a lot of this in Australia but then they maybe looking at a much bigger picture outside of Australia.

 

regards

[Newman]

On The Gruen Report this week there was a great quote from one of the panelists: "Australians don't buy prestige: Australians buy masstige."

 

Point being, if you want commercial success with a true prestige product, make sure you have a good plan for overseas sales.

[lemnoc]

On The Gruen Report this week there was a great quote from one of the panelists: "Australians don't buy prestige: Australians buy masstige."

 

Point being, if you want commercial success with a true prestige product, make sure you have a good plan for overseas sales.

 

That's not strictly true. Just have a look at how many prestige imported german cars on the roads today. You'd be hard pressed to drive anywhere without seeing a late model german car. So why pay a premium and buy an imported luxury car when a Toyota Camry would do a similar job ? Perhaps those additional refinements are worth paying for And like cars, hifi doesn't particularly depreciate very well so people buy these things not necessarily to sell later.

 

regards

[Newman]

Because a Camry isn't masstige either, it is mid-market. A Merc C-class is masstige. A top S-class is prestige.

 

Wiki sez:

Masstige is a marketing term meaning downward brand extension. The word is a portmanteau of the words mass and prestige and has been described as "prestige for the masses."

Masstige products are defined as "premium but attainable," and there are two key tenets: 

(1) They are considered luxury or premium products and 

(2) They have price points that fill the gap between mid-market and super premium.

 

Even prestige brands often extend their brand downwards from their (true prestige) top models, to pick up the aspiring masstige buyers. One could say that Halcro did exactly that, too.

 

I'm guessing the Gruen Transfer guy would have said, if shown the Halcro range, they could succeed in Australia with the MC series but not the DM series.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Newman

[everyones_shadow]

This is great news!

 

To me the two things that define the Halcro DM amps are the case design and the marketing approach of "better sound through extremely low distortion" backed up by actual better sound, of course. I think these two have to remain at the forefront of a re-launched Halcro. If the new products just appear to be another box (even an MC series box) then Halcro will have to reinvent a whole new marketing program which will just be a waste of time and resources -- far more so than any savings on using the cheaper cases.

 

Cheers

 

ES

[WhakPak]

This is great news!

 

To me the two things that define the Halcro DM amps are the case design and the marketing approach of "better sound through extremely low distortion" backed up by actual better sound...

The dm chassis design was fundamental to the function and low distortion performance of the amplifier, by physically and electrically separating the power supply section and the I/O section. I should think if they were to build dm amps again they would use the same chassis. The MC amps were part of the Halcro Logic Home Theater series which all had very similar cases to preserve the aesthetics through the product line-up (the SSP180/220 and MC20/30/50/70 had the same case, and use the same Middle Atlantic rack mount kit). Assuming a pre-pro and universal player are not on their radar, there is no particular reason to keep the MC amps in the same Logic series chassis as before. They could put new non-dm amps in any case they wanted, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something completely new here.

[lemnoc]

What's cooking over at the Halcro stable ?

 

Seems that the elves have been busy updating the website

 

http://www.halcro.com/

 

 

Full Site Coming Soon Isn’t it time you stopped to reflect on the beauty of music?

At Halcro we are music lovers first. We believe music is essential for human well-being.
Music can stimulate our imaginations; alter our moods – inspire, uplift and transport us.

We believe that music reproduced on a Halcro system can bring the listener closer to the underlying emotions of a musical performance than any other audio system available today.

At Halcro we are assembling a new team of audio experts, electronics specialists, experienced musicians and applied physicists, all focused on a single vision – to design and manufacture the world’s finest hifidelity playback equipment.

We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the new Halcro in the coming months

If you’re new to Halcro – then Welcome. If you’re already familiar with the legend – then we’re proud to say that “the best is about to get betterâ€

[Cafad]

That's just a tease, I've been waiting forever to see what might be cooking in the new Halcro and now they just put up a little update like that.  I guess we'll just have to wait for a press release to find out what these new "better than the best" products might look and/or sound like.

 

(Please include an integrated, please include an integrated, please include an integrated,  please include an integrated,  please include an integrated,  please include an integrated,  please include an integrated,  please include an integrated...is anyone from Halcro listening?)