Hi fellow Aperions,

I would first like to thank everyone for their interest in our new products. We have the world’s greatest customers and the fact that you are so passionate about your speaker choices makes us feel honored to have you as our customers.

Second, I would like to apologize for the lack of information regarding the new products. This is a good news, bad news story. It has always been our intention for there to be at least a 30 day overlap in product availability between the classic Intimus and the new Intimus products. Most of our customers have a 30 day buying cycle. So, if you are considering an Aperion purchase, this 30 day overlap would give you enough time to make an informed decision between the old and new products because they would both be available. It would also accommodate those of you in your 30 day trial period.

The good news is that January 2008 was our biggest month in history. The bad news is that January 2008 was our biggest month in history. We completely blew our sales forecast out of the water and as a result we are running out of some products (533-T) 30 – 60 days in advance of our plan. So now you know why we are announcing some products early. We are working as fast as possible to get information out on the new products but some of them are not even in production yet.

I would like to clear up a bit of speculation about some new products and pricing. First, let’s start with the subs. Our Intimus subs represent a great value and offer great performance for the money. The current Intimus sub design has been with us since we sold our first speaker in 2000. Technology has come a long way in the last 8 years and our sub line has been due for an upgrade. The new Bravus line is the result of a combination of feedback from our customers and our research of the market. These new subs are amazing performers and will stack up with subs that are upwards of twice the price. Size is a huge issue when it comes to subs so this was a key area of focus for us. We went with a small sealed enclosure with 2 side firing woofers. Smaller dual drivers move as much air as a single larger driver but take up less space. Since the cabinet is small and sealed, you lose some efficiency so we employed BASH technology. BASH amps offer the sonic quality of a class AB amp with the efficiency of class D digital technology and they allow advanced features like parametric EQ, crossover bypass and remote control.

We wanted these subs to be easy to set up, adjust and operate so we included a user interface and digital readout on the front of the sub along with a remote control so you can make adjustments from your listening position. This allows you to optimize your sub from the comfort of your couch and you don’t need a helper to get it dialed in just right.

Yes, the subs are more expensive but the dual 8” sub offers similar performance to a single 10” along with a host of other features and it is priced exactly the same as the Intimus S-10 at $499.

Now on to the Intimus redesign. The entire range of Intimus products have been revoiced and redesigned. New Intimus speakers feature new woven fiberglass woofers, an amazing new silk dome tweeter, a new crossover and softer rounded vertical edges on the cabinets. This upgrade is an evolution of the product line that has been in the works for the last 8 years. Throughout our history, we have made constant upgrades to our products. Starting with the 502D, 512D, 522, 532 and now the 5B and we have never once raised our prices in 8 years.

Since many of our products have been added over time, they were designed to match the existing products. By redesigning the entire Intimus family at once, we had the opportunity to revoice all the speakers at the same time. The end result is that we have an entire line of speakers that all sound amazing for both music and movies. Some of our classic Intimus speakers used to be better for music and some were better for movies. This is no longer the case. All of our speakers work well for both so the only consideration you need to make is size and budget.

Many of you are concerned about the price increases. Rest assured we have not forgotten what got us where we are today. We still offer the best value. What we have done is upgraded the performance across the board. All of our products have won numerous awards for quality & value. Our 6-series products have been the most well reviewed and are customer favorites. So, we started with the 6-series speakers and improved them even more. The tweeter we have been using for the last several years is a good tweeter but it does have one minor weakness. If you like to listen to rock music really loud, it sometimes struggles to keep up. We are talking really loud levels here so this really isn’t a problem for the majority of our customers. But we strive to make 100% of our customers happy so we designed a new custom silk dome tweeter that matches the quality of the rest of the speaker. The improvements are not only found on the high end but midrange performance is substantially better.

With a new tweeter, the 6-series products are world class and we determined that the other products in the line should follow suit. So, woven cone fiberglass woofers and the same new 1” silk dome tweeter have found homes in our 4 and 5 series products. These are major performance upgrades for these products. 5 series speakers are on par with previous 6 series and 4 series rank right up there with the old 5 series products. Individually the products are more expensive but the product quality has been significantly upgraded.

So, here is the brief rundown of the new products and their prices.

Bravus Subwoofers: (Available Now)
Intimus subwoofers are being replaced by Bravus subwoofers.
8D - dual 8” ($499),
10D - dual 10” ($799)
12D - dual 12” ($1,099).
 
Intimus 4-Series (Available April)
422-LR replaced by the 4B ($130)
422-C replaced by the 4C ($160)

Intimus 5-Series (Available early March)
532-LR replaced by 5B ($225)
534-SS replaced by 5DB ($345)
533-VAC replaced by 5C ($350)
533-T replaced by 5T ($495)

Intimus 6-Series (Available April)
632-LR replaced by 6B ($345)
634-VAC replaced by 6C ($590)
633-T replaced by 6T ($695)

So, for those of you that are concerned about the new higher prices you have a couple options. First, place your order for our current line of award-winning Intimus speakers while you can still get them. They represent an amazing value and will satisfy you for years to come. Option number two is to consider stepping down one size. You might even save a few bucks and make the wife happy with smaller speakers and a smaller budget.

Lastly, I would like to address the trade-up issue. When the trade up program was launched, we didn’t have a full line of speakers. The trade up program was designed for people who purchased bookshelf speakers but wanted towers and couldn’t get them because they were too expensive or didn’t exist. Product revisions and price increases were never intended to be part of the trade-up program. This is a very generous program that is unmatched by any of our competitors (that we are aware of). Ultimately, we want happy customers so if you purchased recently and inquired about new products before our guys were given the green light to talk about them, then give us a call and we will work something out.

Thank you for supporting Aperion Audio and as always, stay tuned to our website for the latest information on new products. There is more news to come in the weeks and months ahead!

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Cheers,

John Wanderscheid