I’ve been asked by lots of people:
“What makes Aperion speakers different than other speaker brands?”
I’d like to begin by explaining why I started the company, and why those reasons still provide the best value to those looking for truly remarkable audio performance at an affordable price.
Borrowing some prose from the “The Aperion Story” found on our site, and reflecting on the insights we’ve garnered over the 16 years we’ve been in business, I offer the following response… The idea of Aperion was born in 1998… when our family boom box sputtered its last sound and died. After the memorial service, I suggested to my wife we splurge and buy a full stereo system. With her blessing and a snug budget of $1,500, the shopping began.
Little did I know I was going to step into a kind of hell on earth I didn’t know existed. So many speaker choices, dozens of them; all displayed in an acoustically engineered showroom that didn’t begin to resemble my family room. Then there was the sales spiel, droned by a commissioned salesman I was sure had just been lifted out of a car seat, and who flat lined every time I asked a tough question. But it was the markup that made me swallow my tongue. I used to build speakers in high school. I knew what the parts cost, and I knew that if I paid the retail price, I would essentially be buying the distribution channel, not the speakers themselves.
Then the light went on, not so much like a revelation, but more like a logical epiphany to a really screwy situation. I thought, “I’ll build the speakers myself. ” But the big epiphany, the kahuna of epiphanies, the one for which I am forever grateful, came a few weeks later, incited (recited?) by a guy in Mexico I was talking to about the sonic capacity of Peruvian hardwood. He asked, “Are you going to make a business out of building speakers?” And while the prospect of doing so had never occurred to me, what leaped out of my mouth was “Yes.”
With that “yes,” the vision to build remarkable sounding speakers at a remarkably low price was instantaneously born.
Of course, it was a no-brainer that the prime way to do this was to sell direct to the customer online. Cut out the middleman, the distribution channel, all the “distribution channel” bureaucracy that sucks a budget dry, then pour that cash into developing and manufacturing kick ass speakers. The boon to the customer? Extraordinary speakers at half the price of retail.
So, what started with a budget of $1,500 in 1998 turned into a million dollars in capital within months. And while my wife and I put off buying the speaker system of our dreams, within the time we finally got it. We now have the Aperion Verus Grand 5.1 System
What became evident from the beginning of the company was that selling direct to our customers offered a variety of benefits. One of those benefits was manifest in the value of the product we were able to offer.
The copy from one of our initial ads read “We thought eliminating the middle man was a little violent, so we opted not to have one in the first place.” Though funny copy, it does accurately convey the essence of the benefit derived from our business model. By using the then new medium of the internet as our distribution channel, we were able to put much of the margin we would have lost through the retail channel into more copper, wood, and metal that are the substance of speakers perform. You simply get more speaker for your dollar through our business model.
Another benefit of buying direct is the ability to talk to those of us that help create our products. There’s no impersonal retail separation between those of us that love to make great audio equipment, and those that want to consume it.
In response to the unique proposition purchasing speakers sight unseen and not unheard presented, Aperion had to innovate a variety of solutions to address potential customer’s antipathy to spending a bunch of money online for a product they usually listened to before they bought it. Although much of our innovations are found in our speakers, a good portion of them is found in our solutions that help make our model work well for our customers and those considering becoming one.
Some of the business model innovations have become what we now call the “Aperion Advantage.”. Chief among those advantages was the ability to audition our speakers in the only room that matters, yours.
The Aperion RISK-FREE In-Home Audition was created to allow you to test our speakers in your home, with your equipment at your leisure.
Since 50% of a speaker’s performance is influenced by the room they are heard in, it only makes sense to allow our customer the chance to hear them in their own home without the pressure of a commissioned sales person trying to sell you something.
With 60 days to decide if the speakers work as promised, and fit well as new members of your furnishings, you get the chance to “get it right.”
For those of you that have called the company, you’ve discovered another ingredient that makes Aperion speakers worthy of your consideration… the team that makes them. Aperion is chock full of audio enthusiast and, as surprising as that might seem, that differentiates us from a good host of other speaker manufacturers.
From inception, the brand has attracted those that are, or want to, make a living as musicians or in other careers within the audio industry. In addition to our engineering group, Aperion’s are comprised of musicians that have been recorded, composers whose scores have accompanied Hollywood movies with A-class actors, as well as and audio technicians that DJ and engineer raves, community gatherings and other events where audio systems are present.
One of the key ingredients we consider before hiring a new member of our Aperion team is their passion for music and movies. That passion contributes to our unique culture and informs the sonic quality of all of our offerings in some really meaningful ways. One of those ways that passion is manifested is through the ears that are designing and evaluating our products.
We have a group of “Golden Ears” that audition our speakers and help our engineers perfect our speaker’s performance. Members of our “Golden Ear” crew are capable of hearing and articulating a speaker’s sonic performance… literally.
For a given prototype, they can tell me what frequencies are “hot” and which frequency needs a boost. I am still shocked to see the graph of a speaker that mirrors the description provided to me by our “Golden Ear” group.
What makes this team so essential to the end product is their ability to bring the “art” to the “science” of speaker design. Getting that combination “right” is like focusing the lens of a quality camera trained on a distant object. Lots of things need to come together to get the object in proper focus. Likewise, getting the most out of a certain sized speaker is as much art as science. Our team does it brilliantly, and the value of their contribution inures to the benefit of our cherished customers.
Another differentiator is manifest by the awards our speakers have received. Our efforts to produce great speakers haven’t gone unnoticed. Aperion has garnered an average of 6 awards per year for the quality of its speakers. At 16 years in the industry that accounts almost 100 awards from experts and pundits in our industry that know a thing or two about great speakers.
Another Aperion Advantage is our Full Price TRADE-UP Program. This allows our customers to purchase our most current offering without the concern of acoustic obsolesce.
We cover all purchases with a full price trade-up for up to one year. Should their budget, square footage or appetite for sonic goodness grow, we’re more than happy to fill the void. Our program is simple really, they just continue to love their current speakers, become understandably passionate about our next creation, call us and we’ll give them full credit toward their upgrade. It’s our way of staying in a meaningful relationship with those that have helped us succeed, and showing them love even after they buy.
One last differentiator is our warranty.
Because we put so much more into our creations than you typically find in speakers offered through retail, we offer an industry leading, completely transferable 10-Year WARRANTY. It’s a manifestation of the confidence we have in what we make.
In sum, a unique business model that allows some remarkable advantages over retail, a company populated by individuals passionate about sound and getting it just right, as well as innovations in our products and solutions to making the buying experience like none other is a good portion of what makes Aperion different.
That fact that we were the first in the known universe to do it, and that we strive to get better at it each year we’ve been in business, are key elements to our success, and to what makes us “different” than our respected competitors.
Lastly; be sure to check out our new bundled home speaker systems with Intimus speakers, venerable Marantz receiver and all the connective cabling you need to create the home theater/concert hall of your dreams.
Now only $1,499! Get it now: