WARNING: Geithain - Vintage King Order Problems - USA Customers...Passives next?

[Grotti]

Sounds like my favorite Italian shoemaker.

Edit:You can order it as you like but don't even think of complaining after,it's a mortal insult.

Got it: Italian shoemaker with a dedicated east German accent

 

[test1223]

What other side to the story? I am not withholding facts. If you do a cursory search you can see that other members here and elsewhere have had a lot of problems ordering and getting the product to them safely outside of Germany. One person said the founder doesn't care about sales outside of Germany which sounds about right. The cabinets look furniture grade, aside from some of the foam which seems to need servicing, and they sound really very good. So good it's worth putting up with some of the hassle. Someone told me it took them 2 months to get an order placed and another 3-4 to receive the product.

This is not unique to Geithain per se as other companies like PSI have challenges getting their heavy product cheaply to their customers and if you have issues with them, you need to ship them back to the manufacturer somehow.

My point with this is to let other people know that if you spend five digits you might be in for a bumpy ride. I wish I had known.

Vintage King their US distributor doesn't have much better luck.

I know but ignoring emails has nothing to do with company size.

I don't want to discredit your statements you might be 100% correct but it is still an anonymous internet post. There are bad businesses but also pain in the a** costumers out there and everything in between. I have witnessed some conflicts between a costumer and a company and there are often two sides of the story. Since no one from the companies involved have given any statement here I think it is unfair to draw a conclusion. The assumed generalization and "WARNING" in your title and some other details don't help to categorize your statement as potentially objective for me.

Honestly reading the back and forth about their general mentality, three letters come to mind: DDR. The company’s origins were under real existierenden sozialismus, correct?

I have read that Joachim Kiesler the head of Me Geithain was against the DDR state apparatus as far as you could do it in such a regime without getting real problems. From the business operation perspective there might be some DDR vibes of operating the company.

 

[prestigetone]

I don't want to discredit your statements you might be 100% correct but it is still an anonymous internet post. There are bad businesses but also pain in the a** costumers out there and everything in between. I have witnessed some conflicts between a costumer and a company and there are often two sides of the story. Since no one from the companies involved have given any statement here I think it is unfair to draw a conclusion. The assumed generalization and "WARNING" in your title and some other details don't help to categorize your statement as potentially objective for me.


I have read that Joachim Kiesler the head of Me Geithain was against the DDR state apparatus as far as you could do it in such a regime without getting real problems. From the business operation perspective there might be some DDR vibes of operating the company.

I am a squeaky wheel but I don't think in this case it's unwarranted. Here is another person on here commenting, and I spoke to them in private and their experience was near exact. I spoke with another buyer who purchased some gear from me and they said communicating with Geithain was the worst they had experienced with any company. I am sure to them I am Elaine from the Soup Nazi episode on Seinfeld.

The warning is warranted. If someone is thinking of spending a used car's worth of money on a set up I wouldn't want them going through this experience. Both Vintage King and Geithain need patch some of these issues. Their lack of support outside of Germany is well documented. If you can't ship and safely take care of customers in other markets then do not sell to anyone.

Lastly this isn't just me, Vintage King who is their distributor has a lot of problems getting replies and pricing in general. At least from what they have told me. It's just a weird business approach to not satisfy your selling arm.

 

[Grotti]

I am a squeaky wheel but I don't think in this case it's unwarranted. Here is another person on here commenting, and I spoke to them in private and their experience was near exact. I spoke with another buyer who purchased some gear from me and they said communicating with Geithain was the worst they had experienced with any company. I am sure to them I am Elaine from the Soup Nazi episode on Seinfeld.

The warning is warranted. If someone is thinking of spending a used car's worth of money on a set up I wouldn't want them going through this experience. Both Vintage King and Geithain need patch some of these issues. Their lack of support outside of Germany is well documented. If you can't ship and safely take care of customers in other markets then do not sell to anyone.

Lastly this isn't just me, Vintage King who is their distributor has a lot of problems getting replies and pricing in general. At least from what they have told me. It's just a weird business approach to not satisfy your selling ar

Not about Geithain and a bit of topic, but I asked the Hotline of Harman Germany a few days ago, why their Revel TOTL speakers are simply not available in Germany. I had to spell "Revel" to the guy on the phone because he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Finally he opened a ticket and promised to forward my question to the sales department. I would receive an answer to my question from them. All I got in the end was an E-Mail written in English language which didn't answer my question but gave me a link to the dealer locator on the US site. Which didn't show me a dealer in Germany of course. So this kind of behavior seems to take place in the whole business.

Sorry, back on topic.

 

[Berlin]

Lastly this isn't just me, Vintage King who is their distributor has a lot of problems getting replies and pricing in general. At least from what they have told me. It's just a weird business approach to not satisfy your selling arm.

I am wondering why Vintage King still doing business with ME Geithain if they are not satisfied with with this manufacturer..?

 

[prestigetone]

Not about Geithain and a bit of topic, but I asked the Hotline of Harman Germany a few days ago, why their Revel TOTL speakers are simply not available in Germany. I had to spell "Revel" to the guy on the phone because he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Finally he opened a ticket and promised to forward my question to the sales department. I would receive an answer to my question from them. All I got in the end was an E-Mail written in English language which didn't answer my question but gave me a link to the dealer locator on the US site. Which didn't show me a dealer in Germany of course. So this kind of behavior seems to take place in the whole business.

Sorry, back on topic.

Not off topic. I think people need to be aware of companies that generally don’t have a presence in their region might have a tougher time.

I am wondering why Vintage King still doing business with ME Geithain if they are not satisfied with with this manufacturer..?

Because they are the only ones who sell them in the USA I am guessing. It can be a big imposition on them if let’s say someone buys a 50kg speaker that needs to be serviced and is in warranty. However they make a good chunk of that. I believe I heard once that the distributor can make 25% off the sale. Like Kieth said they might not make a lot as a dealer with thin margins but I would guesstimate that Soundlink might be making close to 25 percent on the distribution side and if Vintage King is both the distributor and the dealer they stand to make quite a bit of money.

What I would like to know is why the infrastructure isn’t great to get goods from Germany to the USA. If you order from Asia let’s say you can find good deals with DHL and it arrives almost overnight. I think DHL is based in Germany and the cost to receive goods from there is astronomical.

 

[Pearljam5000]

How did this end?

 

[JunkHippo]

I'm late to this thread, but as owner of Geithain speakers (though based in Germany) I want to add on the topic of technical service that the amp units in these speakers are very service-friendly. They are easily accessible and I believe even individual circuit boards can be removed and exchanged by unplugging a few cables and unscrewing. The guy from Geithain who delivered my speakers mentioned that if there ever was an issue, they'd offer to diagnose over the phone and if it's likely the amp that's faulty they'd send a replacement amp (or part thereof) that can also be put in by the customer, rather than having to send in the whole heavy speaker for repair. This makes sense as probably the majority of their speakers are permanently installed in TV stations, studios etc where they'd need a quick replacement amp without tearing everything down. I also read that the amps, at least on the long-standing models, are built in a way that they can be repaired with easily obtainable parts by any qualified technician (in contrast to modern highly integrated boards with DSP and whatnot).
Still, I understand that this would be quite a lot of trouble to go through when you're not based in Germany or at least Europe.

Some companies just don't feel the need to scale globally, they like to keep it at a managable level with a managable workforce. Servicing a market on the scale of the USA is not something that's easily added on top of the operation, I imagine. That's not an excuse for lacking communication on individual cases, but it just means that for some products, the burden is shifted to the customer and then they might be better off considering a local brand.
Piece of off topic: a comparable local gem would be Funk Tonstudiotechnik: a tiny company in Berlin building some of the best-measuring, reliable analog preamps and headphone amps ever, at reasonable prices, but their website is German only they're just fine with the scale they're going on.

 

[prestigetone]

How did this end?

Impeccable timing. It didn't. I am aiming for some cardioid Geithain monitors that are three way with the amplifier in separate housing. This eliminates a lot of the shortcomings form the active design in my opinion. Less hiss hopefully with the amps away from the drivers, and if they do ever need some repair I wouldn't need to heft a 30kg monitor around. Spoke with a buyer who had the D&D and sold them for Geithains.

I have actually learned a lot through the process. Not to expect or impose my country's standards on other companies. Apparently Geithain does this even in Germany. They just won't give quotes if they don't want to and focus a lot more on quality than quantity. I will say that even despite the shipping mishap on the bigger model I had they are build like furniture grade tanks. I find their finishes beautifully executed and the sound speaks for itself. I was debating some Neumanns or Genelec, and I know how much you love the Genelecs Pearljam5000, but in the end I like analogue and being able to choose my DSP later if need be.

Might be a few months but will try and update.

 

[JunkHippo]

Less hiss hopefully with the amps away from the drivers,

On that note I can say that my MEG 921k are silent, you have to put your ear next to the drivers to hear hiss. Just in case this is someone's only concern with the built-in amp.

build like furniture grade tanks

or tank grade furniture? This was one of the reasons why I chose them over Neumann 420. The choice of basically any finish you want in combination with great craftmanship makes the Geithains much more living room-friendly. The cabinets are also what make the lead times on custom orders so long though.

 

[Berlin]

On that note I can say that my MEG 921k are silent, you have to put your ear next to the drivers to hear hiss. Just in case this is someone's only concern with the built-in amp.

Same here. My MEG 901K are absolutely hiss-free. They also don't make any clicking noises when switched on or off. The quality of the veneer work is impeccable...

 

[prestigetone]

Same here. My MEG 901K are absolutely hiss-free. They also don't make any clicking noises when switched on or off. The quality of the veneer work is impeccable...

View attachment 305074

Full agreement. I think they make the most beautiful wood finishes I’ve seen on a speaker. Period. I know some people have high gloss but the understated satin finish really shows the wood and ties a room together. When I first got the damaged box my thought was how much time and care they put into the finish.

I read also that they routinely send their employees to live venues so they can listen and try to replicate that in the products they build. There is a reason the mythical reputation exists around Geithain.

 

[Berlin]

...and it is one of the few companies that survived the German reunification after the expropriation by the GDR regime.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Love them, but they are much bigger than they look and I would probably want to go with a Trinnov after checking out their interface

Weird because Vintage King gets stellar reviews pretty much everywhere you look. No more money from me!

I'm within walking distance of one of their stores in Nashville. I might go in and check them out one day. Don't know exactly what they'd have on the floor. Looking at their ad in a local Nashville weekly, it looks like it weights heavily toward lower end monitors. I would bet things like Neumann's, Genelecs, and Geithans are special orders.

 

[prestigetone]

Same here. My MEG 901K are absolutely hiss-free. They also don't make any clicking noises when switched on or off. The quality of the veneer work is impeccable...

View attachment 305074

What wood is this?

 

[Berlin]

What wood is this?

It's American cherry...

 

[prestigetone]

It's American cherry...

That was my guess. It's beautiful. I wish they had better pictures on the website. Really do not do the veneers justice. It's not like most manufacturers that do a thin veneer.

 

[Pearljam5000]

It's amazing that such a small company makes better monitors than some other huge brands

 

[test1223]

It's amazing that such a small company makes better monitors than some other huge brands

Yes, there are some more gems out there especially in the high end sector. Most of these good smaller brands offer speakers which are more expansive than a good new car. Since there are many more companies with a similar price but not so good quality the gems are hard to find and expensive to afford anyways.

 

[Berlin]

That was my guess. It's beautiful. I wish they had better pictures on the website. Really do not do the veneers justice. It's not like most manufacturers that do a thin veneer.

The good build quality is also found on the back and bottom of the speakers....