Dealing with the speaker stock

General
1

Hi Everybody,

Some time ago the space received a large donation of speaker and audio equipment which has been stored on the wood shop mezzanine. The woodshop team has completed a stock take of the equipment.

Included were most of the parts required for fairly large scale manufacture of speaker cabinets -e.g. speakers, subwoofers, connectors, terminals, resistors etc.

Historically, there was a proposal to create “assemble your own” speaker kits for sale to members using the components. We want to convert this donation into a useful asset for the space (i.e. cash).

Although the idea of manufacturing speakers seems like a wonderful idea, it requires a lot of work. In order to do it, a committed member or members would need to establish a business that would manage the manufacture, advertising and sale of speaker cabinets.

Intro

In terms of manufacturing, first someone would need to design the cabinets (e.g. creating all the CAD/CAM to cut this on the CNC, supply the tooling, make appropriate jigs etc etc) and then manufacture a saleable product . This needs to take into account costs and sourcing of materials which has a significant cost to acquire and can create a lot of waste if not planned properly. Once manufacture was complete, this member/members would be responsible for the advertising and sale of the products on Marketplace, Gumtree, ETSY etc.

This is only economical if someone or several people are fully committed to “mass produce” the speaker cabinets, and commit to the entire process, from design, manufacture and sale. This is likely a few hundred hours of work.

Taking all of this into account, we are proposing the following:

Stage 1

If you think you have the base knowledge and are committed, we welcome a member to create a business with these parts supplied at a reasonable price. The concept would be that parts are sold to you, with the spaces resources made available for the manufacture (e.g storage for the materials, workspace for the manufacture, storage for the completed speakers until they are sold etc.). The profits from the sale would then be yours to keep. This arrangement will continue provided that you continue to turnover the product at a reasonable rate (e.g. 2 speakers per month or something along those lines).

The goal is to give someone the opportunity to create a business opportunity with minimal upfront investment, whilst still providing value to the space. At any stage, we want other members to have the change to purchase a pair of speakers at a good price too.

For stage 1, we will hold on to the components for 1 to 2 months maximum.

Stage 2

If no one is interested in taking up this opportunity at the end of the Stage 1 period, we will be listing the components for sale to the public, through channels such as Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree. The raw components are taking up a significant amount of space in the wood shop, and the money from their sale will provide much needed funds for other projects within the space.

Stocktake

Mezzanine
Name Part no Boxes QTY per Box Total Category Notes
Active Subwoofer Amplifier Module AA-0501 16 2 32 Speaker Equipment
Large Cylinder Speaker Cabinet 8 Speaker Equipment
105mm Speaker 27TFF H0831-06 8 36 288 Speaker Equipment
170mm Speaker P17 RC/P H524-08 ohm 23 10 230 Speaker Equipment Amount per box varies - some with 10, 11 or 12
SUB Grill ? 2 14 28 Speaker Equipment
Peerless XLS series 269 SWR 51 147 NX ALP 4L 4ohm 24 1 24
12 Inch Subwoofer Loose 6 6 Speaker Equipment
Green Room Tubs
Name Part no Boxes QTY per Box Total Category
Assorted Tub 1 Speaker Terminals
Capacitors
Resistors
Steel Bushings
170mm Speaker P17 RC/P H524-08 ohm Loose 25 25 Speaker Equipment
Active Subwoofer Amplifier Module AA-0501 Loose 2 2 Speaker Equipment
105mm Speaker 27TFF H0831-06 Loose 7 7 Speaker Equipment
CAT 6 Cable 1 Networking Equipment
Sound Absorbing Insulation Roll 1 Speaker Equipment

You want to help with the project?

In the meantime, while we wait for some to come with a proper business plan, if you want to help, you’re welcome to google the model of the speakers so we can start getting a face value for the articles.

2

I have wanted to create my own sound system in times past, if I wanted to create my own sounds system, what would the cost of the materials be?

3

The price of the speakers is a thing that we need to investigate and determine. You’re welcome to start digging the internet to find how much they cost.

About the rest of the materials, I’d wouldn’t know without having an idea of what you’re trying to do.

4

Rob Nel is discussing options with the exec and he’ll have a proposal ready shortly

5

Hi all,

Can we have an update here on the progress of the speaker project?

There was discussion that Rob had completed some work towards the project but has to hand it over to another willing participant. Is there anyone that is interested in taking up the project?

6

Update

Hi everybody, I had a chat with Rob the other day. Long story short, he’s leaving the space and said that he wanted to share his designs and data for a speaker cabinet he collected with me. I asked him to publish that directly in the forums so everybody could access to it.

I understand he got a speaker design with a passive crossover, that you could put together without the need of a pcb, just a simple MDF harness that you can cut on the laser. In terms of a cabinet, I think he designed something but I don’t know the extent of it.

I’ll reach Rob to ask him if he can upload that research to the wiki or forums, if you are interested in this you should definitely ask him about it.

I want to extend all my gratitude to Rob who has put all this time into this.

What to do next

I’m most worried about the mezzanine stock. The woodshop team has the intention to make this space available so we can make better use of the real estate. The idea is to use the space on the mezzanine for a “woodshop team only area”. We want to store all the stock consumables and all various items that are related to the maintenance of the woodshop. This will help to keep the shop neat and organised. It also will free up some space in the server room and the woodshop itself for members to use.

Two things we can start doing:

Moving the stock to a different spot

We could simply move all the stock to one of the containers. We do have space to do this, we just need to make a call on what our priorities are.
The woodshop is not the best places to store these speakers. They are being buried in sawdust and the humidity/weather is terrible in the woodshop. This is clearly not the best spot for long term storage.

Start selling the stock via FB market/Gumtree:

I’ve researched some prices for the components from the internet. Most of the stuff we have is discontinued and entry level kind of stuff. For the stock that’s sitting on the mezzanine we have a total retail price of $56000 approximately. This is based on the data I could get through a quick search on the internet, some of the prices were based on overseas sites, since i couldn’t find local prices.
Please consider this amount an approximation only and is far from being a liquid asset.
If we are able to sell these at 60% of that value, we are looking at $34000. If we find some willing to buy the items in bulk, we could consider selling the stock at 50% (Approximately $28000).
We have approx. 608 items sitting on that mezzanine, which implies 608 sells/meetups/exchanges/bank transfers if you sell each of them one by one. This as well means, that it will take us at least two to three years to get rid of the stock .
Another approach we might take is to go to an auction house or similar.

These numbers should reflect that dealing with this much stock, even for the less labour demanding route (eg. selling them per unit “as they are” instead of manufacturing a whole speaker) is a significant endeavour.

Final words

I’m not super keen on taking the selling on, or any other related project in my hands, however I am happy to help like I did with Rob.
What we would like to see as the woodshop team, is to be able to claim the mezzanine space for what I proposed above within a month or so.
Right now, we are underusing the mezzanine storage. We are keeping the speaker stock in poor conditions, which increases the chances of it becoming unusable and ending up in the bin.

I’m inviting all the membership into the discussion and I would like to discuss this subject with the committee on our next meeting.

7

The Woodshop continues to discuss this project in monthly team meetings with zero engagement from the membership. I would like to once again prompt an interested member to take on the project.

As per the last few woodshop team meetings, we need the stock gone from the Mezzanine so that the very valuable space can be properly utilized. The longer the stock collects dust, the more likely it gets damaged and goes to waste. The proposal is to sell the stock via Grays or Pickles auction services.

NOW is the time to speak up if anyone has an objection or if anyone wants to take up the project.

8

Howdy. Just had a friend ask me if he could get prices on a couple bits?

Hes interested in:

Active subwoofer amplifier module

170mm Speaker

Peerless XLS Series

12 inch subwoofer

Sound absorbing insulation roll

Im assuming he meant 1 of each but probably wouldnt hurt to throw more numbers at him… just in case :stuck_out_tongue:

9
Mezzanine
Name Part no Boxes QTY per Box Total Category Notes Retail Price
Active Subwoofer Amplifier Module AA-0501 16 2 32 Speaker Equipment $299 AMP MODULE SUB 4R 240W | Jaycar Electronics
Large Cylinder Speaker Cabinet 8 Speaker Equipment
105mm Speaker 27TFF H0831-06 8 36 288 Speaker Equipment 105 SEAS Prestige 27TFFC ( H0881 ) Textile Dome Tweeter - 6 ohms | eBay
170mm Speaker P17 RC/P H524-08 ohm 23 10 230 Speaker Equipment Amount per box varies - some with 10, 11 or 12 $70 Seas P17RE/P H0528-08 Woofer - Prestige Series
SUB Grill ? 2 14 28 Speaker Equipment $15 10" Car Audio Speaker Mesh Sub Woofer Subwoofer Grill Dust Cover Protector | eBay
Peerless XLS series 269 SWR 51 147 NX ALP 4L 4ohm 24 1 24
12 Inch Subwoofer Loose 6 6 Speaker Equipment
608
Green Room Tubs
Name Part no Boxes QTY per Box Total Category
Assorted Tub 1 Speaker Terminals
Capacitors
Resistors
Steel Bushings
170mm Speaker P17 RC/P H524-08 ohm Loose 25 25 Speaker Equipment
Active Subwoofer Amplifier Module AA-0501 Loose 2 2 Speaker Equipment
105mm Speaker 27TFF H0831-06 Loose 7 7 Speaker Equipment
CAT 6 Cable 1 Networking Equipment
Sound Absorbing Insulation Roll 1 Speaker Equipment
10

@ahnika13 The above is the information we gather when we did the stocktake. Some of the pieces are hard to price, but as reference 60%-70% for the retail price should be ok.
I don’t know how formal we need to do this, but why don’t u ask your friend if he would be keen to purchase those parts at the prices i mentioned? If he’s happy with that and we want to go by the book, we could make a simple proposal to:

"start selling the speaker stock items one by one with these prices:

  1. $xxx
  2. $xxx
  3. $xxx
    …

Via the following means:

  1. in person cash sale
  2. ebay sell
  3. etc.
    "

This could work in line with @devians HSBNE shop’s project.

Let me know if you’re happy with this and if you need more direction to make the proposal and whatnot.

11

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12

I came across this in my travels.

No commitment at this time as I don’t know the size of what I’m seeing from the data represented in the sheet. I do have the skills and access to assistance that could be a pathway out of the pile of speakers in the boxes to saleable kits. Perhaps even some DIY courses to engage members by having them build their speakers together to learn a bit about the woodwork, soldering and crossover design, finishing work etc.

I’m new here and will take time to settle myself in. If it becomes home… then we will likely come to an agreement on me driving this for you.

Michael

2 Likes
13

I found someone who is willing to sell the speaker stock on consignment. We give them the speaker stock, they sell it and then HSBNE is paid. HSBNE will get half of the profit. Half of the sales price minus any fees.

I would like to provide them a sample of each item so they can take pictures, and sell the samples so we can see what they are worth.

1 Like
14

Hi zak. On the main post you can see the prices we have found that we used to determine a possible selling price.

15

I’m still investigating this and ascertaining the compatibility of the drivers we have for DIY kits. I am keeping the exec up to date as I progress. I think it’s premature to be selling them, particularly at 50% profit (I’d want a clear business case defining the fixed and variable fees involved in that, to determine the opportunity cost vs other options).

16

Hey Michael, in light of recent news just wondering how far you got with the speaker kits?

17

Not far enough to offer a dedicated solution.
If we do not have space to store them when containers are provisioned, selling is the obvious option – even by consignment if that gets them housed somewhere. That would need to be managed but would offer some trickle income to the organisation.

If there is space to store them in the containers, it costs nothing to keep them, and a future project will still be possible. The Exec have to make a choice at that point.

What have you in mind? Have you experience in speaker building – particularly passive arrays… 2-way, 3 way etc?

Cheers,

Michael

18

I have no plans for the stock. Just came across the speaker stock while doing the forge area stocktake.

I don’t have any experience with building speakers, so won’t be able to help with the designs.