3-day bargain-fest to finish 2008 in style!

December 29-31. It's our end of year bonanza!
By the end of today (assuming the planets align for us) you should have received an email with a hint of the stupid pricing we'll be putting on for the last 3 days of 2008. If you're not currently a Factory Sound InfoPool member, you'll just have to come in after Boxing Day and get stuck into the bargains!

As a little tease, here's a couple of prices:
Mann M21 Studio Condenser just $195 (RRP $695) - 45 only in stock, NO rainchecks.
JBL PRX518S Powered Subwoofer $1750 (RRP $3899) - 3 only in stock, NO rainchecks.
TC Electronic M350 Dual Engine Effects $299 (RRP $575) - 3 only in stock, NO rainchecks.

OK, you get the picture.
Get in quick, or the boat will set sail without you.
The usual disclaimers apply (see below).

And if we don't see you before the New Year arrives - warmest wishes for a lovely Christmas and New Year period.

RRP is the Recommended Retail Price, as suggested by the respective importer/wholesaler of each product. RRP does not reflect what price these models have been sold for in the past, or what price they will be sold for in the future at Factory Sound. RRP is listed here as guide. All other prices listed are the 3-day-sale special prices (valid until 31^st December 2008, or until stock items sold out - whichever comes first). No rainchecks available. Please note that whilst every effort has been made to ensure all information is correct, Factory Sound will not be held accountable for any errors within this post. No exceptions.

Event Opal now in stock

Seems so long ago that we first started writing about Event Opal powered studio monitors...
When we heard the very first pair every built, it was way back at the end of July, when the Aussie dollar was just about buying a whole $USD! We traveled to sunny Las Vegas, and after some serious jetlag, missed planes and a few quiet drinks (along with some rowdy ones), got to hear just how impressive the Opals are.

You can too - just come into Factory Sound and bring your reference CD. And if you haven't already jumped on the number 112 tram or hopped in your car on the way here, take some time to check out the pic from our hotel window back in Vegas... it was taken during Rehab, which happens on Sundays at the Hard Rock Hotel.

the fesitval of Behringer

It was twenty years ago today...
We were invited last Monday night to attend 'an evening with Uli Behringer', which was an intimate affair: a few Behringer dealers from the Southern states of Australia, together with the Behringer Australia team, and on his very first trip to Australia - Uli Behringer.

We expected to walk in to a Sgt Peppers theme, with cardboard cutouts of The Beatles playing Behringer guitars through Bugera amplifiers. However it was a rather chilled affair, and we were treated to a few cool ales and settled down to a relaxed session at a function room at Crown Casino (a short walk from our day at Factory Sound).

Uli hopped up onto stage, and sat down for a Parkinson-style session with Behringer Australia's GM, Michael Jago. Factory Sound was not only well represented with quite a few of us attending, but also very impressed. Uli is (in no particular order) relaxed, intelligent, passionate, charismatic and inspiring. We also got the feeling he is genuinely talented in many areas of audio, whether it is musically, or pro audio. This was indeed confirmed when he came to Factory Sound the following day.

We've no idea how he managed to end up at Factory Sound on the day of his 20th Anniversay (since Behringer began), but Uli spent quite a bit of time chewing the fat with us. It was in our speaker room, that we realised there is a reason why his company is 20yrs old and still rising. The reason is Uli. He has a firm grasp on not only what sounds good, but what is required both now and in the future for all things pro audio. We listened to every speaker in our room, and his face could not lie - Uli has never listened passively to anything in his life. Even when he is Salsa dancing, we're pretty sure he's going to be focussing on more than his feet and his partner.

Really hard to put into words how 'switched-on' Uli is. If you've got a spare 10 mins though, check out our video podcast interview (episode 21)that we did with Uli on the same day. We think it's the only time he's done it before, so we're thankful that he took the time during his hectic 20th Anniversary year to come in and share a beer and a few stories for Factory Sound TV.

JBL EON 500 series - the new generation

Now we know that the JBL faithful can be an excitable lot, perhaps not quite working up to a state like the mac-nerds when Mr Jobs gets up on stage...but nonetheless James B Lansing has by far the most famous three initials in the world of professional audio.

So with the recent (and highly anticipated....see, it's catching) release of the EON 500 series "the next generation" aka "the most powerful ever" we thought it was time to go All the way with JBL.

The 3 new models are: EON510, EON515 and EON518S. You can see the release we attended by viewing our Factory Sound TV podcast page (episode 20).


Back to the boxes: Both the EON510 (10" 280w) and the EON515 (15" 450w) have a super-sleek design, and not many kilos on board. They look to be set for a long life of typical audiovisual applications (plug a mic straight into the back, and also run the multimedia feed into the 2 x line inputs), plus quite at home doing month after month of gigs in pubs. Here's a closer look at the back panel of the EON515.


Now in stock, so come and check them out! We'll make sure you get looked after.

Great deals, bec$AUS we can!

If you've been looking for an upgrade to your PA system or a new addition to the studio, there has never been a better time...and it's most definitely a case of first in, best looked after.

Recently the wheels have fallen off our dollar, and most pro audio wholesalers have reacted by putting prices up. As more than casual observers, we are amazed at how quickly we've received TWO price rises (or one enormous one) from some of our suppliers.

In fairness to them, many pro audio importers had significantly lowered the Recommended Retail Price of many lines while the going was good, although the drop in prices seemed to take a lot longer (and less steep) than the recent rises, which have been quick and big.

So rather than reducing our stock levels and running lean...we went out and spent the last of our beer money buying as much stock as possible to ensure we can offer the best deals around. We figure that the summer festival season doesn't care about our $AUD, nor does the upgrade your studio needs. The only thing that gets affected by a big price rise is your bottom line - that is, unless you go for it while you can.

While we've got stock, take advantage because the deals simply cannot last. Once our stock is gone, we'll have to replace it with more expensive stock.

Brands we have really bought up big on include: RCF (the great wall of Art boxes), Allen & Heath (Zed mixers, Wizard Mixers and GL2400 series), DBX (comps, graphics and drive racks), Soundcraft (EPM & EFX series mixers), Avalon (heaps of the black VT-737SE), Shure Wireless (PGX / SLX) and Wired (SM series & Beta Series), Sennheiser (Evolution wirelss + e900 series vocal & instrument mics), Soundcards by Presonus & RME, plus heaps more.

Until the new prices have settled (around first week of November...though there's probably more grief to come), we've disabled many 'go' prices on our website. We will be looking after existing customers first. This means that if your name is not already on our database, you'll need to subscribe to get the best possible pricing.

Think of it as an early Christmas pressie ; )

a ZED for your studio

Delivered fresh in the last few days, the new A&H ZED R16 recording mixer has taken prime position on our mixer table right up the front of the showroom.

What is so interesting about Zed's new mixer? Only everything!

First of all, we'll call this model a '16 channel firewire recording mixer' which is a pretty good summary. Of course, having the firewire ports (and ADAT) on board, it means the R16 is most certainly capable of taking a bunch of microphones (16 channels worth), and including your gain & eq settings, resulting in 16 channels worth of 1's & 0's.

Or let's say you'd like to go the other way...using the console for a mixdown. Take your 16 channels worth of ADAT or Firewire, and bring them up on the board's analogue control channels. You'll have enough juice left for a L&R record path back to your computer. And you can also make full use of the handy transport buttons.

For more info, check out A&H's page on the R16, or come in and a have a look/feel for yourself. We're suitably impressed, and won't be surprised if you are too!

And just in case you've got nothing to do something specific to look for, here's a link to the great Zed range from A&H.

Grab your sausage!

Because it's Grand Final week (any excuse would have done), we're grabbing a bunch of snags...and dishing them out this week to anyone who comes in between Midday and 2pm. As an added bonus, we're cooking them this year.

Need we even mention that once you've grabbed your sausage, talk to us about any gear you need. We're in deal mode this Grand Final week.

We're showing vintage foot(y)age on our Pioneer Plasma all week long.

Being school holidays in Melbourne, we're offering deals & sausages to your apprentices that you bring in too...

So... instead of going to the Royal Melbourne Show "can I have a showbag or 20 dad?"....come to Factory Sound this week. We'll make sure you get looked after!