Shure/Jico SAS changes

tw1st said:
As this thread states, JICO has just reintroduced what we are assuming is the original Boron-cantilevered SAS at a lower price than any SAS-equipped stylus has been available for since it was discontinued early last year.


Never mind with any of the resellers, get yourself a "N97xE SAS" from jico-stylus.com directly. It will be $123 plus shipping from Japan, but well worth it.
Click to expand...

What he said. No more money than the Vivid Line, and a superior upgrade for the M97xE. Go for it.
 
This can't be good.....

Decided to send Jico a note to see what's up with the SAS now, and saw this:

***************** Important Announcement ****************
Due to various circumstances of our company,
the replies to the inquiry may be delayed for the time being.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Thank you for your understanding.
******************************************************************
 
Vinylmasters said:
Whatever is going on there is certainly odd. I can't find ANY SAS styli on there right now!
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Even more than I previously did, I think it's just a matter of JICO taking all the SAS styli down until they sort out the pricing. The series of events we're seeing began woth massive price cuts to the neos. As we've all seen, that threw everything into a state of confusion. I think JICO's just trying to untangle the mares nest they've created.

Seth Kolon (noisemodule) of JICO posts to AK on matters involving JICO. When the current confusion is resolved, I'm sure we'll hear from him.

John
 
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totem said:
It's cheaper than the non SAS model by $25.
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The NON-SAS VN45HE is as close to the original as you can get. From what I've read here on AK, the SAS versions change the character of the cartridge.
 
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boreas said:
Even more than I previously did, I think it's just a matter of JICO taking all the SAS styli down until they sort out the pricing. The series of events we're seeing began woth massive price cuts to the neos. As we've all seen, that threw everything into a state of confusion. I think JICO's just trying to untangle the mares nest they've created.

Seth Kolon (noisemodule) of JICO posts to AK on matters involving JICO. When the current confustion is resolved, I'm sure we'll hear from him.

John
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I dunno...... This looks to me more like something else is going on - and something not good. I hope not, but that's my gut feeling anyway. I'd find it odd that they just rediscovered a boatload of boron and such.
 
From their japanese site (Excuse the google translation...)

"【Information on shipping stop date】
We will suspend shipment for maintenance of our factory on November 22 (Wednesday) and November 24 (Friday) in 2017 without permission. Please note that it will be shipped after resuming shipping for shipping suspended orders."

maybe related to that?
 
Vinylmasters said:
I'd find it odd that they just rediscovered a boatload of boron and such.
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Not that odd at all--the disappearance of AlNiCo magnets in speakers was due to the lack of supply and exaggerated cost of Co--80% of the world's supply of Co comes from (what were at the time--late 70's/early 80's) war-torn countries in Africa that were undergoing severe conflicts and coups. It was too dangerous for companies to continue mining and exporting Co, so speaker manufacturers HAD to go to Ferrite or Neodymium magnets. Now that the region has stabilized, Co is fairly plentiful, but the switch had already been made and advantages taken into account.
 
savatage1973 said:
Not that odd at all--the disappearance of AlNiCo magnets in speakers was due to the lack of supply and exaggerated cost of Co--80% of the world's supply of Co comes from (what were at the time--late 70's/early 80's) war-torn countries in Africa that were undergoing severe conflicts and coups. It was too dangerous for companies to continue mining and exporting Co, so speaker manufacturers HAD to go to Ferrite or Neodymium magnets. Now that the region has stabilized, Co is fairly plentiful, but the switch had already been made and advantages taken into account.
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I sure hope so. I'd love to see prices on these and other styli come back down to a more reasonable level.
 
They now say this:

We are inundated with SAS, neoSAS/S and neoSAS/R orders, so we cannot receive your order for these items. We apologize for any inconvinience we caused. Thank you for your understanding.
 
It's not like boron disappeared off the face of the earth, but the shortage on boron cantilevers apparently was real since every mfg except Nagaoka discontinued their cheapest boron options, leaving it for their more exclusive, expensive and probably less popular designs. No idea what that reappearance of boron-SAS Jico thing was all about, maybe when they were reorganizing their factory they found a box old-SAS cantilevers laying about they decided to get rid off. As for the NeoSAS, pricing was quite steep compared to the old-SAS, maybe they just realized they need to bring the cost down to stay in business and in doing that people went crazy and completely overwhelmed them with orders. Btw. there used to be quite a big difference in NeoSAS price between their domestic site and their international one, now they seem more inline with each other. Or someone just screwed up updating their international site :)
 
bobins08 said:
Lots if churn and rumors about the boron cantilever SAS coming back. Did Jico ever state this or is it an assumption?

I have an original VN35 boron cantilever SAS that is new in the box. It is getting so valuable I might trade it straight up for a Bit Coin.
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As far as we know, everything that has happened regarding the SAS pricing and availability has been related to the pricing and availability of boron cantilevers. First, the boron became expensive, hence the significant price increase of several years ago. Then the boron cantilevers either became even more expensive or became unavailable. This prompted JICO to seek alternative solutions and, after a period of time with no availability, the neoSAS-R and -S arrived at an even higher price.

The foregoing is more or less fact, or conclusions drawn from a set of known facts. Now comes a little bit of speculation.

With the introduction of the neoSAS, JICO priced themselves out of the market and the styli didn't sell. They must have realized that the neos weren't a viable product, too expensive for the market they had established with the original SAS, so they started looking for a way back, either by sourcing boron cantilevers or investigating other materials like the fine telescoped aluminum cantilevers they already use for some styli. Meanwhile, they basically reduced the price of the neos to more or less a clearance level to make room for a new version of the SAS.

I suspect that the prices we briefly saw were based on JICO's cost for the new SAS and were published before they had a chance to assess how the new SAS fit within the existing product line, resulting in some pretty weird situations like SAS being cheaper than HE styli. It's possible as well that JICO jumped the gun a bit by listing the new product before they had shippable inventory or before announcing and describing the new version to the market. (You gotta know what you're buying, after all.) But it looks like we'll shortly see an affordable SAS available soon as it already appears to be in Japan. (The SAS for the VN5xMR on the Japanese site is listed at ¥14,904, or about $133.00.)

So, we're going to see the SAS reappear in some form or another before long. Don't worry. Be happy!

John
 
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