Hello Outlaws:

We appreciate that you've been patient to date, and as the title of this thread indicates, it IS a virtue.

What you are pointing out is yet one more example of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" nature of this situation. The problem is that we're in a fluid situation and even though we are 99.9% of the schedule for re-starting production and shipments, if we end up falling into that last 0.1% we'll be zinged for "missing another deadline". In terms of another Newsletter or "Update" we can say that the next public announcement is scheduled for the day we resume shipments or the week of August 5th, whichever comes first. Suffice it to say we hope the date is the former, not the latter.

However, since you asked...

We have done an incredible amount of testing and engineering work over the past few weeks and we feel that we finally have nailed down all the various contributors to the "hiss problem". In fact, I've heard the final, updated 950 myself and it is great. We know that this unit will provide the performance that most 950 owners are already enjoying, and which a few are still waiting for.

As to the question of "if it's only a small sample, why don't they just start shipping and replace the defective units", the answer is one that has to be viewed in the context of our business model. In the "bricks & mortar" world, traditional brands can suffer a larger percentage of defective units before something reaches serious proportion. By comparison, in our case even a small handful of units generating complaints has the tendency to get blown completely out of proportion in relation to the actual number of units shipped.

This is already the case with the 950. Again, most owners are happy, and only a very small percentage of the units are causing problems. However, we cannot allow even that small number of customers to be unhappy. The bad news: It means that our only course of action has been our current path of freezing deliveries. We know that this disappoints customers, it also impacts our revenues. The good news: it means that EVERYONE will benefit from improved performance, even if they can't hear the difference.

The bottom line: At this stage in the Outlaw's business cycle, we have taken the more conservative approach rather than continuing to charge ahead. To do so might have brought short term gain, but at a considerable risk. We remain financially healthy and we're here for the long term. Our ability to stop production while continuing to deliver existing new products and develop a number of new ones is clear evidence of that.

Therefore we ask that you bear with us while we implement these modifications at the factory level. Public "heat", not withstanding we sincerely believe we are doing the right thing.

Best Regards,

Scott