D&M holdings is going to discontinue Snell Acoustics. How will that affect Outlaws LCR and Bookshelf speakers? I believe they are made by Snell.

For the record, XenonMan is correct. The Outlaw speakers are indeed built by Snell. Until now, we were not allowed to reveal the origin of these products. However, now that the company is scheduled to be shuttered, we are free to speak.

So for those curious, here is the “rest of the story” about Snell and Outlaw:

When we decided to include speakers in our product line we conducted an industry-wide search for the ideal manufacturer who could build to our exacting specifications. While there were several great candidates, we settled on Snell because they shared philosophically so much of what we were looking for - uncompromised components, attention to detail, proper voicing, and an overall attitude to work with us on something that we could be proud of in an overcrowded speaker market. Their close proximity allowed us to react to changes in the crossover in “real time” as opposed to back and forth shipping, an added bonus.

Our bookshelf speaker is close to one of the models in their line, but ‘improved’ with a new upgraded driver , and the inclusion of our proprietary two-stage boundary compensation. They liked our changes and planned on including this circuit in future updates of their own model.

As for the LCR, we presented them with the idea for a speaker that could be optimized for either vertical or horizontal orientation (three equal speakers across the front with the center channel being horizontal). At first the Snell engineers were skeptical it could be done. However, they decided to give it a shot. The ultimate result was a spectacular speaker that received an award from Sound and Vision Magazine. Ironically, our friends at Snell asked us if they could license our idea for their own LCR. We agreed, and that model was planned as a replacement for their current offering.

Snell’s announcement last week caught us, and all of the Snell people, totally off guard. We have since had two meetings with them and are discussing ways that we can keep these speakers in production by moving them to an alternate facility. Everything is fluid at this moment however so no finalized plan is ready.

Our recent sale of the Outlaw speakers went so well that we are nearly sold out. With no prior knowledge of what was about to happen, we began to reschedule our orders for more immediate delivery. As you can imagine, that is now a big challenge.

What has happened at Snell is very sad for them, their dealers, and their customers. We are hoping that someone will resurrect the company. Unfortunately, this situation is a sign of the times.

For those of you with Outlaw speakers, we will of course stand behind your purchase, and will service them going forward. If Snell does not come back, you all own some remarkable collector’s items. In a sea of competing speakers, they are indeed that good. Now you know why.

Peter

I don't regret my purchase one bit. The Outlaw LCR's are one of the best speakers I have ever heard. I have become a huge Outlaw Audio fan and I hope they can push through this bad economy and come out on top in the end. Its sad to see great companies stop doing business because of an economy that was destroyed by greed. Push through it Outlaw... you have a lot of fans!