Announcing the Squeezebox™ Boom

[Michaelwagner]

this thing is probably made in china

My beta unit was shipped directly from the factory in China.

[Mnyb]

There have been a number of discussions about this in the past...

1) Sales tax, that accounts for a 7.6% difference (if the internet is to be believed!)
2) General cost of doing business (businesses running in Europe typically have higher overheads than in the US)
3) Cost of localization (lots of languages, lots of testing & compliance, different power plugs, etc)
4) Different warranty requirements
5) Competitors also cost more - every market is it's own competitive landscape


You get to live in Switzerland

Well that OK with me it's the way of the world , but the nag is usually that slim used to sell worldwide from US (thats how i got my SB3 ). Logitech trothled that outlet enhancing this "every market is it's own competitive landscape". Logitech is all for market compartmentalizing dividing the market into small pockets with "local" competition, for some reason an international company who does not like international competition ?
But thats also old news, the emergence of a global market is going slow.

The Swedish price is now 396$ hmm. but the dollar rate is low now.
I think the product is priced rigth in general.

Another factor that can make people grumpy (me sometimes :-) ) is that logitech is flaunting the US price on this site making it blaring obvious thats theres a difference, for other products you have to find out other ways and often never do.

I also assumed that the Swiss where rich, Swedes are not that rich anymore (was in 70's ) i think 11 place in Europe.

[andifor]

There have been a number of discussions about this in the past...

1) Sales tax, that accounts for a 7.6% difference (if the internet is to be believed!)
2) General cost of doing business (businesses running in Europe typically have higher overheads than in the US)
3) Cost of localization (lots of languages, lots of testing & compliance, different power plugs, etc)
4) Different warranty requirements
5) Competitors also cost more - every market is it's own competitive landscape


You get to live in Switzerland

I don't mind 10 to 15% higher prices here. As I earn 10 to 15% more. That's ok.

But 300 to 400 US$ ist 33%, that's not reasonable (my opinion). Order it from www.digitec.ch, they have it for 360 CHF, that's acceptable for me (and that's why I ordered mine).

[IRJ]

I was quite excited when this product was announced. I have recently upgraded the MBR with an HD LCD, but the LCD speakers are poor. Then I realised what a combination of capability the LCD/DVD/Boom would make merely by running an optical audio connection to the Boom

Then reality struck merely a line in.
Why the lack of decent connections for such use?

[EnochLight]

I was quite excited when this product was announced. I have recently upgraded the MBR with an HD LCD, but the LCD speakers are poor. Then I realised what a combination of capability the LCD/DVD/Boom would make merely by running an optical audio connection to the Boom

Then reality struck merely a line in.
Why the lack of decent connections for such use?

What - do you mean to use the Boom as an active amp PA for your DVD player?

[ccrome2]

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 8:59 PM, EnochLight <
EnochLight.3fgc5z1220932802 (AT) no-...limdevices.com> wrote:

>
> IRJ;338241 Wrote:
> > I was quite excited when this product was announced. I have recently
> > upgraded the MBR with an HD LCD, but the LCD speakers are poor. Then I
> > realised what a combination of capability the LCD/DVD/Boom would make
> > merely by running an optical audio connection to the Boom
> >
> > Then reality struck merely a line in.
> > Why the lack of decent connections for such use?
>
> What - do you mean to use the Boom as an active amp PA for your DVD
> player?


Yeah, boom's not designed for that. It also doesn't have XLR connectors.
It's meant to be a top quality streaming music player for any room except
your home theater. The assumption is that in your home theater, you
already have good speakers.

[IRJ]

My Master Bedroom(MBR) LCD has very average speakers.

So I thought, for a while, the "Boom" would be the "do everthing" MBR solution.
I could run high Quality Audio (optical audio out) from the LCD and into the "Boom". Therefore ALWAYS use the "Boom" speakers for A) TV programming B) DVD Audio and C) Music from my PC and D) Radio via the "Boom" internet connections and E) Use the "Boom" as the preferred alarm clock etc...

Given the very very decent sound from the "Boom" this, at first, seemed a win win situation and obviating the need for a small receiver and external speakers.

BUT all one can use is a rather degraded line out and line in.

Seems a huge missed opportunity here. The product planners obviously did not think of this kind of set up requirement/use. Thinking of the "Boom" as a standalone box for a small radio/music device ONLY. I agree that the "Boom" isn't a potential Home Theater, or family room, solution. But it is, potentially (with better audio connections) a great idea for a MBR. Come to think of it the product guys MUST have envisaged this unit for use in a MBR situation, BECAUSE they put the full alarm clock etc functionality into the machine. So why they didn't at least have a good digital audio connection IN. I cannot fathom! I can think why there is no digital audio OUT, as this would possibly undermine sales of other slimdevices SB products. But INWARD connections are a whole different subject.

Big dropped ball IMHO.

[iPhone]

My Master Bedroom(MBR) LCD has very average speakers.

So I thought, for a while, the "Boom" would be the "do everthing" MBR solution.
I could run high Quality Audio (optical audio out) from the LCD and into the "Boom". Therefore ALWAYS use the "Boom" speakers for A) TV programming B) DVD Audio and C) Music from my PC and D) Radio via the "Boom" internet connections and E) Use the "Boom" as the preferred alarm clock etc...

Given the very very decent sound from the "Boom" this, at first, seemed a win win situation and obviating the need for a small receiver and external speakers.

BUT all one can use is a rather degraded line out and line in.

Seems a huge missed opportunity here. The product planners obviously did not think of this kind of set up requirement/use. Thinking of the "Boom" as a standalone box for a small radio/music device ONLY. I agree that the "Boom" isn't a potential Home Theater, or family room, solution. But it is, potentially (with better audio connections) a great idea for a MBR. Come to think of it the product guys MUST have envisaged this unit for use in a MBR situation, BECAUSE they put the full alarm clock etc functionality into the machine. So why they didn't at least have a good digital audio connection IN. I cannot fathom! I can think why there is no digital audio OUT, as this would possibly undermine sales of other slimdevices SB products. But INWARD connections are a whole different subject.

Big dropped ball IMHO.

Not flaming here, but it doesn't sound like your humble opinion, it sounds like you're to cheap to buy a decent A/V receiver and good speakers for all the inputs you need for your TV, DVD Player, and computer!

The Boom was not "Meant" to be a universal unit to fill all your needs. It "Was" designed to be a self cantained stand-alone Network Music Player. Sure they could have added an iPod dock and a bunch of inputs and outputs and had digital out and digital in, oh but wait, they already have the SB3, Duet, and Transporter (minus iPod dock)! It would also have added a bunch of dollars onto the final price. And as an after thought, who has there TV on the night stand next to their Boom? Not many, I can tell you that without asking. And that is why it has a nice clock and alarm set-up.

Yes the Boom was designed for any room, but the target is specifically rooms that tend not to already have a stereo system like the kitchen, guest room, home office, bathroom, or bedroom.

[ccrome2]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 12:28 PM, IRJ <
IRJ.3fhj7z1220988603 (AT) no-mx (DOT...limdevices.com> wrote:

> BUT all one can use is a rather degraded line out and line in.


Huh? The line out and line-in are in no way degraded. The line-in and
line-out are very high quality, and line-out is the same as squeezebox
receiver. Just because its analog does not mean its degraded. Don't forget
-- all sound is analog when it hits your ears.

You are the first person out of hundreds who wanted a digital input -- so I
think we hit our target in terms of feature set.

[IRJ]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 12:28 PM, IRJ <
IRJ.3fhj7z1220988603 (AT) no-mx (DOT...limdevices.com> wrote:

> BUT all one can use is a rather degraded line out and line in.


Huh? The line out and line-in are in no way degraded. The line-in and
line-out are very high quality, and line-out is the same as squeezebox
receiver. Just because its analog does not mean its degraded. Don't forget
-- all sound is analog when it hits your ears.

You are the first person out of hundreds who wanted a digital input -- so I
think we hit our target in terms of feature set.

1) Bouncing back and forth from digital to analog to digital...etc.. well you get the message... degrades all signals.
2) The "Boom" is so new that we are only just discovering uses for it....
3) Dare I suggest your reply is "defensive"? One digital input opens a whole new way to sell this device IMHO. Of course if you wish to avoid that market opening, keep the spec it just as it is I am trying to find a way to buy your great device...but if I have to use a receiver and separate speakers I am NOT going to add a "Boom" to it.