How to Buy a Headset for the Wife?

Ahhh - so we blame you for the hot spot on the early models! )

I was referring more to the concept - I took a wild stab at the price (which
was clearly way out) (actually, having just had to defend someone over a
similar thing I should have known better!) - should have kept prices out of
it in retrospect.

I guess it comes down to the age-old-saying "you get what you pay for".


"Marc J. Zeitlin" wrote in message
news:PpOwd.589967$D%.177216@attbi_s51...
Cockpit Colin wrote:

..... Bose will use more expensive parts and put more
into R & D - but it probably still doesn't cost them more than $50 per
unit
(not counting R & D). Yes, they make a high margin, but that will be
offset
by the fact that they don't sell as many of them.

I have no clue whatsoever what it costs Lightspeed to manufacture their
headsets. However, having worked on the Bose X as a mechanical engineer
as they were being designed and released to manufacturing, I've got a
VERY good idea what the manufacturing costs of the Bose X are, and it's
nowhere NEAR $50. When they were released in early 1999, the
manufacturing cost (including amortization of tooling, which was to run
three years), was about $320/unit. Amortization of tooling was about
$30/unit. I would have to assume that in the intervening 5 years
there's been some cost reduction effort, but I'd be VERY surprised,
given how little the design has changes, if the manufacturing cost is
below $250/unit at this point.

And no, I no longer work there and get headsets cheap :-).

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://marc.zeitlin.home.comcast.net/
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2004

Well done! I've been able to influence a couple of manufacturers on the odd
occasion - it's a good feeling to know you've helped out.

"Kyler Laird" wrote in message
...
"Cockpit Colin" writes:

With the Boise, I tend to get a hot spot on top of my head after
several
hours of wearing them.

This was an issue with the very early models - I believe that they have a
free upgrage kit available, if you're interested.

Long story...I put a patch of sheepskin (which came as a sample for seat
covers) on my wife's set after she complained about the "hot spot". It
solved the problem. I mentioned it to Bose. They rolled out the upgrade
(with a solution to my battery box complaint too). It impressed me.

--kyler

Cockpit Colin wrote:

Ahhh - so we blame you for the hot spot on the early models! )

No, no, no :-). I got there about 6 months before release, so the
DESIGN was already fixed. The only stuff that I got to work on was the
stuff that just absolutely didn't work, and manufacturing stuff (so that
we could actually build and sell them - what a concept :-) ). I only
fixed stuff - I never broke it :-).

As an aside, the Bose I and Bose II series headsets never made money -
they never even broke even. The Series X is a good moneymaker for Bose.

I guess it comes down to the age-old-saying "you get what you pay
for".

Well, sort of. Bose is, how shall we say, not the most cost effective
company from an overhead standpoint. I have no doubt that in a company
that had better control of overhead, and better manufacturing/materials
control, the ~$300/unit could have been brought down to $200/unit, but
it's not going to get much cheaper than that with the current design.
Magnesium headbands and aluminum staples, along with very high quality
microphones and connectors cost $$$.....

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://marc.zeitlin.home.comcast.net/
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2004