FAQ
Our production facilities are located in the Detroit metro area (home of Motown and Hitsville USA) in Pontiac, Michigan, not far from the Silverdome and the Palace at Auburn Hills
Yes. All of our speakers are built to order for each individual customer and hand-crafted in our Michigan production facility.
No, we sell direct. This allows us to eliminate shipping, marketing, dealer mark-ups and other costs related to supporting a dealer network. We figure you can’t hear those things, so why should customers be forced to pay for them
Since we do not have dealers, this may be a little difficult depending on where you live. Obviously the best place to hear a speaker is in your home. This is far preferable to hearing them in a location you are not familiar with. But we understand that you may feel a bit uneasy about purchasing a speaker you have not heard before. So contact us and we may be able to arrange an audition for you with a local owner.
Our overhead is extremely low compared to industry averages. We eliminate all the costs mentioned above so that we can put a higher percentage of the selling price into quality parts. Our speakers are better simply because they are built with better parts.
We use speaker drivers from the best manufacturers in the world. It makes no sense to skimp on driver quality as it determines just how good a speaker can be.
We purchase drivers from around the world. Our drivers come from countries like Norway, Denmark, Germany, Japan and, of course, from the best manufacturers here in the US. Many of them are custom made just for us.
Since we custom-build our speakers to order, we normally do not have any speakers in stock for immediate delivery. That said, once in a great while we do have a pair or two and we will generally post information about them on our circle on audiocircle.com.
Since we build each pair for individual customers, we generally do not have b-stock speakers. From time to time we will sell our demo pairs since that allows us to replace them with new demo pairs. When we do, they are listed in our circle on audiocircle.com.
There are a number of factors that influence production time lines. The type of project, the size of the project and the type of finish are the biggest factors. For example, if we have to order veneer, it takes a week to get it before we can begin production. If the grain of the wood used is deep, it takes longer to seal it in preparation for topcoat. And it the cabinet is complex, it takes a little longer to build. Finally, the time of year can make a difference as well. Around April, for example, everyone is anticipating a tax refund and the volume of orders means things can get backed up a bit. Build time will be at least several months based on our current backlog and supply chain issues.
Once you know what you want, simply email the following: 1) a COMPLETE description of what you want; 2) your COMPLETE shipping address; and, 3) your phone number. We will take that information and create an invoice that we will email to you. You check it over to make sure EVERYTHING is correct. Once it is, there is a secure link attached to the email and you can use it to make a 50% deposit with the credit card of your choice*. Of course, if some other form of payment is preferred (Paypal, check, whatever), let us know as we can accomodate almost any payment method.
In North America, we accept all major credit cards. In international markets, credit card laws vary a great deal and they can be an unreliable form of payment. For international orders, we prefer wire transfers which are quick and easy.
On domestic orders, we primarily use FedEx. We have had good luck and minimal shipping damage with them. We also ship by truck for larger orders.International orders are shipped by truck, sea or air. We have used quite a few shipping companies and compare to get the best rates for each shipment.
Yes, we ship world-wide.
We have a very informal warranty policy, but one we feel protects your interest better than any “formal” policy. The way we look at it, you purchase speakers from us in order to obtain stellar audio performance. If our speakers fail to perform, you do not get the benefit you paid for and we find that unacceptable. If you have a problem with our speakers, it is our problem and we will work until it is resolved and you obtain the performance you should expect. Customer satisfaction is EXTREMELY important to us. We do not tolerate unhappy customers!
On lower priced models with a standard finish, we offer a 30-day in-home trial period. You can feel free to return the speakers within 30 days, in new condition, for a refund in the event they do not perform to your satisfaction.
With “custom” finishes and/or more expensive speakers, this is not practical. If we only offered three or four standard finishes, it would not be a problem. But normally customers who order our higher-priced speakers want them finished to their personal taste. So if they were returned, we would have to wait until another customer wanted the exact same finish before we could recoup our costs. Unfortunately, this would not work for us.
However, in a case like this, we would work to find a new home for the speakers and process a refund once the speakers were re-sold. Our speakers normally sell quite quickly on the used market, so it would probably not take all that long.
All that said, we almost never have returns and it is unlikely that you would ever feel the need to return our speakers. The reason is quite simple: They are that good.
With “custom” finishes and/or more expensive speakers, this is not practical. If we only offered three or four standard finishes, it would not be a problem. But normally customers who order our higher-priced speakers want them finished to their personal taste. So if they were returned, we would have to wait until another customer wanted the exact same finish before we could recoup our costs. Unfortunately, this would not work for us.
However, in a case like this, we would work to find a new home for the speakers and process a refund once the speakers were re-sold. Our speakers normally sell quite quickly on the used market, so it would probably not take all that long.
All that said, we almost never have returns and it is unlikely that you would ever feel the need to return our speakers. The reason is quite simple: They are that good.