Date
1 - 19 of 19
Take your bets Lowrey into 2019
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Mike jaques
Okay I was talking with my friend in Springfield Mo about the Palladium and we started talking about Lowrey.. Here is my prediction. I predict that Viscount is going to announce they are the new purveyors of the Lowrey organ. I think Mr Dennis Awe will announce this news. I think that Lowrey will lose the typical interface with the tabs and colorful buttons and more and more like the interfaces you see on keyboards push buttons scroll wheels and less "organish" anyone agrees? disagrees?
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I don't know.....who is Viscount...never heard of them before. Que sera, sera!
On Friday, December 14, 2018 1:01 PM, "dressur4@..." <dressur4@...> wrote: Okay I was talking with my friend in Springfield Mo about the Palladium and we started talking about Lowrey.. Here is my prediction. I predict that Viscount is going to announce they are the new purveyors of the Lowrey organ. I think Mr Dennis Awe will announce this news. I think that Lowrey will lose the typical interface with the tabs and colorful buttons and more and more like the interfaces you see on keyboards push buttons scroll wheels and less "organish" anyone agrees? disagrees?
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1) Why would they want to? The market is tiny and the outlay for R&D would be very hard to recoup.
2) Do they have the experience and resources to produce new models? They make classical organs and the Hammond clone, but nothing in the way of home organs. Their last home organs were back in the 70s and 80s, and were unspectacular. 3) Given the demographic of Lowrey owners and the dislike many of them have for anything menu-driven, 'push buttons, scroll wheels and "less organish" would seem an unlikely way forward. As I said before, if Kawai (one of the two biggest musical companies in the world) can't make it work profitably, who can? And I'd hate just to see the Lowrey name plastered on some cheap Chinese keyboard or something non-organ related. Let's see what Dennis comes up with - if anything.
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Mike jaques
Elaine Viscount is an Italian church and classical organ builder and make a clonewheel organ . Andy I don't know I am just hearing things from people more into the business than I ever would be. I jut see the Marquee and it is more keyboardish than the previous Lowreys and I think they want to appeal to the younger crowd and so I m thinking of a more keyboard approach. I don't like them at all I dont' like scroll wheels nor a lot of menu scrolling I lik tabs and buttons. I think someone will take them over. I really do. but as I said I could be totally wrong wouldn't be the first time.
On Fri, Dec 14, 2018 at 3:58 PM Andy G <andrew@...> wrote: 1) Why would they want to? The market is tiny and the outlay for R&D would be very hard to recoup.
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I have to say that I find some of these post to be hysterical to read -
. One dealer says Lowrey will keep production running until the end of the year - (Chances are most likely next to Zero) . Viscount makes the Aria and Aria pro and has made Lowrey organs for some time and therefore will purchase them - (False) . End users can crowdfund the purchase of Lowrey... (Ridiculous beyond words)... and the stories just keep on coming - Did no one actually see the letter? I would be glad to post a copy but I think by now most people have seen the letter on other websites... the Kawai letter is real - It was not a fantasy someone made up... . My prediction... It is over, plain and simple - Kawai published and mailed the letter saying it is over - That was not decided over night - It most likely took them months if not a year of analysis to decide it was no longer profitable for them to keep building the organs - Organs that very few wants to buy or play - ( At 52-years old, I think I am most likely one of the younger players on the forum - I have played since I was 6) . No current Organ producer wanted Lowrey for all the years Kawai tried to sell them off - Why would anyone want them now - They would most likely be glad that there is less competition for what little business is left to be had - I guess we still have the hope that Wersi, Bohm, or one of the remaining builders decides to export to the USA to fill in the gap left by Lowrey's closing... . I think that at best, someone will purchase the name from Kawai, (If they can afford to buy it) and slap it on another makers organ - Kawai builds Lowrey's on a Kawai production line where they build other instruments - A single Pic & Place machine to produce one circuit board is in the hundred of thousands of dollars - and that is for one of the many, many, many pieces of equipment needed to build the organ - Between starting a production line, building purchase, cabinet production, electronic machinery needed to produce al the boards and wiring harnesses, you are most likely talking about tens of millions of dollars if not more - To build something you would be lucky to sell 1,000-2,000 units of, to a dwindling audience... . No one was sadder then myself to hear the news, but it is what it is - Business shut down every day when they are not profitable... The Closing of Lowrey means no more NEW organs to sell - No more new organs to sell means less people to buy and trade in - Less trade-in means my change of getting a prestige from my dealer gets smaller every month - And then even if we find a prestige for me, lets hope it does not need ANY work or does not break down, since I predict NO Parts from Lowrey in the very near future for anything except the last of the new models under warranty... and the parts warranty on a new Lowrey is only two years - If a brand new organ is going to fail, it would most likely be right after it is sold and starts being used... . And as far as the announcement from Dennis, I do not think it will have a thing to do with Lowrey Continuing on in the future... I think it will be nothing of substance like others have said... Again - I think we all need to pull up our chins and face the fact - It is over - the end is around the corner... Or as Jeff said in this months news letter, "The End Of An Era" . Dan P.
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Mike jaques
I would LOVE it if Allen would take over Lowrey now that would be AWESOME could you imagine the organ they would come out with?? holy smokes it would be the finest and parts would always be available. They would go for as much as they do now but have that Allen touch of quality none other had or will ever have
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Mike jaques
As I said I have been wrong before.. I also said if you look at the innards of the Marquee it looks so much like Viscount open circuit boards no trays no cage Someone has stated that Viscount built the Aria pro pedal board.... I have heard this stuff too. . But I am holding hope and if it is over it's over. I can't do a thing about it Allen has one of those machines that make circuit boards and I am sure Viscount would as well and they have cabinet shops as well as Allen and Johannus Lowrey farmed their console construction out to the Swiss Plywood company near Sant Claus In... near St Meinrad (SP?) they employed Ethan Allen at one time too I was told be a Lowrey dealer. So I don't know.. I can hope. and if not oh well as I said notta thing I can do about it.
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When I was at the Lowrey dealer in MI a couple of weeks ago, the owner told me that the full size pedal board for the Aria Pro was built in Italy and there were only a limited number of them purchased. According to him there was a huge demand for the Aria and there were no more pedal boards so that is why the spinet version of the Aria was launched. I have no idea whether this is true or not.
-- Gary (Lowrey Prestige) Group Moderator
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Mike jaques
I have heard the same thing too. and as I said look inside that Marquee it looks SO Viscount that I believe the story I don't know when the Marquee came out but also Viscount makes a clonewheel B-3
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Mike jaques
The one picture is of the Marquee and the other is of a Viscount Unico 500 a high end model there are a LOT of similarities
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Sorry, but I can see no real similarities, other than they are both digital organs. The Lowrey uses samples, the Viscounts don't. Very different technologies.
As for no cages, I can't remember a Kawai digital organ that had a proper cage for its boards. Haven't looked inside a Lowrey for years! I have to agree with Daniel's earlier post.
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Mike jaques
Here is my Royale.... it has a cage.. or enclosed tray
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To be honest - I see almost NO similarities...Only my opinion...
. I have seen the full inside shots of the Marque, and the inside shots that were floating around on the web of the Aria internals as well (Looks the same as the Marquee or Grand Marquee) - The inside of even an SU or A series of organs looks very modern next to the picture of this Viscount - ( Are we sure this is not a very Old Viscount organ? ) . If the bottom organ is really a viscount, it looks like the inside of something that was made in the 70's or 80's - There is VERY little inside that organ that you are able to compare to the components or constructions of a Lowrey... But then again it's a Church Organ - there is evidently NO automation to them - Even compared to an Allen Organ, there is almost nothing inside this viscount being shown - Very few actual component boards - . And If it is built in Italy, lets hope it is built better then a Fiat are/used to be - Remember the what Fiat stood for - "Fix it again tony" - Even the new Fiats have the absolute worse reliability rating of almost any new car sold according to consumer reports - . Now take a look at the Allen Organ assembly plant video's on You Tube - Now that is a very well made, modern, well built piece of equipment - Looks to be constructed much like a Lowrey - . Again - Viscount DOES NOT make any of the Lowrey Organs - Kawai Manufactures the Organs with the Lowrey name on them - There has been no final answer as to who built the Pedal Boards for the Aria Pro - Both Viscount and Roland have been mentioned - According to what information is on the lowrey Website for the Aria Pro Pedal Assembly instructions, they are nothing more then Midi based pedals - Anyone could have have made them for Lowrey... .
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Fred Krause
Spoke to Dennis Awe yesterday here in Tucson. I could not quote him on specifics, but he believes the Lowrey product is on a successful path to the future. Not to worry?? Fred in Tucson
On December 14, 2018 at 3:49 PM Daniel Pfister <dpfister@...> wrote:
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Mike jaques
yep I feel great about Lowrey as well..... BE POSITIVE folks C'mon
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Here is a link to the Music Trades 1/2019 issue and their story on Lowrey closing:
https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=550661&ver=html5&p=44
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Richard L Treat Jr.
Thank you for posting the link to that article. I think many factors went into the downturn of the home Organ sales and popularity. Dick
On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 11:02 AM Ron Wilson via Groups.Io <wilsons1003=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote: Here is a link to the Music Trades 1/2019 issue and their story on Lowrey closing:
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Thank you also. A subject we're all interested in. Que sera, sera!
On Monday, December 17, 2018 12:17 PM, Richard L Treat Jr. <richardtreat48@...> wrote: Thank you for posting the link to that article. I think many factors went into the downturn of the home Organ sales and popularity. Dick On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 11:02 AM Ron Wilson via Groups.Io <wilsons1003=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote: Here is a link to the Music Trades 1/2019 issue and their story on Lowrey closing:
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Mike jaques
Well We'll see what January brings but the lack of organ interest is also from the AGO and the ATOS Snobbery I hope that I am right and that somehow Lowrey will be saved if not. then it won't..
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