What’s the deal with… <company>

tktran

Fountek

The local Australian distributor no longer carry them. There were rumours that they went bankrupt.

The website Fountek.net seems to not have updated since 2021.

BUT… the most recent July edition of Voice Coil had a review of the Fountek NeoPro 5i ribbon. This ribbon is almost 20 years old and this seems to be a current sample (?new internal revision). And there was an advertisement in the magazine itself:

Did they change their sales model?
Eg. Internet sales direct, or B2B/OEM only?

The NeoCD3.0 has been a favourite of mine - smooth and extended response out to well beyond 60 degrees horizontally (wider than all 19mm domes) and well controlled vertical response (+/- 15 degrees). It wasn’t a great low end performer around 2KHz. But perfectly capable of high pass for an acoustic LR2 at 4KHz.

tktran

From the chirping crickets…

I’ve sent an email to infoATfountek.net to see what the deal is. Will report back

Wolf

Without saying too much and getting it wrong, as I was a secondhand party; it appears that they were poaching product from another source and poorly copying it, or using materials and tooling on loan from said source and calling it their own behind the source's back. Basically some southeast Asian unscrupulous behavior that was not allowed to continue, as the source retrieved its items.

tktran

I still don't understand why the unit was review in Voice Coil in July 2023. And an advertisement taken out saying "We are ALWAYS here"

Is there some kind of secret handshake or backstage pass needed?

Wolf

I don't know about that.

jr@mac

See how it plays out, I guess - guess PE will have to stop selling them badged as "GRS" if Fountek decides to stop playing games.

tktran

well I got a response from Fountek. Looks like they are alive. And it's possible to order direct from them. For some reason shipping costs MORE than the product itself, so I might pass for now.

Tom_S

Maybe they were giving you a quote for shipping an entire pallet.

tktran

@Tom_S
Ha! Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction!

Paste:
“Hi Thanh

Happy New Year 😀 Good to hear from you.

The shipfreight by air (DHL ) would takes 3-5days to you, and it is almost as the same as one carton of NeoCD3.0.”

Please find all the details in the attachment.

Let me know how may I support you then.”
/end paste

And Brian @ Madisound just confirmed that they are in stock-

“Hi,

They just came in the door. I turned them back on in the cart.

Kind regards,
Brian“

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/ribbon-tweeters/fountek-neocd3.0m-blk-3-ribbon-tweeter-round-flange-black/

“I can understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about, I have even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.’”
Mark Twain

jr@mac

Interesting. Wonder if PE will pull the clones, now.

Ed_Perkins

Looks like they have all the Fountek ribbons: 1.0, 2.0M, 3.5H and 3.0M. The Hi-Vi RT1C-A is on sale too for $29. And let's not forget the Raal "Dipole 140-15D" Ribbon Driver Amorphous Core for just under $1500!

a4eaudio

@jr@mac said:
Interesting. Wonder if PE will pull the clones, now.

I'd doubt it, but it will be interesting to watch. When the GRS drivers came out they directly referenced Fountek but now there isn't a mention. Even if Fountek would have gone out of business that wouldn't have forfeited their patent rights so PE may have made enough tweaks to avoid infringement. And of course, may have not.

Gowa

I don't see Fountek's website anywhere.

Steve_Lee

http://www.fountek.net/

tktran

Anyone used the bigger models?
JP2.0 or NeoCD2.0

Wolf

I believe the CD2.0 is a brand new model.

Dirk

@a4eaudio said:
Even if Fountek would have gone out of business that wouldn't have forfeited their patent rights so PE may have made enough tweaks to avoid infringement. And of course, may have not.

Wait, are you suggesting that PE handed GRS a Neo and said "build me something exactly like that" ?

a4eaudio

GRS (Great Replacment Speakers) is a house brand of PE and has "clones" of Klipsch, AR, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc. Usually vintage clones, so presumably the patents have expired, but there is some doubt how good of a "clone" they are, so they may not infringe on anyone's patents anyways.

Other than the Fountek, the BG knock-off planars are widely recognized as knock-offs and have a different diaphram material. When they came out, Rory made a comment about the patent being epxired. I don't think the different diaphram material was to avoid patent-infringement, I think it was less expensive.

When the GRS Fountek ribbons came out they specifically referred to them as GRS Fountek tweeters. Something must have happened with Fountek NOT going out of business, and now the direct refernces to Fountek are gone from the marketing material.

PWRRYD

Funny how at the top of that they misspelled it "Foundtek".

Dirk

Well I'll be. I had no clue GRS was PE. I thought they were a Goldwood offshoot, but that was admittedly off of zero research.

DrewsBrews

@Dirk said:
Well I'll be. I had no clue GRS was PE. I thought they were a Goldwood offshoot, but that was admittedly off of zero research.

I was unaware for a while, but started noticing the spec sheet pdfs had a very similar layout and feel to the Dayton sheets. That and there is no GRS manufacturer website. Also can only find them sold by pe besides the sites pe also sells on.