Blast from the past

[Doc B.]

Here's a little article about our business, from 18 years ago -

http://web.kitsapsun.com/archive/1998/11-12/0058_audio__now_hear_this.html

[RayP]

Congratulations on still being in business and bringing great sound to so many people. Out of curiosity, how many kits have you sold and do you have an idea how many were actually built?

ray

[Doc B.]

Thanks, Ray. I don't have an accurate number of kits sold, but it's quite a few thousand - in the tens, not hundreds. As to how many get built, I think the percentage of completions is actually pretty high. It's a pretty rare occasion that I hear of a kit being purchased but never built. That said, there are a few that get built but not quite completed. In fact I had a pair of Paramounts on the bench last week that were completed a while ago, but the builder was reticent to fire them up and finally sent them in to me for a look over. Those are now tested and on their way home to their owner.

[ironbut]

Very cool Dan!
Every once in a while I stumble on one of your early ads when I flip though a Vacuum Valley mag.
I don't see  "prodigy.net" very often!
You guys must've been early web adopters?

[Doc B.]

Yup, we got in fairly early. I participated on the Joelist email listserv when it was active in the 90s. In 1994 I think there were about 2500 web sites. In '95 about 25,000. The web really started to get some traction in about '96 with around a 250,000 sites and I was paying attention. We had a site up by mid-1998, IIRC, just before we did the second VSAC. That was right about when the web was taking another big jump, I think there were 2.5 million or so web sites by then. Of course the "explosion" was around 2000 and there are more like 1 billion today. When Audio Asylum started up in early 1999 we were their first commercial sponsor and started the Bottlehead Forum there. Aside from the forum hosting by AA I handled all of our internet presence myself, up until we redid the site and online store to it's current iteration a few years ago. The technology delta is so big now (even my 25 yo son sees how fast stuff is changing compared to when he was a little kid) that it makes more sense to have a specialist keep track of constant updates.

[mcandmar]

Interesting article. I just checked the internet time machine and it will take you right back to 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/19990508211622/http://www.bottlehead.com/et/et.html

[Clark B.]

Congratulations, Dan, Eileen and the team.  What a journey!  Thanks for making sure we all still have this cool stuff to play with decades later.

[Doc B.]

Interesting article. I just checked the internet time machine and it will take you right back to 1999 https://web.archive.org/web/19990508211622/http://www.bottlehead.com/et/et.html

Wow, how primitive. I couldn't afford a digital camera at that point and those were all scans from prints.

[Bodyslam]

Here's a little article about our business, from 18 years ago -

The writer must have been prescient--he mentions reel-to-reel tape in the first sentence.

[JamieMcC]

Its quiet an achievement to have racked up so many years congratulations Bottlehead