KPA downsamples to 22,050hz?

    Yeah, probably that's the key. He has been selling his Axe with hardware numbers from the beginning. It is true that the Axe was better than anything else before the KPA was released and he always referred to the Axe powerful hardware as the main reason why others could not achieve those results. Obviously if you spend a lot on hardware you have no choice but to do direct sale because the margins in retail are much smaller. The Axe in retail would probably cost as much as the double of the KPA. Kemper has been able to create a product that gives better results with a much cheaper hardware just using an smarter approach. Like you said that's eating him. There is always someone smarter than you.

    Quote from MadH

    The Axe in retail would probably cost as much as the double of the KPA.


    I doubt.
    There are 3 parts into the Axe Fx. The power board which cost 34$...the main board nothing special and surely less than 150$, the 2 DSPs 500$...and the screen/front board. I have no idea perhaps 150$ too.
    The box is common, nothing custom except the holes, lol, say 80$ for the box and it's well paid.(if it comes from china...less for sure)
    All in all, 500 + 300 + 34 + 80 = 900$
    Add the mexican handwork...lol again.
    How many Axe-Fxs are you able to build each day? I would say easily 10 if i do not perform the tests...let's say 5 if the builder does the testing too. So count 100$ for the handwork for each Axe-fx, which means 500$/ per day for the handwork...5 Axe-fxs. With 500$ per day you easily pay 1 mexican handwork. There are 20-22 working days in a month...so it makes 10 000$ at the end of the month. lol again
    Add a few taxes...
    So basicaly 1000$ more or less for the price cost.
    Not sure that the KPA with his custom design and customs parts cost less(PCB is gold plated). By the way i would not be surprised, due to the size, that the analog board embed a "preamp". Which is not the case of the Axe-Fx.
    Ask to CK to know if there is a "preamp" into your KPA.

    Don't forget he Axe has an expensive fan inside - the KPA not!

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    Even if it is what you say, maybe I am wrong but I think that retailers usually make at least 30-40% profit of the final price. Based on your numbers if Fractal wanted to keep the same profit as they do now, the retailers would have to increase the price by at least $1000 (that would be make the retail cut around 30%) making it $3200. A KPA cost about $1600. That's exactly half price.

    I said more or less, and it's probably less. I'm quite sure that FAS does not pay 500$ for the DSPs, that the box cost less than 50$, 34$ is the public price for the power board etc...The public prices are always bs.
    Ask yourself how the KPA can be sold 1600$ with a custom design, a gold plated pcb, some shielded jacks, a bigger color screen, a preamp etc...if the retailers take 30% ?

    Quote from mba

    I said more or less, and it's probably less. I'm quite sure that FAS does not pay 500$ for the DSPs, that the box cost less than 50$, 34$ is the public price for the power board etc...The public prices are always bs.
    Ask yourself how the KPA can be sold 1600$ with a custom design, a gold plated pcb, some shielded jacks, a bigger color screen, a preamp etc...if the retailers take 30% ?


    Kemper produce keyboards/synths as well so the enclosure/design should not be something that expensive for them. If I had to guess I would say the KPA does not cost much more than $600 to produce and their profit margin is probably lower than what Fractal gets per unit. But look I am only guessing based on the hardware, I really have no clue.