FM3 Now Shipping

Here’s the thing:

This forum has many members, including myself, who LOVE their FAS products, want to see the company succeed, and appreciate the pace of firmware updates. Cliff is an engineering genius, and FAS no doubt has talented and caring people working for them.

However, the PR and communication around the FM3 has been absolutely atrocious and I hope it’s a lesson learned for FAS. It’s been one thing after another. Periods of silence. Not disclosing information like the first batch not having headphone jacks. Shutting down forums. Passive aggressive behavior. The list goes on. Again, I LOVE my FAS gear and the support it’s given. But holy crap the PR and communication has been a train wreck. The company should seriously hire someone who can help with this, especially if the company wants to grow.
 
ChristThePhone said:
I don't understand what ignited all this noise.
Who said had a warehouse full of FM3 without a headphone out ? It's more likely this is a small number of prototypes that turned out to be perfect with the exception of the missing headphone amp. Still good enough to be offered to the ones that were moved over from the AX8 list.
Click to expand...

Think about this for a moment
If there is a warehouse full of FM3 perfect w headphones why the
Wait till April ?
 
ChristThePhone said:
I don't understand what ignited all this noise.
Who said had a warehouse full of FM3 without a headphone out ? It's more likely this is a small number of prototypes that turned out to be perfect with the exception of the missing headphone amp. Still good enough to be offered to the ones that were moved over from the AX8 list.
Click to expand...
The difficulty is in aligning the bits of info that we've been given. Things we've been told:
  • Fractal received at least two shipments earlier last year, but after the announcement. A small one by air and a larger one by ship. They've been warehoused pending the completion of the firmware.
  • Some pre-press release '1st run' units built to a different spec are currently being sold to the head of the waitlist at a discount.
  • Units with headphone jacks will be available for sale at the earliest in April.

So what's in the warehouse?
 
Tones2 said:
I guess I agree with this. I love all FAS products (if I didn't, I would care about all of this :) ), but the communication was anything but ideal on this though. Had it been explained by Fractal just like you outline it above months ago when they knew of the issue, or even before the invite emails went out, that would have come across much better. Instead, nothing was said and the invite even told people not to say anything about it. Not good. Even now, it would help if Fractal just openly said what really happened, and whether these are just a small number of prototypes offered to AX8 waitlisters or a full warehouse of units that a mistake were made on so that people know the possibilities of getting an invite in this first run to plan on what they want to do.

That said, there was nothing to do about it anyway no matter how they communicated it. For now, I just hope that April actually means April, and the lines of communication about REALISTICALLY fulfilling on that date remain truthful and open. I want that headphone jack and WOULD wait until April, but if my name comes up before that, I would buy without the headphone jack and try to find another solution to listen through headphones directly from the FM3, because at this point I have zero faith in any date given.
Click to expand...
I agree some forthright information is needed to stop the conspiracy theories and speculation. Because this thing has been advertised from day one as having a headphone output it leads to the question where did these units come from? Very early and very small number of preproduction units, or was the large shipment from China talked about a long time ago somehow built incorrectly? Is there anything else different from the units coming in April? Communicating this info prior to launch would have greatly reduced the rumor mill and negative impact IMO.

Edit:
I see Fractal did post somewhat of an explanation in another thread https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fm3-headphones-jack.158475/post-1891718
Too bad this wasn’t communicated beforehand, but it’s something. Based on this I’m assuming they did receive a first shipment from China, but the warehouse full of them have this headphone error. How that happened is anyone’s guess?

PS. I have and love an Axe III and want the FM3 to be a huge success.
 
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Doesn’t really matter if Fractal announced the headphone issue previously, they would have been hounded with upset people back then as well.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That’s been the situation the entire time.

I’m sure Cliff and everyone at Fractal has been more perturbed and pissed off with the holdups than anyone else (who have not spent a dime on this yet) and coming on the forum to make any kind of announcements would just bring more hellfire on them. I dealt with stuff like this daily in the restaurant business, on a smaller level and people getting just as, if not more angry over a $20 plate of food. Unavoidable things pop up and as long as people are satisfied by the time they leave (get what they paid for) that’s all that matters, everything in between is just noise and stress. More often than not, I’d come out for one table visit and give an update then the guest wouldn’t see me again until I brought them their food. No point in subjecting oneself to a pissed off patron just to let them vent when you can better spend your time making sure the final product is perfect.
 
jm9239 said:
Here’s the thing:

This forum has many members, including myself, who LOVE their FAS products, want to see the company succeed, and appreciate the pace of firmware updates. Cliff is an engineering genius, and FAS no doubt has talented and caring people working for them.

However, the PR and communication around the FM3 has been absolutely atrocious and I hope it’s a lesson learned for FAS. It’s been one thing after another. Periods of silence. Not disclosing information like the first batch not having headphone jacks. Shutting down forums. Passive aggressive behavior. The list goes on. Again, I LOVE my FAS gear and the support it’s given. But holy crap the PR and communication has been a train wreck. The company should seriously hire someone who can help with this, especially if the company wants to grow.
Click to expand...

I agree, there are many things that could have been done better, and I'm sure FAS has learned and won't make the same mistakes again, and I'm pretty sure they would know how to handle it better next time.

However, complaining is kinda useless, there are two options:

Order one if you want it now

Wait till you get the one with the headphones jack



Complaining does nothing here, let's move on now guys
 
AZG said:
I agree some forthright information is needed to stop the conspiracy theories and speculation. Because this thing has been advertised from day one as having a headphone output it leads to the question where did these units come from? Very early and very small number of preproduction units, or was the large shipment from China talked about a long time ago somehow built incorrectly? Is there anything else different from the units coming in April? Communicating this info prior to launch would have greatly reduced the rumor mill and negative impact IMO.
Click to expand...
Why does it matter? It’s going to make zero difference to the availability of the device. If your invite comes up for one without a headphone jack and you don’t want it, don’t order it and wait till April or whenever. Any information about number of units, reasons for delays, etc. is not going to change anything.
 
jon said:
I agree, there are many things that could have been done better, and I'm sure FAS has learned and won't make the same mistakes again, and I'm pretty sure they would know how to handle it better next time.

However, complaining is kinda useless, there are two options:

Order one if you want it now

Wait till you get the one with the headphones jack

Complaining does nothing here, let's move on now guys
Click to expand...

With all due respect :), I also wish people would realize that CONTINUOUSLY complaining about complainers has a LOT less value than the original valid complaint of people individually expressing their valid opinions about the situation at hand. :tonguewink:


Kamil Kisiel said:
Why does it matter? It’s going to make zero difference to the availability of the device. If your invite comes up for one without a headphone jack and you don’t want it, don’t order it and wait till April or whenever. Any information about number of units, reasons for delays, etc. is not going to change anything.
Click to expand...

It may change the decision what you choose if your name comes up on an invite, or the amount of confidence that you have that open realistic ongoing communication will be forthcoming on the possibility of delays in the April shipment, so that knowledgeable decision can be made as to whether to wait or move on.
 
It would just be nice to hear the story on why these units have no headphone jack. The original announcement showed one. The unit I saw in the hands of a beta tester has one, and it is shown in the manual. Just seems odd.
 
I was going to pass on the FM3 but starting to think I may have to get one after all.
I have not been paying attention at all.. can someone give me an idea where 4/23 around 9am est is on the waitlist? Sometime in the new couple weeks?
 
Tahoebrian5 said:
I was going to pass on the FM3 but starting to think I may have to get one after all.
I have not been paying attention at all.. can someone give me an idea where 4/23 around 9am est is on the waitlist? Sometime in the new couple weeks?
Click to expand...

Think the waitlist launched around 1pm est. sure that 9am time is correct?
 
Well, as of yesterday they were giving out invites for March 14, (the axe 8 waitlist people) so, it will be interesting to see the date people post so we can get some kind of idea how fast they are moving on this.
 
Tahoebrian5 said:
I was going to pass on the FM3 but starting to think I may have to get one after all.
I have not been paying attention at all.. can someone give me an idea where 4/23 around 9am est is on the waitlist? Sometime in the new couple weeks?
Click to expand...

I think all we know is that a guy from the AX8 waitlist (March 14th) got an invite yesterday. Not sure any other people have posted about receiving invites yet
 
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