Subwoofer enclosure makers Atrend and QPower are lowering prices, as raw material costs and overseas shipping fees decline.
Both brands are implementing new price cuts this quarter, which follow earlier price cuts a few months ago.
Atrend lowered prices in December by 20 percent and just dropped prices another 10 to 15 percent, said Ernie Hundal, citing lower MDF costs for the boxes made in the US.
For its imported sub boxes, Atrend was also able to lower prices due to lower freight costs overseas “coupled with a downturn in the Chinese economy which has many factories and suppliers lowering prices as they bid for new business.”
QPower reduced prices January 1 this year and plans another reduction in mid April. All-in-all for this year, QPower prices should come down by 20 to 30 percent from last year, said Matt Bund. Wood prices have fallen close to pre-pandemic levels. Also shipping within the US is cheaper than at the peak of the pandemic (although domestic shipping prices are still higher than a few years ago), Bund added.
During the pandemic QPower had raised prices between 20 to 40 percent, depending on the sub box model.
While lowering prices, QPower said it was not able to meet its goal of returning to pre-pandemic pricing due to the higher cost of labor in the US and other higher costs, Bund said.
During COVID, QPower said it transferred a portion of its manufacturing from China to the US at QPower’s facility in Houston.
“We removed quite a bit of our manufacturing from China. It had us reinvent our manufacturing line when China couldn’t ship. We’re not going back to China for certain things so we don’t have to totally rely on the ebbs and flows there,” Bund said.
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Gemsen Distribution is the exclusive Premier ATREND distributor in Canada shipping nationwide to its dealer network from its warehouse in Concord, Ontario.
Atrend boxes & Qpower subs were some of the first affordable car audio setups I’ve ran in my past vehicles & prices weren’t never unsatisfied, but I did have problems after awhile with boxes coming apart most likely from adding slightly upgraded subs to the box or pushing Qpower subs to long or to the point coils got to hot & blew them. Overall good affordable car audio setup components with plenty of bass with the right size box matched to the specs of your Subs.. which myself preferably will always choose Kerf or Slot Ported custom built enclosures (Ported = lower “notes” or “hertz”/ Sealed= higher “notes” or “hertz”) to the specs of subwoofers & the perfect Amp (Class D monoblock “1 ohm” stable= best quality, clarity & overall better power outcome plus “1 ohm” capable to get the highest rated power from your Amp to your Subs.
Your Amp “ohm load” varies on how you wire your subs either in “Parallel” or in “Series” which will change the Amp Power/Wattage to your Sub/s either dropping the “ohm load” (8, 4, 2, 1, ohm load stable) which will make more power outcome from your Amp to your Subs making more “Bass” or “Vice Versa” for higher “ohm loads” which also depends on which “ohm” your Sub or Subs are setup for when purchased which most Subwoofers are 4, 2, or 1 ohm “SVC” or “DVC” (Single or Dual voice coil) Subs when purchased.
For new bass heads it always helps doing some research when wiring or hooking any & all car audio.
Always disconnect your negative or positive battery terminal when attempting to wire anything so power or ground wires do not touch ground out or cause shock fire or worse.
Just some info I’ve taught myself over the years.
14 years & I’m still into brain rattling windshield flexing car audio. Good luck 🤟
Qpower Ships to Canada
TruSpec boxes ship to Canada and are a way better box
That’s great prices are coming down to a reasonable level. But the bigger questions is when will they start shipping to Canada again? Selection up here has been nearly no existent for 2 years now.