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klodolph | on: APC–2 – A professional record cutter for producing original playback discs
Teenage Engineering seems to run partly on hype and halo effect. It makes cool things you can’t afford, and you buy something cheaper. Selling a vinyl cutting machine keeps them in the news, which keeps them in your mind, and then you think about how you always wanted an OP-1 but oh maybe you could buy the EP-133 instead.

I’m sure there’s a price at which the vinyl cutter is profitable.

darnfish | parent
It's also possible that TE are full of people who are passionate about design and sound and want to work on and release interesting products in that space. Not everything is a psyop
klodolph | root | parent | next
That took my comment to a much darker place than I anticipated—I think basic marketing is ok, and even if you’re passionate about design, you still should be thinking about the business’s bottom line.

But, like, https://teenage.engineering/store/field-desk

Or maybe the TP-7 is a better example.

They are obviously following the playbook from brands like Supreme. At least in part.

steve1977 | root | parent | next
That's basically a bad Eiermann desk ripoff, but about twice as expensive as the original.

https://www.richard-lampert.de/en/furniture/eiermann-1/

actionfromafar | root | parent
The Eiermann looks more sturdy at a glance too, since the legs aren't at the corners.
kev009 | root | parent
That is hilarious. Ikea with the Rexroth price tag.
dahauns | root | parent | next
...if only they were at least somewhat as passionate about QC.

It really pains me to be that cynical, because I do find their products incredibly fascinating and inventive. But for anything but their lowest-end toy products the design aspirations - and boutique price tag - clash hard with the reality of their quality track record.

aaroninsf | root | parent
They're passionate about style and brand, not design and sound.

I say this as someone with expertise in a domain they nominally targetted.

Very "cool" looking kit, but: missing basic features, unremarkable in those provided; serious issues rendering it fundamentally inappropriate for its nominal application.