Strategy in TECH...
While others are just now discovering them, Strata-gee first told you about Red Carpet Home Cinema back in April of 2019. At that time, they were really just a concept. But now, CEO Fred Rosen told me at CEDIA, the premium home movie delivery service has arrived and they are now in active beta testing in about 100 homes…
Sony announced that is has promoted two of the members of its team to new roles in the wake of the recent retirement of Gary Frankel, Western Regional Sales Manager. Both new appointments are in their “award-winning” AV Specialty and Custom Integration sales group and were made effective as of September 1, 2019.
In a tersely worded release, Sound United announced today that its deal to acquire the Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite brands is off. Originally announced in May, the deal was said to be conditional on the completion of due diligence, the signing of “definitive agreements” and other specific elements. Apparently, that process was not successful.
Much like any trade show, CEDIA Expo 2019 was full of optimism and good cheer. But with just a few questions to top executives of major exhibitors it is fairly easy to pierce that veil of good cheer to reveal underlying concerns of approaching economic storm clouds. I chatted with Frank Sterns, Sony’s Vice President of AV Specialty/Custom Integration, about the turbulent waters our industry is sailing through and how Sony is faring in the face of these increasing headwinds.
OSD Audio, a specialty supplier of a wide assortment of audio solutions, continues to expand their offerings with new subwoofers, amplifiers, and streaming devices shown at last month’s 2019 CEDIA Expo. The company also featured a dramatic 7.3.4 Dolby Atmos theater system which not only showcased their new Trevoce12 subwoofers (three of them, no less) but also their monster Theatro X11 amplifier with 11-channels of 380 wpc. To say it just about knocked my socks off would be an understatement.
At the the CEDIA Expo earlier this month, Lenbrook had a substantial launch of multiple new models from their collection of brands. Firmly positioned in the mid- to high-end technology market, the new products from Bluesound, Dali, NAD, and PSB continued to forge a path into the new digital audiophile market with high-quality streaming models and high-end in-wall and on-wall speaker and subwoofer solutions.
And in the case of one model, it was an award-winning presentation…
AudioControl flexed its muscles this year at the 2019 CEDIA Expo – launching the greatest number of new products ever in the company’s history. But not only that, the company surprised us with an entirely new industrial design across a wide swath of products that is sleek, savvy, and exciting.
Don’t let those smiling faces fool you…these guys are deadly serious about taking more than their fair share of the audio market. And the vehicle they’re using to drive that growth is Beale Street Audio, a brand that Vanco acquired about two years ago. From what they told me – and showed me – at this year’s 2019 CEDIA Expo in Denver, they are well on their way.
A funny thing happened this year at the 2019 CEDIA Expo…everyone I ran into kept asking me the same thing – what is the big story from the show? What’s funny is that I asked them the same question. Even when I ran into other members of the media…we often queried each other. Most kind of shrugged and would mention an item or two, but nothing that represented a major theme of the event.
However, there is an answer I came up with, but I’m not sure its the best answer…
Onkyo USA announced this week that it will become a retailer of Sonos wireless music systems – selling the company’s wireless music systems on Onkyo USA’s website. The company also says it will distribute the brand nationally as well.
