Strategy in TECH...
Soundtube Entertainment (formerly MSE Audio) announced this week that it has appointed Jeff Brewer as its new Vice President of Sales for the Residential Division. Brewer is well known throughout the industry and the company hails his “rich background in the audio industry” along with his “proven track record in leadership.”
Premium Audio Company (PAC), a division of Voxx International Corporation (Nasdaq: VOXX), announced today that Voxx has sold off both the Jamo and Energy brands as part of its plan to divest multiple brands in an effort to stave off its financial decline and revitalize its profits. The brands were sold to a Chinese manufacturing company and a Chinese distributor. Oddly, this announcement was retroactive, as the transaction was said to have taken place on August 15, 2024. No reason was given for why this announcement of the transaction was withheld until now.
Crestron Electronics, one of the industry’s leading providers of control solutions and more for the smart home and home automation channels announced this week a significant update of its popular Crestron Home OS4 system. This impressive update includes more than 20 new features, as well as new important integrations that offer integrators a mind-expanding opportunity to better design solutions for clients…not to mention drive greater scalability for both residential and commercial installations.
Earlier this summer, executives from Russound visited me to offer me (and Strata-gee readers) a pre-CEDIA Expo sneak peek at some newly redesigned models that are in many ways smarter. I say smarter because these new designs reflect input from integrators (as well as some industry trends) and have launched new sleeker (such as 1U models) and smaller footprint products (such as its popular mini-AVR models). The company is also previewing a new industrial design that I like a lot.
Two big announcements this month from the folks over at AVPro Global, one of the most kinetic entities in integration right now, show how important AV-over-IP is at the company. One announcement is the appointment of a new VP for the company, and the other is about the launch of a new AudioControl product that is really new – as in nothing like it ever existed in any form before now.
While big in commercial, AV-over-IP and Dante is still relatively new to many residential integrators. However, most think this category will grow in popularity on the residential side as more companies begin pushing their solutions.
Bowers & Wilkins (B&W), a premium U.K.-based maker of high-performance loudspeakers, earbuds, headphones, and more, announced today a significant update of its premium earbuds line with the launch of the all-new Pi6 and Pi8 models. The company notes that these new models were crafted by the same design and engineering teams who were responsible for creating the well-received Px7 S2e and Px8 headphone models.
Earlier this month the National Samsung Employees Union (NSEU) opted to end its strike, even though it won no concessions from the company. The strike was the first ever union-directed work-stoppage action in Samsung’s history and threatened to impact critical production schedules at one of the world’s largest consumer electronics companies.
Last week, Resideo Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: REZI), the new owner of Snap One, announced its financial results for the second quarter of Fiscal 2024. This is the first earnings report that follows the closing on its acquisition of Snap One, the largely residential AV integration business, and therefore the first earnings in which Snap One’s business contributed to the results. Even with Snap One included in its numbers, the surprise was that the company reported a 1% revenue decline…and a 40% drop in Net Income.
I’d call that an inauspicious start for this new partnership.
Last week, Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) announced the results for its third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. CEO Patrick Spence must feel like the tech company can’t catch a break. The company successfully launched its first headphone product, Sonos Ace, to much fanfare in June – the load-in of which helped to drive better-than-expected results for the 3rd quarter of Fiscal 2024. And yet the company’s launch of its newest totally “re-architected” app turned into an unmitigated disaster – infuriating dealers and consumers alike and spoiling all of the positive momentum from Ace and the improved quarter.
What’s worse, the company warns financial analysts that the app disaster will likely continue, causing the company to push back the launch of two new products planned for the 4th quarter and to downwardly revise sales and profit forecasts for the next quarter and the full fiscal year. The ugliness, according to the company, will likely continue into the 1st quarter of Fiscal 2025. Ouch!
Strata-gee has learned that the popular Integra AVR model DRX 3.4 is now available at NY retail & online dealer Adorama. While Adorama was previously selling Onkyo- and Pioneer-branded models, the addition of this Integra unit appears to be an entirely new development. Not only that, but the consumer deal website Slickdeals has a special deal on the DRX 3.4, with a 50% discount, via a link to purchase at Adorama.
