Last week, I ran a story about control technologies manufacturer RTI, now part of AVPro Global, launching a new line of amplifiers and zone controllers targeted for the commercial integration channel. The amps looked well-designed and configured, signalling a sincere effort to grow its commercial business, so I was upbeat about this development.
But sharp-eyed Strata-gee readers reached out to me to note that these amps looked familiar to them. Several readers noted that other brands have launched products with the same or substantially similar features and capabilities. They wanted to know what was going on with RTI and AVPro Global.
So I reached out to the company to see if they could address these questions…
Some of the readers who reached out to me were genuinely confused. After all, AVPro Global has its own strong engineering bench producing highly-regarded custom integration products embraced by integrators around the world. Why would their new RTI division go outside of the company to source these products?
Many Reader Questions Emerged
These readers reached out to me in multiple ways, including sending a message through the Strata-gee “Contact Us” page, emailing me, DM’ing me on a variety of social media, texting me, sending a reply message to the Strata-gee newsletter address, and more. In fact, if you go back to that RTI story now, you can scroll below the article and see a comment by “PN” who asked if I had “[a]ny explanation why RTI went outside the AVPro to source these new amplifiers from Sonance?” [Note: they are not sourced from Sonance, but there is a dotted-line connection.]
Certainly, many of you are aware of the fact that there are many companies in electronics known as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) that exist to help feed the industry ecosystem with quality products at a fair price.
OEM/ODM Manufacturers, A Resource Used by Many Brands
These could be manufacturers who build complete products that are available to any company that would like to silkscreen their brand and sell them to through their network. Then there are companies that will work with brands to modify a design to the brand’s specifications. They may even completely manufacture a one-off product for that company.
For some smaller to mid-size brands, their entire lineup may consist of products like this. In other instances, brands may use source companies like this to augment their own capabilities.
Example: Onkyo Entering CD Changer Segment
I can tell you from my days many years ago at Onkyo, we – on rare occasions – partnered with companies like this. For example, we had a strong and profitable CD Player business that was growing nicely. But we were considering entering the CD Changer segment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, a CD Changer is a CD player that stores and plays multiple discs.
Before we committed the significant resources necessary to design, engineer, and manufacture these products on an exclusive basis, we decided to “test the waters” and worked with the OEM division of another manufacturer based in Japan. We were able to modify one of their designs with different features and a different look, to be sold under the Onkyo brand. This way, we could better gauge the level of consumer demand for this product, which we did not currently manufacture.
It was a big success, by the way.
I Asked AVPro Global to Share Its Strategy
In any event, I was unaware of AVPro Global’s strategy with RTI and therefore could not answer many of the questions I received from Strata-gee readers about these new RTI amps.
So I reached out to the good folks at AVPro Global to see if they would be willing to help us out by adding some context. I am pleased to say they happily agreed and sent me the statement you’ll see below. This statement comes from Aaron Doughten, AVPro Global’s Product Manager.
Below, in its entirety, is the full statement from Aaron at AVPro Global…
AVPro Global Statement on New RTI Amplifiers
These amplifiers aren’t new to RTI. They were part of the lineup before the AVPro acquisition and have a strong track record in commercial and hospitality installations. They’re OEM’d by Pascal A/S, a Danish amplifier design and manufacturing company. In 2020, Pascal spun off a finished-products brand called Blaze Audio, which Sonance acquired in 2025. That divestment let Pascal refocus entirely on its core OEM/ODM amplifier and module business, which is the side of the company AVPro and RTI work with directly.
Within the AVPro Global portfolio, AudioControl already covers high-end residential home theater and whole-home audio distribution. RTI’s amplifiers serve a different market: commercial applications, an area AudioControl, the audio side of AVPro Global, hadn’t focused on until now. We see significant growth potential on the hospitality side of ProAV, so expanding RTI’s amplifier line was a natural move for both current and new customers. It lets us offer strong, purpose-built solutions on both the residential and commercial sides rather than stretching one platform to cover both.
Pascal was also a strong partner fit: like AVPro, they build products that work with third-party control systems rather than locking customers into a closed ecosystem. That shared philosophy made the relationship an easy call.
Aaron Doughten, AVPro Global Product Manager
AVPro Global’s Strategy Makes A Lot of Sense
As you can see from Aaron’s statement, RTI was already offering products under its nameplate manufactured by Pascal even before AVPro Global acquired them. You can also see the company was having good success with these products in the commercial space. So further building upon that success through further product line expansion simply makes sense.
Similarly, focusing the AudioControl brand on the residential integration space, while continuing to further RTI’s success by focusing on the commercial side, is a very strategically sound approach.
You may not have been familiar with key brands working with behind-the-scenes suppliers of quality products like Pascal, but it is a common practice in the industry. Some of the biggest brand names in the business employ this tactic.
To learn more about AVPro Global, be sure to visit avproglobal.com.
Leave a Reply