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Seeing CEDIA Expo in a Whole New Light

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Keynote speaker Dr. Michio KakuWednesday, the day before the 2012 CEDIA Expo opens its show floor, is both the day many integrators come to the convention center to take educational classes – and also the press comes for a day full of press conferences.

I approached the event this year with a high level of anticipation, as our strata-GEE.com CEDIA survey suggested that attendance might be better than originally anticipated. As I approached the convention center, I was surprised by the lack of activity around the outside of the hall. Then a CEDIA hotel shuttle bus showed up and – suddenly – we had a fair amount of activity.

Little did I know that when I entered the hall, I had a rather intense surprise waiting… [Read more…] about Seeing CEDIA Expo in a Whole New Light

Nortek Noise Continues – Xantech President Hallett Leaves Company

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Photo of Graham HallettBREAKING NEWS
Multiple industry sources have confirmed that Xantech President Graham Hallett has resigned his position with the company, effective September 1st. Xantech is one of ten Nortek, Inc. brands being consolidated under the new “Core Brands” umbrella company, the formation of which we recently reported.

Since the consolidation of the various Nortek brands began back in 2010, there have been many employees leaving the company – mostly at lower- and mid-level positions. Recently, however, some of the top-level executives of the various Nortek brands have joined the exodus.

List of Nortek’s ex-execs continues to grow…

[Read more…] about Nortek Noise Continues – Xantech President Hallett Leaves Company

strata-GEE.com’s 2012 CEDIA EXPO Survey is Bigger Than Ever

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Indiana Convention Center - CEDIA Expo 2011strata-GEE.com’s survey on the 2012 CEDIA Expo has wrapped up and we want to thank everyone for their participation. And participation this year was up over 90% as compared to last year – which was off 20% as compared to the 2010 survey. We have no explanation as to why so many more people took part in the survey this year – however, we received more support from various industry members spreading the word on Twitter and other social media networks than in year’s past, which may have been a factor. A special thanks to those who helped spread the word!

More of you shared your thoughts…and we heard you!… [Read more…] about strata-GEE.com’s 2012 CEDIA EXPO Survey is Bigger Than Ever

Yamaha Launches New PRO Headphone Line with High Performance & High Design

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Photo of new Yamaha PRO500 HeadphonesYamaha Corporation of America’s AV Division announced today a new line of on- & over-ear headphones that they call their PRO series. Straddling the markets for pro audio, musician, and consumer – the new PRO series is clearly targeted at a more serious listener who appreciates higher fidelity…but with a contemporary, high styling. Featuring what the company calls a “racing inspired” look – the PRO series has a design style more similar to BEATS, SOUL by Ludacris, or SOL Republic, as opposed to previous more utilitarian designs.

But, there is a twist…

[Read more…] about Yamaha Launches New PRO Headphone Line with High Performance & High Design

Is Best Buy Now Worst Buy?

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Photo of Best Buy Store SignIt’s been a rough week for Best Buy. And if something doesn’t happen soon…it’s only going to get worse as the company is on a slippery slope and quickly losing the support of Wall Street. Already the company was embroiled in turmoil having recently dismissed CEO Brian Dunn for an inappropriate relationship with a young, female employee…scolding and then losing founder and chairman Richard “Dick” Schulze who knew about the relationship and didn’t tell anyone…and then enduring a reasonably PR-savvy public campaign as Schulze announced intentions to buy the company and take it private. Finally – as if to emphasize how bad things had become – this past Monday the company announced their fiscal Q2 results with a shocking 91% drop in profits. But wait! There’s more…

How bad is it at Best Buy? They had to pay someone $32 MILLION to come run it!… [Read more…] about Is Best Buy Now Worst Buy?

Forget 4K! Japanese Engineers Create New Global Standard – UHDTV

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Image of large UHDTV ScreenAs the industry is on the verge of rolling out the latest HDTV upgrade – 4K resolution – news comes out of Japan that a coalition of Japanese broadcasters and television equipment manufacturers have collaborated to create the next great standard they call Ultra High Definition Television or UHDTV. Another incremental improvement? Oh no…UHDTV leapfrogs 4K…

Have you heard about UHDTV? You’re going to want to know about this… [Read more…] about Forget 4K! Japanese Engineers Create New Global Standard – UHDTV

J.D. Power & Assocs. Survey Proves What We’ve Said All Along: 3D is Dead as a Sales Motivator

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J.D. Power and Associates LogoI know not everyone who reads this post agrees with us, and we’ve taken a fair share of criticism for our viewpoint, but we’ve been consistently skeptical of the power of 3D to drive HDTV sales. And now, after the industry spent millions (billions?) of dollars in promotion and advertising , as well as several years of intense sales effort, and probably billions of dollars in research & development – a new survey of HDTV-purchasing consumers from reputable researcher J.D. Power and Associates shows that 3D was ranked a distant last as the reason they purchased their set.

The survey held some other surprises as well… [Read more…] about J.D. Power & Assocs. Survey Proves What We’ve Said All Along: 3D is Dead as a Sales Motivator

Best Buy Board to Schulze: You Show Us Yours Before We Show You Ours

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Best Buy Founder Dick SchulzeReuters is reporting that the Best Buy board of directors has asked founder and former chairman Richard Schulze to name the private equity (PE) firms that he can line up to help him buy out Best Buy stock and take the company private. But reportedly Schulze is playing coy, saying only that there’s a “number of leading private equity firms” prepared to make a significant commitment.

In an email to Reuters, the board said, in effect, it will take its time to study the proposal… [Read more…] about Best Buy Board to Schulze: You Show Us Yours Before We Show You Ours

Nortek Financial Results Show That, Despite Best Efforts, TECH Remains Troubled

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Nortek's HeadquartersAt the end of last week, Nortek, Inc. reported their financial results for the fiscal second quarter and first half. While at first blush the overall numbers look good – sales up 9% in Q2 and 8% in 1st Half and returning to profitability for both periods – digging deeper shows that their technology business unit (TECH) and residential ventilation business unit (RESV) are not yet participating in the company’s turnaround. Given the significant amount of restructuring of their TECH segment, this result is troubling. [Read more…] about Nortek Financial Results Show That, Despite Best Efforts, TECH Remains Troubled