Strategy in TECH...
Premium residential and commercial audio brands Theory Audio Design (Theory) and Pro Audio Technology (PRO) announced today the appointment of Marc Bertrand as Chief Operating Officer of both entities. Bertrand is said to have a long and highly-regarded history that will greatly assist both brands in their market growth initiatives.
Well-respected high-performance A/V manufacturers sales representative firm Redwood Marketing has announced this week that veteran sales professional Phil Jackson has joined the firm, boosting its manpower and market coverage. The appointment of Jackson is effective immediately and the company says the addition “reinforces our position in the marketplace.”
For the first time since the category has been independently tracked, new data from market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that global shipments of smart home devices actually declined in 2022. Not only that but while the market researcher predicts that 2023 will see a bit of a rebound overall, its largest segment – Smart TVs – will likely decline again this year.
On Monday, Premium Audio Company (PAC) announced the launch of the Onkyo TX-RZ70, a flagship audio-video receiver that the company says provides “stellar audio performance” along with “studio-level processing.” As a “flagship,” by definition, this model is at the top of the Onkyo AVR line-up and is being launched just three-and-a-half weeks after the launch of Integra’s flagship model, the DRX-8.4.
Russound, a top specialty manufacturer of smart home and connected audio solutions for integrators, announced on Tuesday that the ever-popular Pandora streaming service is now included in the company’s top streaming products. Both the Russound MBX-PRE stereo preamplifier and the MBX-AMP stereo amplifier now have the Pandora streaming service included natively in the device.
Snap One Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SNPO) released their fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full-year results after the close of the market on Tuesday and held a conference call for investment analysts shortly afterward with more details. The company produced a prodigious amount of data that they suggest shows success in the face of adversity, and forecast a decline in their performance in fiscal 2023.
They also said the industry slowed down in 2022 and will continue to be slow for the first three quarters of 2023.
On Thursday, Azione Unlimited wrapped up its spring conference, this year known as the Didactic Dovecote in the Desert, which took place in Scottsdale, AZ from March 7th to March 9th. Although this is the first Azione event I have personally attended, it was an impressive display of solidarity, sharing, learning, and planning with a lot of enthusiastic participation by the organization’s members and vendors.
Perhaps most importantly, as part of the Nationwide Marketing Group’s family of companies, the association announced two major new initiatives: the Azione Academy, an online self-paced education program; and the Drive to 1,000 collective membership drive. This initiative by Nationwide is their plan to drive collective group membership to 1,000 members overall.
Premium Audio Company, a VOXX company, announced this week the launch of an all-new, deeply featured Integra flagship audio/video receiver (AVR) to cap its remarkable DRX line first introduced in 2021. The new DRX-8.4 offers 11 channels of 150 watts of Integra symmetric class AB room-shaking power. This unit is stuffed with all of the latest technology offering integrators an unprecedented level of flexibility and system control.
RoseWater Energy Group said today that it is participating in multiple Energy Day education seminars being held by local sales representatives around the country. These events are being held in February and March and provide dealers with an informative half-day education session on the importance of power as the foundation for any home automation or smart home solution.
Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) announced recently that it has once again downgraded the overall credit rating of Guitar Center Inc. – the owner of custom integrator Audio Visual Design Group (AVDG). The agency has dropped its creditworthiness from B2 to B3. Not only that, Moody’s notes that it has additionally downgraded the company’s rating on a specific item – its senior secured note – to Caa1 from B3. The outlook for the near term is said to be “stable.”
This is yet a new chapter in a long-troubled private equity-owned company swimming in debt and trying to grow itself out of trouble.
