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Once Again Moody’s Downgrades the Credit of AVDG Parent Guitar Center

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Photo of Guitar Center store in Manhattan. Guitar Center owns AVDG
Guitar Center in Manhattan

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.

See more on Moody’s analysis of Guitar Center/AVDG…

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Jeff Coombs, Founder of James Loudspeaker & Ambisonic Systems, Has Died

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Photo of Jeff Coombs

Origin Acoustics announced this week that Jeff Coombs, founder of respected brands James Loudspeaker (now owned by Sonance) and Ambisonic Systems (now owned by Origin Acoustics) died on Monday, February 20, 2023. Coombs, age 69, passed away from cancer surrounded by his loving family.

Learn more about Jeff Coombs’ passing

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UEI – This May be the Canary in the Coal Mine We Need to Pay Attention To

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A slide from a UEI investor presentation

Universal Electronics, Inc. (UEI), (NASDAQ: UEIC) released the results of their fiscal 2022 fourth quarter (Q4) and full year (FY) at the end of last week and their mixed performance was not well received by investors skittish over the economic outlook for 2023. Although gross margins improved slightly for the fourth quarter, for the full year gross margins declined, revenues were down, operating income declined, and the company saw its net income dramatically lowered.

UEI is one of the companies I watch as it can give a sense of the changing economic outlook for the overall consumer electronics market. And that fact makes this latest report a little troubling.

Learn more about UEI’s results for fiscal 2022…

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Russound Says ISE 2023 was a Blast

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Charlie Porritt/Russound (L), Mike Blackman/ISE (C), and Pete Baker/Russound Rep (R)

Russound released a statement today from CEO Charlie Porritt who summed up their experience at the recent ISE 2023 event in Barcelona. According to Porritt, the show was “one of the most productive, well-run, and enjoyable trade events to date.” It doesn’t get much better than that…

See more on Russound’s experience at ISE 2023

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The Transformation Begins: Parasound Appoints Larry Bennett as VP of Sales & Marketing

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Parasound logo

Parasound announced today that it has appointed Larry Bennett, a well-known audio industry veteran, as its Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The company says that this is the first step in new owner David Sheriff’s plan to revitalize the company.

See more on Larry Bennett’s appointment at Parasound

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CEDIA Intros New Workforce Initiative – NextGen: Smart Home Career Toolkit

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CEDIA NextGen Smart Home Career Toolkit image

CEDIA has launched a new workforce acquisition initiative called CEDIA NextGen: Smart Home Career Toolkit. Designed to provide integrators the tools they need to improve and expand their outreach to attract new candidates to the smart home industry, the association has created an impressive series of multimedia tools to grease the skids in getting new recruits through integrators’ doors.

Learn more about this new CEDIA workforce initiative

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These 4 Charts Clearly Reveal the Challenges of Big Tech

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Australian store of Apple, part of Big Tech
An Apple store in Australia [Photo: REUTERS/David Gray]

After years of driving the economy, Big Tech has suddenly hit a rough road. By now you’ve likely heard about layoffs in tech…lots and lots of layoffs. According to Layoffs.fyi, as of this writing, more than 104,000 tech jobs have been lost in just the first six weeks of 2023. But what is behind the struggles of these Big Tech players?

See four charts that explain what’s happening to Big Tech

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End of an Era: Alex Camara Leaves AudioControl

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BREAKING NEWS

AAMP Global announced today that Alex Camara, CEO of AudioControl for the last decade, will leave the company “to pursue new opportunities.” This change in Camara’s status will be effective on March 1, 2023.

Learn more about Alex Camara and AudioControl

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Sonos Q1 Report: Revenue? Flat. Profits? Down. Stock Price? WAY Up. Wait, What?

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Sonos fiscal 2023 Q1 results cover image

Wall Street can be a fickle partner sometimes. Occasionally, a company will turn in a good performance, but its stock value will decline anyway because the performance wasn’t as good as financial analysts had expected. And sometimes, as is the case this time with Sonos’ fiscal 2023 first quarter results, you can turn in poor performance, and your stock value can take off flying – because this time, your performance was not good, but not as bad as the financial analysts had expected.

See more on the Sonos fiscal 2023 first-quarter performance

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Influential East Coast Integrator Bob Gullo Dies

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Bob Gullo

Services to Be Held February 10th in Pearl River, New York

Robert R. (Bob) Gullo, founder, President, and Chief Creative Officer of influential East Coast integrator Electronic Design Group, Inc. (EDG) died on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. According to several sources, the cause of death was cancer. A creative, energetic promoter of the then-nascent custom installation, now custom integration, industry, Gullo played an influential…even outsized…role in the development of the industry and was an oft-cited inspiration for many others to follow his path and embrace the industry.

Learn more about the life of Bob Gullo

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