Last week KEF held their annual Pow Wow with local distributor Audioworks in attendance. Better known of late for their sleek home theatre kit, KEF marketing boss Paul Egan believes that the iPod is growing a potentially massive audience of teenagers who will one day want to listen to quality sound.
Whenever Egan observes teenagers listening to Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake on their iPods, he sees future opportunity according to an interview he gave recently to Electronic House in the USA.
While most speaker manufacturers are decrying the “dumbing down” of today’s consumers, Egan is convinced that those listeners of low-quality MP3 files will evolve into music aficionados (not necessarily audiophiles) who will migrate into higher quality equipment.
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“People are changing how they get into their music. IPods are just the latest iteration,” says Egan, KEF’s vice president of marketing. “We don’t see ourselves as a speaker company. We are an acoustics company. Being just a speaker company would limit our opportunities. We are not into earbuds, but we are not averse to that direction.”
To that end, KEF is nimbly applying its acoustics roots to a broad line of products ranging from in-walls/in-ceilings, its well-established (and redesigned) floorstanding and bookshelf Reference Series speakers, its new KEF Wireless and Universal Wireless system, and its new $130,000-per-pair Muon floorstanding speakers. This fall, KEF even plans to introduce a commercial audio line.
The company’s parent is Goldpeak, based in Cambridge, England, while KEF has its U.S. sales and distribution office in Marlboro, N.J. Egan says the company “laid down the gauntlet” that its manufacturing and engineering in England would be “the preeminent acoustics facility” in Britain or it “will go to China.”
Egan says the engineers have responded with products that spread across the gamut of the audio industry. KEF’s customers include high-end custom companies, specialty hybrid retailers, and companies like Best Buy, Sharper Image, Nieman Marcus and Circuit City.
“We are known for getting our products into new and unique methods of distribution, and the company’s threefold sales force delineation reflects that: national, specialty retail and custom. Currently, KEF has two people who oversee sales nationally on a geographic basis, along with product specific sales managers.
KEF Wireless, Muon Debuts
As housing slows, the existing home market will become more integral to dealers’ success, and wireless speakers could be a possible entry into that retrofit market. KEF has developed two systems to meet that demand: KEF Wireless and Universal Wireless. The systems are designed to allow a homeowner to create surround sound without running wires.
The KEF Wireless system was sneak previewed at CES in January. It uses 2.4 GHz spread spectrum technology to transmit and receive audio signals. The receiver actually fits invisibly in between the speaker and the stand, like a puzzle. Egan says it has “no buzzing, popping or dropping.”
For existing homeowners who already have their own speakers, the Universal Wireless works with any speakers. Speakers are simply connected to the small powered black box, a bit smaller than a modem. The units have a maximum distance of 80 feet.
Finally, KEF worked with renowned designer Ross Lovegrove to create Muon, a 7-foot-tall high-performance speaker line with an ultra-modern design. These ultra-exclusive speakers will be limited in production to just 100 pairs and will be sold in only 10 cities worldwide, including New York and Los Angeles.
The speakers KEF’s patented UniQ drive unit array, in which tweeters are mounted within the woofers, enabling a flat and true reproduction of upper mid-range and treble sounds, with the entire audio spectrum evenly balanced everywhere in the listening room, according to the company. The speakers will sell for $130,000 per pair.
