SpeakerCraft who admits that times tough is looking to change direction with a move into mass retail. The new strategy is being implemented in a bid to attract a younger audience the company said at this year’s CEDIA Expo in the USA.
SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt warned that the whole custom install industry must change if it is to survive. He said “We must reinvent ourselves” to appeal to the next round of new home buyers or the custom industry “won’t last”.
He said that the Company is diversifying into products such as high-performance iPod/iPhone/iPad-docking speaker systems and sub woofers and is expanding its selection of high-performance in-room speakers.
Len Wallis a director of Audio Marketing who distributes SpeakerCraft products in Australia believes the strategy is flawed. “It will not work. Mass retailers in Australia are not going to be able to sell a SpeakerCraft product. They don’t have the skill set to explain and sell the difference that one of their products delivers”.
Burkhardt told TWICE Magazine that installers will have to adjust to the market’s changes by embracing mass retailer products, “We must embrace the fact that they can sell a box, and it can be part of a multiroom system,” he said.
Burkhardt said that the custom installer market is still important to them.
SpeakerCraft, who are the largest in-wall and in-ceiling speaker supplier at the US CEDIA Expo show, used the event to announce their first outdoor underground subwoofer and new bezel-less flush-mount in-ceiling and in-wall speakers, which the Company claims install like regular custom speakers.
The Company has also shown their Nirv home-control/multi-room-A/V system, which distributes multiple 1080p video streams across CAT-5 cable.
Among their new range of products shown at the CEDIA show were two iPad/iPod-docking one-chassis speaker systems, a docking integrated amp, three two-way bookshelf speakers in five piano-gloss colours and two in-room subwoofers which come in five piano gloss colours.
The SpeakerCraft Vital 250, integrated docking amp, is said to be the first docking integrated amp that docks with iPads, not just iPhones and iPods. The amp has optical and coax digital inputs and subwoofer output.
The FloBox docking-speaker system, features CD player, FM tuner, pivoting and tilting base, slide-down front grille to hide controls, DSP, and bass and treble controls in a single 11 by 18.5 by 10-inch chassis that houses dual 3-inch midranges, dual 0.75-inch tweeters and a 5.25-inch woofer. It’s available in five piano gloss finishes.
All three docking products are DLNA-certified but lack Wi-Fi or an Ethernet port which is where the product falls down up against several products from other manufacturers including Denon, Harman Kardon, Onkyo and Pioneer who are already established brands with mass retailers in Australia.
