Auralic goes belly up

NewAlkyogre said:
It was before my time buying high end audio. What happened in 1998/1999?
Click to expand...
Big slow down , about 50% of the industry faded away , especially the Dealer showroom models, even after a big expansion driven by HT sales. Domestic sales were driven by HT and when that dried up the domestic market crashed and then mostly international sales from Asia kept the hiend going.

A big tell tale sign today is the expansion of manufacturers at Audio shows, then major brand's starting to fail in a crowded market place , tells me the pipeline is filled and a big slow down is coming ….

The obnoxious retail prices over recent years and the Covid bump actually helped to stave most of this off , realistically i had thought we would have been here 3-4 yrs ago ..!

Regard's
 
a.wayne said:
Big slow down , about 50% of the industry faded away , especially the Dealer showroom models, even after a big expansion driven by HT sales. Domestic sales were driven by HT and when that dried up the domestic market crashed and then mostly international sales from Asia kept the hiend going.

A big tell tale sign today is the expansion of manufacturers at Audio shows, then major brand's starting to fail in a crowded market place , tells me the pipeline is filled and a big slow down is coming ….

The obnoxious retail prices over recent years and the Covid bump actually helped to stave most of this off , realistically i had thought we would have been here 3-4 yrs ago ..!

Regard's
Click to expand...
Man, I could do a series of videos on the topic. The industry is still strong, but there remains a clear lack of business acumen and a recognition of changes in purchasing mediums. New brands are eating away at established brands. Established brands are so incredibly internet resistant (“Internet bad”). The old boys network is destroying established brands and they just don’t know it. No company needs a bigger shakeup than McIntosh. I’m hopeful Lila Snyder (Bose CEO) and someone I know through an acquaintance can really shake things up. Their entire go to market strategy and product mix needs a shakeup. The best I ever saw McIntosh was when Clarion owned them. 1990-2003. They were crushing it with modern market and sales strategies, customer loyalty, product offerings and more.

The consumer today has so many wonderful choices. Not everything that’s good costs a billion dollars. There are many fabulous budget friendly products. Suncoast Audio Direct has been handpicking these value winners and doing well.
 
Mike said:
New brands are eating away at established brands. Established brands are so incredibly internet resistant (“Internet bad”). The old boys network is destroying established brands and they just don’t know it.
Click to expand...

Very true from what I've seen.

I was talking to THE guy at a venerable amp company recently. He said he doesn't need anyone helping to get the word out about his latest endeavor (that he's been trying to launch for years) because "he was on the cover of every audio magazine in the 1980's and 1990's."

When I talked about him on my page virtually no one under the age of 60 even knew who he was, and those who did know who he was had no idea of his current offerings. I ended up up getting him more sales in the few times I mentioned him then he had gotten all year.

I thought long and hard about buying that unit as it sounded great. But I opted against it and sent it back as there are too many other great companies where the owners are not as difficult to deal with and know how to work with customers.

I miss that amp but not the associated baggage with it and I'm glad I spent my money elsewhere.

Many are great gear designers however that engineering mentality carries over to the business side which is usually not a good thing for the consumers.
 
Mike said:
Man, I could do a series of videos on the topic. The industry is still strong, but there remains a clear lack of business acumen and a recognition of changes in purchasing mediums. New brands are eating away at established brands. Established brands are so incredibly internet resistant (“Internet bad”). The old boys network is destroying established brands and they just don’t know it. No company needs a bigger shakeup than McIntosh. I’m hopeful Lila Snyder (Bose CEO) and someone I know through an acquaintance can really shake things up. Their entire go to market strategy and product mix needs a shakeup. The best I ever saw McIntosh was when Clarion owned them. 1990-2003. They were crushing it with modern market and sales strategies, customer loyalty, product offerings and more.

The consumer today has so many wonderful choices. Not everything that’s good costs a billion dollars. There are many fabulous budget friendly products. Suncoast Audio Direct has been handpicking these value winners and doing well.
Click to expand...

My kids have several social media apps. I pretty much just have Facebook. If a company has a handle on the use to Tik Tok that seems to be what's hot.

Esoteric has a great website IMO and active on FB as well. I see Teac on FB their products set the benchmark for value IMO. A company that seems to be doing it right.

I get surprised sometimes by what appears on FB, German Physics, CHP, MBL, occasional ARC, Pass Labs, some are learning.
 
Mike said:
Man, I could do a series of videos on the topic. The industry is still strong, but there remains a clear lack of business acumen and a recognition of changes in purchasing mediums. New brands are eating away at established brands. Established brands are so incredibly internet resistant (“Internet bad”). The old boys network is destroying established brands and they just don’t know it. No company needs a bigger shakeup than McIntosh. I’m hopeful Lila Snyder (Bose CEO) and someone I know through an acquaintance can really shake things up. Their entire go to market strategy and product mix needs a shakeup. The best I ever saw McIntosh was when Clarion owned them. 1990-2003. They were crushing it with modern market and sales strategies, customer loyalty, product offerings and more.

The consumer today has so many wonderful choices. Not everything that’s good costs a billion dollars. There are many fabulous budget friendly products. Suncoast Audio Direct has been handpicking these value winners and doing well.
Click to expand...
Orange is the new Blue

IMG_0337.jpeg
 
Mike is spot on. Old territory based stocking distribution models for high end audio are failing. Innovation in product and fo-to-market strategy is happening around the edges of the established and entrenched players, and they don’t seem to understand what’s happening to them, or in th case of McIntosh even what their customers want.
 
nc42acc said:
Orange is the new Blue

View attachment 34749
Click to expand...

W9TR said:
Mike is spot on. Old territory based stocking distribution models for high end audio are failing. Innovation in product and fo-to-market strategy is happening around the edges of the established and entrenched players, and they don’t seem to understand what’s happening to them, or in th case of McIntosh even what their customers want.
Click to expand...
Exactly. This is the brilliance of McIntosh: they went into BestBuy (dumb), now they’re pulling out of BestBuy in a rip off the bandaid approach (double dumb).

They need a complete overhaul in their sales and go to market strategy. But in the meantime, there will be hundreds if not thousands of Mc products being sold third party. Heck, I may even snag a few pieces myself!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top