What happened to Vitus???

P

Penthouse-D

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I've owned a Vitus RI-100 and an SIA-025. I was very happy with both units. The new SIA-030 looks beautiful .Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much "press" on the new amp. If I understand correctly, Vitus was imported by Vitus directly to its' many U.S. dealers. From what I've read, they're using a distributor (in my town), and the total U.S. dealer count is FOUR!!!!??? What a shame...
 
I’ve seen some videos and coverage of the SIA - 030; very nice looking amp. We are going into the show season starting next month so let’s see if it gets more press.
 
It has been, it was never as amazing as it was marketed. People who actually owned them complained that the units weren't as well designed and built as they should have been. At these prices amps should not be humming or buzzing.
 
I liked the 2 that I owned also.... It's all about the economics... The new distributor did not help. I don't think that situation will last. The company also took too long to release the SIA-030. They lost momentum... How can much happen with just 4 or 5 dealers in the entire country? Sort of like Spectral... Just my opinion. Lots of brilliant engineers that just aren't very business savvy ...
 
I agree with you. I have a SS-103 and an RS-100. I just thought trashing the entire brand (not you) was just too far over the top.
 
Hi everyone

I see some are complaining about the way we handle things as the North American importer and distributor of Vitus Audio.

First of all let me remind all about the timeline of SIA 30.

Its introduced in May 2019 Munich show. The first commerically available units are shipped on the 3rd week of July 2019.

Our first unit went for the first review of the unit to Avshowrooms and video of the review can be found at their website.

Soon after, at the begining of September 2019 we introduced the SIA 030 at RMAF 2019. In actual fact we had 2 units in the room. 1 was playing and 1 was on static display ( in titanium orange color).

Therefore comments about us being late in introducing the product to the US market is completely false.

About the comments re our dealership network:

We have started distributing VA products in March 2019. First thing as a distributor we looked at the representation of VA products in the previous dealer network we inherited. Clearly it wasnt represented in the way we wanted.. some dealer hsd a unit and never promoted the brand as it should be.. some had business practices that we did not want to be a part off.. therefore as the new distributor, we cleaned our dealership network on day one and started from scratch.

It takes time to find good dealer who will represent the VA products as it should be.. therefore i accept your criticism for having 5 dealers at the moment. But unlike most other distributors we dont dish out dealerships and count our beans.. we turn down more dealership requests than we sign on..please call me and i will explain why..

We do things differently.. we established a service center here in the US before we signed on new dealerships.. its crucial to be able address all the needa of the consumer before we start selling..

Soon we will announce our new second hand certification program inline with our new warranty program.. for us the experience around VA products are more important than just selling another piece. We are different than other distributors..

As for SIA 30 missing the boat.. hardly.. since we introduced the amp at RMAF 2019 its our best seller. Also there will more reviews coming not only for SIA 30 but a wide range of VA products.

Did you know that, in our "new" dealership network, its a prerequisite to demo SIA 030 to become a dealer? Did you know that you can listen to SIA 030 in NYC, San Clemente ,Houston and in Las Vegas?

We are NOT going to have 20-30 dealers in the country.. that i can assure you.. we are going to support our dealers with events.. like we did with Hans-Ole Vitus after the RMAF 2019. And we will continue to do that..we are not behind the curve.. we will never be.. but what we will never ever do is dish out dealerships just for the sake of doing it..

VA products will be reprsented by only qualified dealers who are willing to share our passion.

I will be at thw Florida Audio Expo in room 812.

Please find me in my exhibit room with the SIA 030 and i will be more than happy to answer any.more questions that you might have face to face..

If you are in LA, let me arrange a demo at your own home with my dealer..all you need to do is ask..

My best to all forum members.

Importer and Distributor for Vitus Audio in North America

Ozan Turan
Www.highendbyoz.com
[email protected]
424 344 0011
 
I had 4 or 5 Vitus pieces at home and none of them hummed. The build quality is excellent - better than most US made products. So I'm not really getting those complaints.

SIA-025, SS101 and SM011 monos were one of the best amps I had in my system.
 
While no single product or brand is going to please everyone – some of us who were awake during 2019 couldn’t help but notice how fast the new Vitus SIA-030 racked up awards since its mid-year launch.



Vitus-Audio-SIA-030-Awards-Audioshark-Forum-USA.jpg
 
Highendbyoz said:
Hi everyone

I see some are complaining about the way we handle things as the North American importer and distributor of Vitus Audio.

First of all let me remind all about the timeline of SIA 30.

Its introduced in May 2019 Munich show. The first commerically available units are shipped on the 3rd week of July 2019.

Our first unit went for the first review of the unit to Avshowrooms and video of the review can be found at their website.

Soon after, at the begining of September 2019 we introduced the SIA 030 at RMAF 2019. In actual fact we had 2 units in the room. 1 was playing and 1 was on static display ( in titanium orange color).

Therefore comments about us being late in introducing the product to the US market is completely false.

About the comments re our dealership network:

We have started distributing VA products in March 2019. First thing as a distributor we looked at the representation of VA products in the previous dealer network we inherited. Clearly it wasnt represented in the way we wanted.. some dealer hsd a unit and never promoted the brand as it should be.. some had business practices that we did not want to be a part off.. therefore as the new distributor, we cleaned our dealership network on day one and started from scratch.

It takes time to find good dealer who will represent the VA products as it should be.. therefore i accept your criticism for having 5 dealers at the moment. But unlike most other distributors we dont dish out dealerships and count our beans.. we turn down more dealership requests than we sign on..please call me and i will explain why..

We do things differently.. we established a service center here in the US before we signed on new dealerships.. its crucial to be able address all the needa of the consumer before we start selling..

Soon we will announce our new second hand certification program inline with our new warranty program.. for us the experience around VA products are more important than just selling another piece. We are different than other distributors..

As for SIA 30 missing the boat.. hardly.. since we introduced the amp at RMAF 2019 its our best seller. Also there will more reviews coming not only for SIA 30 but a wide range of VA products.

Did you know that, in our "new" dealership network, its a prerequisite to demo SIA 030 to become a dealer? Did you know that you can listen to SIA 030 in NYC, San Clemente ,Houston and in Las Vegas?

We are NOT going to have 20-30 dealers in the country.. that i can assure you.. we are going to support our dealers with events.. like we did with Hans-Ole Vitus after the RMAF 2019. And we will continue to do that..we are not behind the curve.. we will never be.. but what we will never ever do is dish out dealerships just for the sake of doing it..

VA products will be reprsented by only qualified dealers who are willing to share our passion.

I will be at thw Florida Audio Expo in room 812.

Please find me in my exhibit room with the SIA 030 and i will be more than happy to answer any.more questions that you might have face to face..

If you are in LA, let me arrange a demo at your own home with my dealer..all you need to do is ask..

My best to all forum members.

Importer and Distributor for Vitus Audio in North America

Ozan Turan
Www.highendbyoz.com
[email protected]
424 344 0011
Click to expand...

Hi Oz,

Nice chatting with you last night. Glad to see you here. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks at our show. Thank you for participating.

As far as Suncoast Audio is concerned, I parted ways with Vitus long before Oz entered the picture. As Oz has indicated, things were a mess prior to his arrival, and that’s putting it modestly. I’ve since moved on, but I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to get behind Vitus again. Oz is doing all the things you would expect from a distributor like participating at shows and getting the word out. There are some distributors who expect the dealer to do everything with respect to marketing and shows. Sorry, but that’s ass backwards.

What folks need to understand, just because a product is good doesn’t mean a dealer will carry it. There are a lot of factors that go into play. For most dealers, it’s about WHO we work with on the manufacturer/distributor side that is as important as the product. You may have the best product in the world, but if your distributor is a turkey, then it just won’t fly. Remember, we are making a substantial investment too! Oz is someone I know is very approachable and good to work with. I’ve known him for quite a while.

Anyway, all the best to Oz and the Vitus group.
 
Delightful. As I mentioned, I was quite happy with the 2 Vitus products I owned. My comment about the SIA-030 seems accurate though. I was anticipating its' release and from what I've read, it was originally slated to be produced about 2 years ago. Lastly, I don't think a dealer in each state would be overdoing it. Why would you expect the consumer to travel, possibly, 100's of miles to audition a product ? What am I missing? A note to STAX, I wasn't trashing the brand at all. Quite the opposite. I am just disappointed with its' lack of availability and "buzz".
 
Welcome Ozan!

You may want to stick around and keep the audio enthusiasts on this site up to date with your dealer network, events and new products. You are likely to get more traction by being present and representing the brand. Less than 6 dealers across the US and only 3 or 4 US shows are not enough to build and/or grow a brand.
 
Hey Oz, Ed D. from Seattle.

Good to hear you know Mike and are moving forward with Vitus!

Best!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Ritmo said:
Welcome Ozan!

You may want to stick around and keep the audio enthusiasts on this site up to date with your dealer network, events and new products. You are likely to get more traction by being present and representing the brand. Less than 6 dealers across the US and only 3 or 4 US shows are not enough to build and/or grow a brand.
Click to expand...

Hi Ritmo,
I think there is a misperception here..

Let me clarify..

I never said/planned to have only 4-5 dealers across the country. As I said on my earlier post, we have taken over distribution of Vitus Audio in March 2019 and started from scratch with our dealer network. In other words we have established 5 dealerships in the last 9 months since we took over distribution.

If you were to take a snap shot picture of the dealership network today, and call it not enough you will be right.. but we are building the network and will add more dealers going forward.

We will continue to the shows and do dealer events as well .

as for the comments by Penthouse-D, regarding the product being late for 2 years.. I can tell you this.. VA is not a company that dishes out products every year.. It takes a good 2-3years before they are happy to introduce an upgrade or introduce a completely new product. Take a look at SIA-25. .it still is going for over 10 years with only one upgrade in those 10 years..in other words it takes time for a VA product to be commercially available. Also I never said we wont have a dealer in each state and force consumers to travel 100s miles for listen VA products. What I said was we are building our dealership network from scratch with dealers who are committed to the brand and showcase it properly..
 
I was simply referring to your quote," we are NOT going to have 20-30 dealers in the country".... I waited YEARS for an SIA-030 after it was initially announced.... Got tired of waiting.
 
Penthouse-d

I have a question for you?.

How many VA dealers where there before i took on distribution at any given point in time?

Let me give you the answer not more that 5 and a good 60% of it didnt even had any products on the floor.

As i explained we started 9 months ago and already upto the previous number of dealers in a short period of time and with all dealers having products on the floor.

We will continue to add dealers but we wont do it in a rush..

Therefore when you ask "what happened to Vitus?" You sounded like there were 30 dealers and now dropped to 5.. no it didnt..

Instead we are laying the ground works for a more established experience around VA products, with more dealers with actual products on display, service center here in USA second hand certification etc etc..

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly and i will explain further.
 
Highendbyoz said:
[...]

Instead we are laying the ground works for a more established experience around VA products, with more dealers with actual products on display, service center here in USA second hand certification etc etc..

[...]
Click to expand...


Well Done Oz.

As Mike observes, you are doing all the things one would expect from a distributor, like participating at shows and getting the word out. I also think that establishing a service centre in the US before signing on new dealerships is a masterstroke. Ditto for 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] hand certification. If you build the foundation right – scaling later with more dealerships is much easier.

It seems like you had to build from practically nothing so don’t be discouraged by comments like “It seems the entire brand has been forgotten....” It’s now obvious that this is not the case.


New beginnings can be great. A few years back Gryphon – another iconic Danish audio brand – was languishing in the United States. Today it gets lots of “press” and is represented by a distributor and over a dozen dealers.


So, back to the opening salvo, “What happened to Vitus???”. The answer is simple. A new beginning. Good luck to you.
 
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