Does this bother you:

Distribution, however, will be expanded to nontraditional A/V installers, such as security installers and electricians, said Hufford.

See the full article:

[Link: twice.com]

I am going to make sure I stop by the Sonance booth at CEDIA.

Keith

Yes, this is a bit bothersome. Apparently, experience, esteem, and quality of the end result has taken the back-seat to the almighty dollar. Oh well, looks like speakercraft (Initially built Sonance's Speakers) will be getting more business, as well as RBH and others. Even Jamo requires an agreement now.

Furthermore, anyone who is involved in the pre-wire of the residence knows just how incredibly ignorant the sparks are when it comes to running 220 with low-voltage. I can't wait until Sonance has to field a ton of calls about interference and overall poor sound quality. Anyway, shiny marketing literature is no substitute for integrity.

shoot one of the big security companies here in houston have been dealers for Sonance forthe past few years.

Yes MFGs bull^#@* lies have always bothered me however it's nothing new and honestly there are very few actual exclusive product lines. As far as them fielding more calls..that's irrelevant they will just leave them in phone system hell till they hang up from frustration. Yet these are the same companys who end up coming back trying to get you to carry and support their lines.

I don't go by what they do ir say because I know the MFGs and distributors are nothing but liars. I go buy the products which work for me with little or no down time and the customer can use. In wall speakers are crap anyway so who cares what Sonance does!

And the canadian distributors have been jerking me around for a year about product availability and now they're going to make it available to the security companies who couldn't properly design and install a distributed audio system if they tried.

It gets worse, I've been hired a security (today) to fix their problems on one of their installations. Looking like a re-design and re-cable job. However, it looks like that I'll be their sub-contractor for all of the audio installs. Nobody likes to feel the pain of loosing money, so maybe it's not bad thing ;-)

Actually, IMHO it's bad for the custom install industry when the average security/electrical company tries to get into the custom audio install business. It reflects bad on an industry who's reputation is sometimes worse than used car sales (think of the sales people at a big audio chain ...etc.). I've seen it where the security/electrical companies will stuff cat 5e and audio cables through the same hole as the 120v. I'd like to hear the audio quality on that job.

Precisely the reason my company doesn't carry Sonance... or Denon... or any other line that has made it to the electrical and security world through distributors who could care less. I don't agree that all electricians are incompetent but it is my experience that many are weak salespeople and tend to drop trou anytime a hint of a sale is near. Over distributed lines are a real hurt on profitability. It is also kind of common for distributors to sell to anyone in the electrical/security firm which leads to a lot of side jobs performed by unlicensed trunkslammers in their off time (another real margin killer). Those of us who pay to be licensed and are REALLY in the business can't afford to give stuff away... the best thing we can do is stay away from manufacturers who don't keep their distribution tidy.

For in-wall and standing speakers we use Bay Audio & JM Labs. (www.bayaudio.com & www.focal-fr.com). There are still a lot of manufacturers who care about your business and you should support them. Integra is another (www.integrahometheater.com).

Speakercraft did exactly the opposite last year (at least in our region),they cut off all distribution in favor of supporting dealers. They felt that the short-term dollars lost would be more than made for by adding a few more committed dealers.

I just read the actual article... You can't fault a company for trying to expand their market but you'd think:
1. If Sonance was really into increasing it they should unveil this plan to their existing dealers... and help them along by providing literature, training and a targeted plan that audio companies can follow.
2. They should know that saying that they are going to electricians in a trade rag is bound to piss off those that have been supporting them.

Sonance has been at distributors for a long time. The sparkies and security pullers that I compete against have been throwing out Sonance (at ridiculously low prices I might add) for a long time. In a lot of ways this backfires for a Sonance because they make great products. What happens is you become represented by those who don't really know a f-----g thing anout audio. In the long run, though, the only thing that matters to some manufacturers is how many boxes roll out the door at the price they've decided they need to be at.

Kind of brings up an old topic that we visited here 6 months ago. The unfortunate part of this business is that it is fun, it can be profitable and more and more and more and more little companies are crapping up every day. The only way the new ones can get going is to agressively market. In my area, most builders still use the electrician to do all of the structured wiring (or the daisy chaining!). We have approached many and landed few because they have all been hit 100 times by every Tom, Dick & Harry's A/V company that is most of the time 1 unlicensed guy in an Astrovan that buys all his stuff at Joe's Distribution (these guys don't care either... they just want boxes rolled through at 10 points). Of course, his garage or apartment costs a lot less to run a business out of than an actual office... he pays his younger brother under the table... does most of his jobs for cash and for some unknown reason, feels that 15-20 points is all he needs to be in business.

Now lets go to the other side... the builder of the tract homes. How many of you sell big, properly designed structured wiring and distributed audio packages to these guys? In the few we've done, we've found them to be ULTRA cheap... they don't want to spend extra dollars on these houses; they just want em to move. Sure, they sell "smart homes" but these are really nothing more than an overstuffed 14" OnQ panel in the laundry room with phone wires wire-nutted together and an unmounted 8-way cable splitter. Sonance is gambling that they can get the electrician, who is already on the job, to sell a bunch of little distributed audio systems too (and certainly, they'll be just about as well received as these faux "structured wiring" systems).

All, I can say is good luck! That and a message to anyone who is really worried about it... if you don't know how already; learn to retrofit, patch drywall and market to end buyers instead of builders. As we all know, a builder who has not yet found a buyer can only do a best guess scenario, hence the reason for not spending too much money. The properly interviewed and qualified end user who ends up trusting you will buy what you select because you've designed the system specifically for him/her. This is where you send the message to the manufacturer by not supporting their mass marketing ideas. Sonance may find that their high end product stops moving because integrators don't buy it anymore while their low-end shite prospers. Unfortunately, they'll need to sell that many more boxes to keep up and eventually, they'll end up amongst the myriad of low-end options. If this happens we can all say "told you so".

This year, when you go to CEDIA... go with a plan to revamp your lines. Sell only products like Bay Audio, JM Labs, Integra, Tributaries (and of course many other conscientious manufacturers too numerous to list) that will work with you by letting you only order what is needed and by keeping their stuff away from those who would whore it out. Buy nothing from distributors except Plasma TVs and OnQ panels.

I saw Sonance rock speakers at Costco the other day.

the day I saw sonance in best buy, I called my rep and dropped the line. I was a dealer for 15 yrs. talk about screwing the mom and pop av shops!!

I replaced it with Bay Audio, good stuff no amps though

I resigned Sonance last Friday (not because of this thread; the decision had been made a while ago and now was the right time to pull the trigger). I ran into another dealer I knew who I believed to be a bid Sonance supporter at a seminar this afternoon, and offered to give him my remaining odds and ends of brackets. He told me he had dropped the line a while back.

Keith,

If you are looking for a killer amp company, try Sherbourn (www.sherbourn.com). We've found them to be a great accompaniment to Bay Audio.

After I read rhm9's post last night, I sent a copy of the entire thread to Sonance's marketing group. Telling them maybe they ought to pay attention to the truth being said here. I got this response at about 7:30 this morning:

Subj: RE: Please see the Trade Response to your new plans
Date: 8/20/2003 7:23:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent from the Internet (Details)




Ernie,

Thank you very much! Actually the TWICE article is causing some confusion out there. We have absolutely no intention of selling Sonance branded products to security & electricians, however our new Architectural Audio by Sonance branded products will be sold to that channel.

Buzz Delano, our director of sales, is issuing a formal response to clear up this matter today. I will post it on this group.

Once again, thank you.
Petro Shimonishi
Sonance

Posts deleted.

This message was edited by QQQ on 08/20/03 19:16.

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This message was edited by QQQ on 08/20/03 19:15.