Not feeling good about this one.

TCL Multimedia calls their agreement with Onkyo “exclusive global usage rights” for all markets outside Japan, to use the ONKYO trademark, “subject to certain exceptions.” These rights extend to “develop, manufacture, and sell a variety of AV products.”

The announcement goes on to give examples of the types of products that TCL Multimedia will be creating, including headphones, small speakers, TV speakers, and standalone soundbars. The company also says that it will use its “proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology to develop innovative high-end smart AV products that offer added-value to customers.”

So they are adding to their amazing display line up?

The beginning of the end!
Wow, would not have thought I would see Onkyo fall into obscurity this decade. Then again, the 2019 line is probably already set to begin production soon. So might be 2020 when we see actual TCL influence drag the line into horse dung.

I wonder what this means for Integra. They seem to have been really pushing for market share again.

Very interested to see what this means for Integra as well.

Now im not sure if i want the nakamichi sound bar or the onkyo sound bar.

And that is my worry!

Gibson owned a large chunk of them until recently and sold them off because they are about to tank as well. I quit Onkyo a while back when i saw the writing on the wall.

[Link: channelnews.com.au]

I see a different perspective here.

A recent article listed the top ten TV manufacturers in the world, and TCL was in there. Tell me: What kind of powerhouse top ten of ANYTHING has been behind Oinkyo and Integra during the last twenty years? I ask because I don't know. Maybe they did have, at one time, someone as big as TCL running them. Maybe they've just been hanging on for years.

Of course, this could go the way of RCA as a brand, but it could go the way of McIntosh as a brand, too. We really aren't smart enough to tell at this point.

I'd like to point out that when Oppo announced they were closing up shop, someone asked who was next....I called Onkyo! 

so........FIRST!


I used to sell them...Until I had a stack of bad Onkyo AV receivers in my office at least 6' hight because of the HD boards failing..  This was before they acknowledged there was a problem.  I ended up eating all of the costs so my customers could watch TV. 

 

If Integra were making a big market share push it would most likely be part of the Gibson Group's desperation to stave off the inevitable... you can't bank market share, only profit.

If TCL see a market in making soundbars and 'smart' speakers, that's cool. It's a VERY crowded marketplace and they may well struggle to gain traction, even with Onkyo and Pioneer badges on their products. Sure they'll have more kudos than if they had TCL branding... but still.

The interesting aspect to me will be whether this effects other distribution globally (does the Australian or English distributor of Pioneer or Onkyo lose it to TCL's sales office - or not) and will we start seeing Pioneer TV's back on the shelf?
If we do, I guarantee their LED lineup will feature Kuro branding... and many internet folk will gnash their teeth at seeing a name from the past bastardized.

I installed a TCL tv for a client today. First tv I've installed in a while that gave me zero issues from start to finish.

I use a 49" TCL 4K/HDR TV as my Desk monitor and it is fine, i also use TCL displays in our traveling SDR/HDR demo and again they are fine. it is hard to find a really bad TV now a days. Still I worry for the Onkyo brand.

You want a bad TV? 32" W-box. I thought I would try one and it sucks. No discrete commands and the picture sucks in daylight. I thought I would get something cheap for the bedroom and I succeeded. No smart features, no fine controls of video or sound, terrible sound and by the time I found everything I hated, it was too late to return the stupid thing. I went to Best Buy just after the return deadline and found a bunch of brands and models that were within ten bucks and a lot better. I'll probably move it to my garage and send the audio out to the receiver (if it even has that).

TCL bought Onlyo because in doing that, they got a twofer- Onkyo had previously bought Pioneer but Henry did a number on Gibson- they're still coming out with new models that people hate, they canned a lot of people with decades of experience and closed facilities that should have stayed open. What he needed was to be shown the door, so the adults could keep the place open.

To be fair, Norlin pounded out a lot of crap when they owned Gibson, but at the moment, guitar sales are lagging and the market is saturated with brands that are making instruments that are better & less expensive. Even some of the cheap kit guitars are very good, as long as the time & effort are used to tweak them.

It's not a brand that I care about.

My observation is that there is a large risk when a big fish buys a little fish that the little fish becomes just another commodity in the big fish inventory and any "spark" that the little fish may have had in the past fades into a cell on a spreadsheet. The big fish does not want to invest the time and money required to build a brand. The purchase gives the big fish an instant brand and if things don't work out (the spreadsheet cell is not large enough), the little fishcan be spun off to someone else.

You can speculate all you want. Only time will tell.

If they like the brands and want them to continue to be successful, and they will leave much of the engineering and infrastructure in place, and they will continue to thrive. And that makes the most sense.

They don’t seem like the kind of company that just wants to milk a brand-name and spin it off.

Keep speculating.