Boston Acoustics and Snell bought by D&M Holdings

I love to support the fewer and fewer remaining independents. The high end audio industry is becoming a corporate mega-monster! The good news is that designers and engineers producing exceptional gear, yet not having a good business sense, can have their products survive beyond the beta stage or a limited production run.

The bad news is that the "bean counters" and marketing divisions will be more influential in product development, redesign, and upgrades than the designers and engineers themselves!

I think there are some potential negative consequences to a sale of this type, especially as it relates product offerings and design control. There some positive ones as well. This can often mean in infusion of cash to get products off the drawing board and into production as well as the sharing of knowledge and technology between the companies in the same group.

It’s kind-of sad to see a Japanese company gobble-up such historical American brands.

Such names as Marantz, McIntosh and Boston Acoustics were important American Audio companies. There are some pluses that have happened over the year since the McIntosh and Marantz acquisitions – the reissue of classic amps and Pre-amps.

Maybe with Snell they’ll re-release the EIII’s or AIIIi’s. Nice classic speakers that every one should have tried. I just hope they don’t see Snell as expendable -- They’re great group of guys and gals producing high quality audio. – The fit and finish of their speakers tells you what they’re all about! Plus Mark is one of the best customer service reps I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

I always thought Maranz was Dutch, part of Phillips...

Anyway, having been through these kind of mergers in other industries, what eventually happens is technology is shared and you begin to have brand overlap. Just like the car industry where Saab is really just a GM with a European body (or in the case of the 9-2X a Subaru), or the Mazda 3, Ford Focus and Volvo S40 share the same platform, we'll see common components, platforms and daughter boards within the corporate umbrella. Good or bad time will tell, but usually the bottom gains a little while the top falls a lot. It becomes "buyer beware" when you're considering a trusted old brand.