Learn from Bose? Well.. how to make small crappy speakers I guess.
Sincerely, I remain
Sincerely, I remain
What High End Manufacturers Could Learn From Bose
In the high end community Bose gets no respect. The fact is they don't deserve our respect - Bose does not make a particularly good sounding product and they're over priced. Yet at the same time, there is much the high end could learn from Bose. The concept is marketing. Bose knows how to sell hi-fi equipment. Open up a general interest national magazine and there's a prominent ad for Bose. How many high end manufacturers have ever run television ads? Bose has. Bose once sent me an unsolicited videotape ad thru the mail. Finally, Bose even has retail outlets. What a concept, actually spending money to make people awear of your product with the hope that they will buy it.
My question is why doesn't Martin-Logan, Krell or Harman (Revel, Levinson, etc) embark upon similar marketing efforts? The future of high fidelity sound reproduction will be for those companies that grab it. Right now, Bose is grabbing for that future. Will any high end companies step up to the plate and challenge?
My question is why doesn't Martin-Logan, Krell or Harman (Revel, Levinson, etc) embark upon similar marketing efforts? The future of high fidelity sound reproduction will be for those companies that grab it. Right now, Bose is grabbing for that future. Will any high end companies step up to the plate and challenge?
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Rhyno, you are a man of discernment, taste, and impeccable audio discrimination. I knew that the instant you revealed your fondness for Belles.... I don't particularly support consolidation in the high end. It would discourage innovation and rob the a-file community of grist for our conversation mills (and more than a little unintended humor). Market diversity also SHOULD (but does not for the reasons I cited above) control costs. I say let the boys build their toys. Some of them are definite winners. Most, even the ones that receive the plaudits-of-the-moment, are nothing more than trivial variations on long-existing themes. I'm not a republican--quite the contrary--but this is an instance in which I'm quite content to let supply-side forces act at will. Let 'em come; let 'em go; my only concern is parts availability(!) Don't think, though, that marketing doesn't work in the high end. Krell, for example, has managed to promote good components as though they were great components and price them accordingly. Why? Distribution through major chains and lots of advertising in the slicks. I bet that if someone researched matters, they would find that Krell spends darn near as large a percentage of its limited revenue on advertising as Bose does of its vast revenue. If the high end really implodes, as so many think it will, perhaps we'll be left with the garage builders (imaginative but flakey and unreliable) the ego builders (niche suppliers to the conspicuous consumption community), and good-but-perhaps-not-great volume suppliers like PSB, NHT, Paradigm, Carver/Sunfire, Sony ES, and (dare I say it?) Mahhhhhhhhhhhnster Cable. In the meantime, let's keep having fun. Will |
Since becomming interested in audio in the late Sixties, there have been a few examples of audio companies advertising in the mainstream media. I remember Marantz doing a tv commercial during the heyday of the receiver (mid-late 70's). AR (Acoustic Research) advertised in the Sunday New York Times Magazine and in other tony periodicals. KLH did likewise. I think JBL did a tv ad when its L-100 was a market leader. There's probably more. Can anyone offer examples? |
Slightly off-topic, but have you seen this Bose announcement? http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=58469 |
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