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NEW OWNERS of McIntosh

I no longer follow the market but wonder how the ARC/McIntosh business models will play out. When I last looked, neither overlapped the other except in small areas. I could see more r&d going on in a central engineering group that consolidates the 2 brands departments and can benefit both with reduced costing. Also, possibly reallocation of production to facilities to better utilize existing under capacity and relieve over capacity challenges such as overtime mentioned above.
 
Well McIntosh has weathered the storm of Clarion and one other previous purchase. So I see no reason they wont continue true to form.
 
skippy_ps said:
Yep, as long as they can keep those pesky bean counters out of the way, they'll be fine. :)

Murray
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Having had many a conversation with Maurice Painchaud, McIntosh's " head bean counter" for decades, keeping a tight control over the bottom line has always been a high priority at McIntosh.

Dealers in large metro areas have demanded most of the questionable products.
 
c_dk said:
Having had many a conversation with Maurice Painchaud, McIntosh's " head bean counter" for decades, keeping a tight control over the bottom line has always been a high priority at McIntosh.

Dealers in large metro areas have demanded most of the questionable products.
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Just kidding about the bean counter thing.

Murray
 
BEAN COUNTERS ARE THE REASON THAT CORPORATE AMERICA IS WHERE IT IS. Let's not pussyfoot around this topic. I've yet to meet one that understood anything but finance.

Companies like McIntosh weren't built on bringing products that made financial sense to market. Rather, these companies brought a product to market that offered a real value to the consumer in terms of performance, longevity, pride of ownership - things that one won't ever see on a bean counter's spreadsheet - and then they figured out what they had to sell it for to be profitable.

I trust in Charlie Randall. Rest assured, his real accomplishments have been to keep McIntosh true to its heritage and keep the finance department a "department" of McIntosh and keep it from steering the ship.

I speak from experience here . . .
 
Well said damacman ,Charlie Randall has worked with all the original people. Things today are mutch different with the addition of digital everything.we have tried to lure some of the younger people into the Highend audio market with new products. I don't see mutch change in our company. Lets keep it Positive....
 
Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s the management of McIntosh sweated the details to help make their small market dealers successful....Clarion and beyond the small market dealer has been forced out.

Will this new shuffling of the deck chairs reignite the concept of a full service dealer base across the country?
 
The products from that period certainly shows that they sweated the details. The equipment still performs well and has features that are so relevant to listening to music. There were engineering and product dev fundamentals that made them McIntosh. Today, there's much more diversity and competition and McIntosh has to up the ante beyond listing product features as fibre optic lighting and brushed aluminum sides. I've bought some of the latest gear and there are things that I see aren't polished in terms of product development. Even support in some area is sorely lacking. But if McIntosh wants to lure younger people, surely that is an area they would have invested more with better fixes and flexibility happening. I am a second generation Mc owner in my early 30s. I am keen to see what they have that is going to convince us to own McIntosh.
 
c_dk said:
Back in the 60s, 70s and 80s the management of McIntosh sweated the details to help make their small market dealers successful....Clarion and beyond the small market dealer has been forced out.

Will this new shuffling of the deck chairs reignite the concept of a full service dealer base across the country?
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Those days are long gone and aren't considered to be financially viable in today's audio market. Lean is keen in today's business world and the end consumer suffer's through diminished services because of it.
 
Someone reported recently that Mac service is backed up 20 weeks, 5 months before a unit can be looked at. The days may be long gone but allowing local dealers to skate along without servicing their local customers is just plain bad business.

It used to be part of the dealer agreement that you would service all McIntosh product that came in your door......someone has now allowed the ups shipping bench to become the service bench and the exit sign to mean service.
 
I am a firm believer that strong product support as vital as anything that a manufacturer can offer in order to promote and protect its image and standing.
 
damacman said:
BEAN COUNTERS ARE THE REASON THAT CORPORATE AMERICA IS WHERE IT IS. Let's not pussyfoot around this topic. I've yet to meet one that understood anything but finance.


I speak from experience here . . .
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So do I, and you're dead wrong.

I have personally sat in on meetings between the CFO and the CEO of a Dow 30 global corporation, many times.

The "bean counters" lay out the financial pros and cons of a pending decision, and then the management team, led by the chief executive officer, makes the decision, period.

There is no corporation on earth where the chief financial officer overrules the chief executive officer. None.
 
Our local Mac dealer has a minimal showroom with one small setup. and is only open by appointment or for 5 hours on Saturday. They are great guys, but are focused on HT and automation installation and not audio.

I guess that's why I have gravitated toward ARC as that dealer is open daily, has multiple rooms, can demo almost any piece of gear (ARC, Rogue, NAD, Cambridge), and while he doesn't offer in house service, he has a relationship with a local shop. Pretty much the last full service dealer in town, and though (as has been discussed on AK) he's a crusty old guy, he's still hanging in there after 40 years!
 
Fisherdude said:
So do I, and you're dead wrong.

I have personally sat in on meetings between the CFO and the CEO of a Dow 30 global corporation, many times.

The "bean counters" lay out the financial pros and cons of a pending decision, and then the management team, led by the chief executive officer, makes the decision, period.

There is no corporation on earth where the chief financial officer overrules the chief executive officer. None.
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I agree, but I was with a company that grew from a startup to a billion plus corporation and I would say that the most challenging time comes somewhere around the 25-30 year mark when the original team - the guys that had the vision and drive start to retire out and the first set of "corporate wonks" come in. (In a smaller Mom and Pop, it's when the kids move up.) I think that is the most dangerous time in the lifespan of a company, I think if they can make it through that time, things settle down and can move along.
 
BayouTiger said:
I agree, but I was with a company that grew from a startup to a billion plus corporation and I would say that the most challenging time comes somewhere around the 25-30 year mark when the original team - the guys that had the vision and drive start to retire out and the first set of "corporate wonks" come in...
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Agree 100%. Lived through it. After the new guys came in, started making "textbook" decisions and the **** hit the fan, it took a few years, some folks with "old blood" were brought up through the ranks, and things started improving.
 
BayouTiger said:
Our local Mac dealer has a minimal showroom with one small setup. and is only open by appointment or for 5 hours on Saturday. They are great guys, but are focused on HT and automation installation and not audio.
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When I'm looking for the local dealer of an audio product, and discover it's a by-appointment place focused on HT and automation, I just conclude I don't have a local dealer for that brand.
 
BayouTiger said:
Our local Mac dealer has a minimal showroom with one small setup. and is only open by appointment or for 5 hours on Saturday. They are great guys, but are focused on HT and automation installation and not audio.
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Complete opposite here. One local shop stopped doing HT repairs in Jan of this year. I've had mixed success with these guys.
http://www.iavscanada.com/notices-updates/

Another (smaller) shop, even though he lists receivers <much> prefers separates. If you are in the Vancouver area, then I can highly recommend this guy:
http://www.puresoundbc.com/#whatwedo
 
Fisherdude said:
So do I, and you're dead wrong.

I have personally sat in on meetings between the CFO and the CEO of a Dow 30 global corporation, many times.

The "bean counters" lay out the financial pros and cons of a pending decision, and then the management team, led by the chief executive officer, makes the decision, period.

There is no corporation on earth where the chief financial officer overrules the chief executive officer. None.
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The CEO has the Board of Directors to answer to, so it's not just his/her call and that's final with material decisions. You should know that, particularly with a Dow 30 company that likely has strong corporate governance practices in place.

These private equity guys are like house flippers. They'll come in, make some operational changes, dress the company up and flip it 5-7 years later to someone else, or hopefully take it public through an IPO. They don't want to be long-term owners of these companies they buy.

It wasn't really said in the article posted, but the name of one of the new owners is "LBO France", implying they are probably engaged in leverage buyouts (LBO's), meaning they'll slap a lot of debt on companies they buy. They'll try to take cost out of the business and/or expand marketing efforts and if successful it'll pay big b/c of the leverage they used to buy the company.

But hey...Private equity, leveraged buyouts, carried interest...forget all of that nonsense. I don't care! I just want to turn on my 501s and blast my Crossroads DVD on my new XR 100 speakers. Damn, life is good with McIntosh!
 
CoolHomey501 said:
The CEO has the Board of Directors to answer to, so it's not just his/her call and that's final with material decisions. You should know that, particularly with a Dow 30 company that likely has strong corporate governance practices in place....
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The CEO never answers to the board for day to day business decisions, ever. No CEO would put up with that.
 
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