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Starting a new Hi-Fi audio brand

N

Nulums

New Member
Hi everyone,

I recently came across some old posts in this forum from people thinking about starting their brand in the Hi-Fi audio or loudspeaker industry. Since I have a similar idea, I have made this thread for those still thinking about this. Maybe we can exchange contacts and help each other.

My background as an employee includes 10 years of managing two small-medium-sized Hi-Fi and High-End loudspeaker factories in the EU. So, my core skills are deep knowledge of the market and production nuances.

It doesn't matter what region you are from or what background. If it's different, it might be even better.

It's nice to talk with anyone having the same passion and goals. Is it relevant for someone here?
 
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It's a very crowded market and you would need quite an extraordinary product to stand out in some way. Success is possible, but unlikely. I have no experience trying to market something, so I'm guessing on this.
 
It's an idea I have toyed with for many years but as noted, it's a crowded market.

Recently when shopping for new equipment I discovered that almost all contemporary equipment, at any price, is bland or ugly-looking and has poor ergonomics (screens, nested menus).

Pretty much the only brand that still offers what I was looking for is Accuphase - but the price!

My model would be to essentially do what they do - 'traditional' looks and ergonomics, but at far more realistic pricing. You'd be selling into a niche of a niche and you're probably never going to make a million dollars doing it but I think the market is there.

For loudspeakers just three models - all three-ways - in bookshelf, tower and 'monster' sizes.
 
egellings said:
It's a very crowded market and you would need quite an extraordinary product to stand out in some way. Success is possible, but unlikely. I have no experience trying to market something, so I'm guessing on this.
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You are right, the market is very crowded. But this is the result of the low barrier to entry. Technically, it means we have a lot of companies, but very few of them do qualitative engineering and invest in cost-effective production. In most cases, they have either one of two or none. So, it is still possible to compete if you combine these factors and maybe add a direct sales model.
 
Mart Mccall said:
For loudspeakers just three models - all three-ways - in bookshelf, tower and 'monster' sizes.
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Interesting. What do you mean by a 3-way bookshelf? Something like this?
gold-100-life.jpg
 
Yes, pretty much that.

Only because I'm not much of a fan of two-way cone and dome speakers in general. So I wouldn't make or sell them. They can be good, but I think a good three-way is always better.
 
Nulums said:
You are right, the market is very crowded. But this is the result of the low barrier to entry. Technically, it means we have a lot of companies, but very few of them do qualitative engineering and invest in cost-effective production. In most cases, they have either one of two or none. So, it is still possible to compete if you combine these factors and maybe add a direct sales model.
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Maybe we would differ in our direction then?

I take the view that audio electronics are done, really, and that we know enough about loudspeakers and psychoacoustics to make good speakers without further research.

So my USP would be the combination of 'old school' cosmetics, good ergonomics and realistic pricing.

The last one would mean cost-effective production and direct sales model, so we'd agree there.

There's elements of that already with a fair few companies producing 'retro' equipment like the new QUAD 33/303

www.whathifi.com

Quad goes back to the future with its reimagined pre and power amplifiers

Quad brings back the 57-year old 33 preamp and 303 power amp
www.whathifi.com www.whathifi.com

So not like there's no competition but it also shows that they think there's a market for such a thing too.
 
Mart Mccall said:
Yes, pretty much that.

Only because I'm not much of a fan of two-way cone and dome speakers in general. So I wouldn't make or sell them. They can be good, but I think a good three-way is always better.
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Well, there are many good 2-way designs, which in most cases require a waveguide though. These Gold 100 6G could be a good alternative to achieve smooth directivity.
 
Good luck with your project Nulums, when I started my business years ago, there were a lot more no-sayers then helpers, get used to it. I tune them out and keep plugging along successfully. I got the same responses, "there's a million guys already doing it," "it's a lot of work" and the other cliches.

Sometimes getting the menial stuff out of the way helps kickstart the project, the name, incorporation, website, phone etc.
 
Mart Mccall said:
Maybe we would differ in our direction then?

I take the view that audio electronics are done, really, and that we know enough about loudspeakers and psychoacoustics to make good speakers without further research.

So my USP would be the combination of 'old school' cosmetics, good ergonomics and realistic pricing.

The last one would mean cost-effective production and direct sales model, so we'd agree there.

There's elements of that already with a fair few companies producing 'retro' equipment like the new QUAD 33/303

www.whathifi.com

Quad goes back to the future with its reimagined pre and power amplifiers

Quad brings back the 57-year old 33 preamp and 303 power amp
www.whathifi.com www.whathifi.com

So not like there's no competition but it also shows that they think there's a market for such a thing too.
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Yes, sure. When I said qualitative engineering, I meant using existing research and knowledge, which is not always the case, especially in the High-End loudspeaker world.

Talking about retro equipment, I would name the new Unitra. They did great in design. However, they chose to produce it in Poland and sell it through distributors, which increased the price.
 
malden said:
How would a three-way be better than a two-way?
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Better dispersion, smoother midrange, lower distortion, higher power handling.

Note I said 'cone and dome' two-ways, I consider some of the JBL 2 way speakers using their compression drivers to be amongst the best speakers ever made. And panels and electrostatics are a different game altogether.
 
Mart Mccall said:
Recently when shopping for new equipment I discovered that almost all contemporary equipment, at any price, is bland or ugly-looking and has poor ergonomics (screens, nested menus).
Click to expand...
Many like that, that's why it sells.

You won't find many on AK but I also would not expect to.

Would "we" be enough of a market?
 
I know several people with deep pockets who tried to start hi fi related companies. All but one now have much shallower pockets. The kind of successful one was smart enough to stick to one market (China), and build a brand and client base there. Haven't spoken with them in a while, but last time I did they weren't interested in branching out.
If you go ahead then make sure you invest in a good marketing team who understand how to get your product out there. You can have the best gear in the world but if no one knows about it you won't shift much. My China based friend put about 50% of their budget into marketing.
 
GChief said:
Many like that, that's why it sells.

You won't find many on AK but I also would not expect to.

Would "we" be enough of a market?
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Given you have NAD, Cyrus, Naim and QUAD, possibly others, all releasing retro products, I think there is a viable market there.
 
malden said:
are these qualities a result of limiting each driver's frequency response or are there other factors involved?
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Two-ways have narrow directivity around the crossover area (there are exceptions) you can avoid that with a dedicated midrange driver.
Power is distributed across three drivers so the speaker will take more power.
One driver is not being asked to do both bass and midrange, so intermodulation distortion is lower.
 
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