Fesco Rewards Dealers at Queens NY Event
By Margot Douaihy
Queens, NY--Brooklyn-based Fesco Distributors' second-annual Expo
welcomed more than 1,000 dealers to do business, demo new products, and
network. Held September 16 and 17, at the scenic Terrace on the Park in
Queens, the dealer event showcased products from 35 of Fesco's valued
vendors.
At the event dealers were invited to partake in 300 "show
specials"--significant discounts on premium lines and new brands. David
Goldstein, Fescos director of sales and marketing, is proud of the
ever-growing Fesco portfolio and this unique forum for dealers to meet
manufacturers. "The vendor feedback is ...
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CEDIA Opens Up
By Margot Douaihy
As I searched for a song on iTunes I thought of the exciting
developments that made this year's CEDIA EXPO (my eighth) the most
Apple-friendly and "open source" of its kind.
Numerous new residential products with iPhone/iPod Touch modules and
open source control interfaces proved that manufacturers in the CEDIA
channel really get it. The virtual desktop has replaced the literal
desktop, making 3G phone and PC peripheral controls a must. Music and
video applications are richer and heavier to load, therefore a smart
controller must be strong enough to give full access to ...
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A New Approach to 802.15.4
By Margot Douaihy
The TPS-6X, which is now shipping, is the first of many in the new line of FocalPoint based products.Among the products that will flood the exhibition halls of CEDIA EXPO
next month in Denver, Crestron is confident that its new crop of
touchpanels will grab the spotlight because of some radical
advancements in design and engineering. Fred Bargetzi, Crestron's VP of
technology, shared some of the key features of the flagship TPS-6X
panel which he says resulted from Crestron's mission to improve the
802.15.4 transmission standard and offer a genuine aesthetic
breakthrough.
The story of the ...
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PSB Introduces New Affordable High-End Line
By Margot Douaihy
New York, NY--While sales for invisible, architectural audio continue to grow around the world, interest in boutique, two-channel loudspeakers remains high. This was again proven at New York's Waldorf Towers yesterday where I was treated to a sneak peek of PSB's new Imagine Line. Company founder and chief designer Paul Barton gave me the behind-the-scene look at the line he believes will set a new standard for "affordable high-end" when it debuts at CEDIA 08 this September.The Imagine development process marries creativity and the precise acoustic engineering that has made Canada-based PSB ...
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Utility Companies Address Energy Woes
By Margot Douaihy
New York, NY--Last week at the Waldorf-Astoria, The Edison Electric Institute held a spirited panel discussion on ways energy providers and consumers can work together to reduce energy usage and utility bills. The event's dominant theme was education and technological innovation. The first phase of creating more environmentally sustainable homes, according to the panel, is to educate homeowners about the small steps they can take to save energy. The manufacturers then must take innovation seriously and provide ever smarter tools to empower individuals and families to reduce pollution and ...
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B&O Strengthens Luxury Appeal
By Margot Douaihy
An exterior rendering of the Renwick building.On New York City's Renwick Street, just west of Hudson, towers a new
architectural marvel. A modern mass of steel and glass, the building
adds some creative geometry to the skyline of downtown Manhattan.
While stunning, what's significant about this new building, said
Domenico Palandri, director of sales in Bang & Olufsen's Business
to Business Division, is that this is the very first residential
property to feature B&O products as a standard amenity of all of
its units.
Palandri believes that B&O is a distinguishing feature for all of
the 44 ...
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Savant Conference Report
By Margot Douaihy
"Savant" comes from the French word for "knowing." While waiting for
the coffee to kick in this morning, I realized that this etymology
anchored Savant Systems' Dealer Conference, held May 2-4 in Cape Cod,
Massachusetts -- the tranquil island where the company is based.
While Savant is a relatively new name in the
control, automation, and switching industry, it will celebrate its
third CEDIA this year, and is proud of its numerous alliances with
major diverse manufacturers through its Excellence in AV Program.It considers itself the
most "open" of its peers, an electronics manufacturer with ...
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Mandate to Innovate - Catching Up with Sunfire
By Margot Douaihy
After all the white papers and experiments, after all the PhDs on the
science of sound, do we know why we hear what we hear? The legendary
Bob Carver is still entranced with the mystery of hearing, even after
30 years of innovation and 27 patents. In fact, it is the wonder and
mystery that still inspire Carver's design process. The SubRosa line consists of two new XT-Series models that Carver hopes will outperform any other 2,700-watt subwoofer.
Last week I had coffee with Mr. Carver and Eric Harper of Sunfire, and
enjoyed learning about Sunfire's new ribbon loudspeakers and how
Carver's ...
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Hi-Fi in the iPod Era: Behind the Scenes at Snell Acoustics
By Margot Douaihy
Snell Acoustics is a rare breed. During 32 years of operations, the Massachusetts manufacturer has remained innovative without sacrificing quality or craftsmanship. Since it was acquired by D&M Holdings in 2005, Snell has been developing a campaign to modernize its identity while honoring its hi-fi roots. Last week, I visited its Peabody, Massachusetts, headquarters (which it also shares with Boston Acoustics) to learn more about Snell's plans to expand its network of dealers (approximately 200 domestically) and its global footprint. I also went for a sneak peek of the new flagship tower ...
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Nuevo Runco -- A Postcard from Cabo
By Margot Douaihy
Sun. Sand. 1080p. Yes it's the annual Runco Mexico Getaway in Cabo San Lucas, a unique forum for fun and knowledge starring the industry's top-selling dealers, reps, and the worldwide press. The Runco retreat is a highlight for many custom integration professionals and perhaps even more significant this year as it is the first event after Planar's acquisition of the business in 2007.
How the acquisition would shake out was on everyone's minds leading up to this event. A merger of two company cultures is never easy, and because Runco is synonymous with a niche, family-oriented, luxury brand, ...
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Back to the Future
By Margot Douaihy
While teleportation wasnt on the menu of the Future Technology Forum at last weeks CEDIA Management Conference in San Diego, I was still amazed by the technology coming down the innovation pipeline. How these future products may impact the custom installation business is an issue worth exploring.
A distinguished panel of industry luminaries including Michael Stein of Russound, Mitchell Klein of Universal Remote Control, Herman Cardenas of NetStreams, Rich Green of Rich Green Ink, and consultant/author Michael Heiss weighed in with their opinions and predictions on next-gen technology and how ...
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Third HD Format Competes with Blu-ray and HD DVD
By Margot Douaihy
The recent news of Toshiba and HD DVDs breakup set bloggers wild and
splashed the term high-definition all over the headlines. So it is
great timing that the fledgling HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) made
some key announcements this month. Though it is one of the few
red-laser solutions available and a relative newcomer in the optical
high-definition playback format category, Kevin Miller, leading
industry consultant and ISFTV president, describes HD VMD format as a
serious challenger to Blu-ray and HD DVD. Consumers need more acronyms and flash-in-the-pan technologies like they need a ...
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Old School Meets New School
By Margot Douaihy
It is tough to match the enthusiasm of Petro Shimonishi, NetStreams' vice president of marketing and product planning. And with good reason, NetStreams is growing wildly, thanks to successful products and growing interest in IP-based applications.Were a start-up that operates like IBM, she said.The company, born out of the GE/Microsoft Connected Home Initiative nearly eight years ago, made a name for itself as an audio over IP manufacturer, and will soon distribute video. Indeed, NetStreams is beta-testing and will soon be shipping a video over IP system. "Video over IP is the future because ...
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A Closer Look at Web Searching
By Margot Douaihy
New York, NYGoogle "CEDIA." The resulting hits order themselves like the scores of a popularity contest rather than an unbiased search through the labyrinthine halls of the World Wide Web. Web searching is a game, contradictory and complicated as a cricket match to the uninitiated. At the heart of the search is a tactic called "search engine optimization.'"Search engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing technique designed to increase the number of visitors to a website from "algorithmic" or organic search engine listings. Put another way, SEO is a way to appeal to Internet algorithms that ...
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Another Chapter of Lutron's Story
By Margot Douaihy
Irvine, CAEnhancing your lifestyle, saving energy, increasing safety, is how Lutrons Melissa Andresko explains lighting control. And with the addition of the Irvine Experience Center in California, Lutron has another way to tell the whole story of this category to homeowners and residential service providers.Deluxe and fully equipped, the new center is a living showcase for Lutrons impressive product range. Anyone who walks through the vignettes can touch and feel, see and experience the possibilities of lighting control, scenes, and automation. But its much more than a high-end showroom; it ...
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