History of Dynaudio

[taters]

Originally Posted by -E-

Yep, the collective audiophile community has /gasp'd.

It's a sad day for me. I have owned their speakers the past 20 years. I would of thought Dynaudio would of been one of the last companies to sell to the Chinese. What's next Ferrari?

[Puma Cat]

I also read a post on another forum by Mick Tillman, one of Dyn NA's excellent customer and tech support people. I know Mick personally, and he's a great guy. Mick comments which were probably corporate messaging-derived, were very similar to the one posted above. As a corporate rep, he's obligated to provide customer-facing language for long-time customers that has been officially sanctioned, he's just doing his job.

That being said, all corporate M&A messaging however, looks, feels, and sounds all too familiar. The language posted above looks exactly like the corporate-speak language in any of a number of industries. They all say, "Things will stay the same; we want to build on the brand, this creates new opportunites for us, we will only get better, blah, blah, blah". In truth, however, they rarely do; usually the brand suffers and becomes a shadow of what it once was. Just look at Hasselblad. They have been excoriated recently for putting out ridiculously priced cameras that are reworks of Sony cameras that sell for about 1/8th the Hasselblad prices. Hasselblad has simply become a luxury brand "name" and nothing more, and they are getting lambasted in the photography community for it. But, it serves their parent company right for it. Viktor Hasselblad must be spinning in his grave.

Be interesting to look up the M&A language when Daimler bought Chrysler in '97 and see what that said. Unfortunately, Daimler ran Chrysler into the ground and completely ruined it.

My guess the real reason for this sale is a simple one: Ehrenholz is getting close to retirement, and simply wanted to cash out. Happens ALL THE TIME.

[Dafos]

There have been some good buy out stories. . Mcintosh, even when purchased by Clarion in the 90's continued as a manufacturer of high grade equipment. Quad, from what I know, still builds high quality speakers. And Martin Logan still produces great speakers even if it is now owned by Paradigm. Sonus Faber and Audio Research continue to build and introduce excellent products even as the mother company, the Fine Sounds group, seems to be more demanding on its dealers regarding sales. (As intimated to me by the local audio research dealer) Hopefully the Chinese allow Dynaudio to continue to chart its own course.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Dafos

There have been some good buy out stories. . Mcintosh, even when purchased by Clarion in the 90's continued as a manufacturer of high grade equipment. Quad, from what I know, still builds high quality speakers. And Martin Logan still produces great speakers even if it is now owned by Paradigm. Sonus Faber and Audio Research continue to build and introduce excellent products even as the mother company, the Fine Sounds group, seems to be more demanding on its dealers regarding sales. (As intimated to me by the local audio research dealer) Hopefully the Chinese allow Dynaudio to continue to chart its own course.

I certainly hope so. Some parent companies are wise enough not to fix something that isn't broken, but most of them muck with the leadership structure and the orientation of the companies they acquire. I really hope the Chinese owners will allow Dynaudio to chart it's own course, but only time will tell. Unfortunately, my guess is the Dynaudio brand equity has already suffered a hit as the result of the acquistion from the perspective that it's going to create questions in the minds of potential customers.

Quad, on the other hand, is a disaster. Their quality is uneven, and there presently is no distributor in the U.S. to provide sales and service support, spare parts, etc. A good friend has a Quad 2905 that needs service and cannot obtain factory support for it here in the States. IIRC, an AA member in Australia had a similar experience, and was never able to get proper and timely support for a panel that went down and needed replacing.

[taters]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

I certainly hope so. Some parent companies are wise enough not to fix something that isn't broken, but most of them muck with the leadership structure and the orientation of the companies they acquire. I really hope the Chinese owners will allow Dynaudio to chart it's own course, but only time will tell. Unfortunately, my guess is the Dynaudio brand equity has already suffered a hit as the result of the acquistion from the perspective that it's going to create questions in the minds of potential customers.

Quad, on the other hand, is a disaster. Their quality is uneven, and there presently is no distributor in the U.S. to provide sales and service support, spare parts, etc. A good friend has a Quad 2905 that needs service and cannot obtain factory support for it here in the States. IIRC, an AA member in Australia had a similar experience, and was never able to get proper and timely support for a panel that went down and needed replacing.

Something about the Chinese buying out a high quality speaker company like Dynaudio gives me the creeps. They have been known for their European craftsmanship and for building their own drivers. The thought of them building some cheap drivers in China along with some cheap cabinets really sickens me. Next thing you know they will be selling them at Best Buys.

[chessman]

Well, we have quickly degraded from mission creep fears to outright jingoism in the comments. Maybe we should wait and see what really happens?

[Pider]

Originally Posted by chessman

Well, we have quickly degraded from mission creep fears to outright jingoism in the comments. Maybe we should wait and see what really happens?

Agreed. However, contrary to Stephan's experience with Dyn service, I've not had good luck. I fear that this will not help matters.

OTOH, I've known Chinese buy-outs that have actually been beneficial. What the heck you going to do with all that cash, anyway? Look around for excellent brands and bring those back to the new monied middle class. Cycles, my friends. Cycles.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by taters

Something about the Chinese buying out a high quality speaker company like Dynaudio gives me the creeps. They have been known for their European craftsmanship and for building their own drivers. The thought of them building some cheap drivers in China along with some cheap cabinets really sickens me. Next thing you know they will be selling them at Best Buys.

That's what worries me as well. The knowledge that Dynaudio developed, designed and manufactured it's own drivers and as well as bringing world class cabinetry to their speakers is what set them apart from other brands. Other companies e.g. Wilson, Eggleston, etc, etc. have used Dynaudio drivers in their own speakers.

[Elberoth]

They may still buy themselves back, just like McIntosh/SF and Scan Speak did. We need to wait and see.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by taters

It's a sad day for me. I have owned their speakers the past 20 years. I would of thought Dynaudio would of been one of the last companies to sell to the Chinese. What's next Ferrari?

They do make a Chinese Edition





http://luxatic.com/ferrari-458-itali...ecial-edition/