Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, and Boston Acoustics are on the sales block

As reported in Bloomberg.com D & M Holdings Inc, makers of Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, Snell Acoustics, Boston Acoustics, and Escient, is on the sales block. I can't comment on the business aspects of the deal, but speaking as an audiophile I'm concerned. These companies are in the upper echelons of audio, the Marantz name goes back 50 years, McIntosh has been building some of the world's best electronics in Binghamton, New York for 60 years, I was a friend of Peter Snell, the founder of Snell Acoustics, and the D & M Holdings owned company still builds speakers with the same attention to detail as it did when Snell first started in the 1970s. D & M Holdings has treated these brands with respect, so now I can only keep my fingers crossed that if a buyer steps up, it will also leave well enough alone.

Audio today, as exemplified by the iPod, has become a mere commodity, most mainstream audio products are cranked out by anonymous subcontractors. What part(s) of an iPod was actually designed by Apple engineers? There's no there, there.

D & M Holdings products are different, they're designed and made by real people; when I visited the McIntosh factory a few years ago I was impressed by their dedication. McIntosh engineers still design McIntosh electronics, and the McIntosh workers don't merely assemble parts made by subcontractors, the make most of the things that go into a McIntosh in house. The workers actually get to meet McIntosh equipment owners on a regular basis. The faithful schedule factory visits to see the place where their amplifier was built. McIntosh still stands behind gear they built when Eisenhower was President of the United States. Amazing!

So my deepest fear is that D & M Holdings' new owners close the factory and move production "off shore." Sure, the profits would skyrocket, but the soul of the brand would go out the window. D & M Holdings' brands each have their own story, I'm hoping this isn't the end, but a new start.

[acardes]

Stop it with the iPod bashing. We know isn't vinyl and we know you hate it, but keep in mind you blog on a site that praises the iPod. Most of your audience owns one out of convenience. Just let it go. Sorry to hear about these other great companies not doing so well.

[make_or_break]

No one's forcing you to come to the Audiophiliac pages. If you can't stand the heat for you precious little iPlods, I'm sure you can find the door, and even keep from little it hit your sensitive rear on the way out.

[ematcion]

While none of these brands are mainstream brands, the demise of D&M is yet another sign that the mass consumers are destroying the art of audio reproduction.

[moretroops]

What's destroying fidelity is not the demise of super-premium manufacturers like McIntosh -- or even digital music and the ubiquitous ipod. What's destroying it is needless and annoying compression, along with degraded recording standards. An ipod will never sound as good as a record, granted. But ipods (and of course CDs) can still sound fantastic if recorded correctly and transferred lossless-ly.

It seems to me that all of the talented folks who might have been sound engineers years ago are going into computer graphics or other visual media these days. The money and glory are definitely NOT in the recording studio -- unless you're a cookie cutter artist looking to stamp out a ringtone.

Don't blame the ipod or CDs for this. Blame the public for letting it happen.

[boh10]

Agree with ematcion. Acardes, you are so wrong. When everything on TV is 'reality TV' you will know what we are talking about... Quality vs. mass procuced crap will always loose...

[standto]

High def sound certainly has taken a backseat to high def video. The "public ear" is not as demanding as those of music professionals and the reasons why are many, including music not being taught in public schools; popularity of easy to reproduce electronic instrumentsound over less popular acoustic sound; so many low priced earphones vs high-end earphones. What do we do about it?
Which reminds me of a recent triumph-of-the-mass-produced high-priced goods "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster."

[make_or_break]

It isn't the iPod that's destroying hi-fi; it's a change in usage and habits. An iPod (or any other MP3 device) is versatile; nothing that McIntosh or Boston Acoustics does can replicate that. The traditional audio model was making equipment exclusive for home (or any other land-locked power grid site), exclusive gear for mobile (12v locked) and a third for on-the-go portable use. The iPod transcends that old way of looking at things, even if it's at the expense of superb fidelity (sorry, lossless on a iPod is still not an entirely satisfying replacement for my traditional audio sources, but I admit for most people it's good enough, and further justifiable as a viable option because of the inherent convenience built into its form factor). Once device can be used as a media source ANYWHERE, as long as the Li-Ion has juice. Frankly, that's a lot less repetition and drain on resouces (monetary, energy and material). Even though I still use and believe in the inherent goodness of my traditional gear, I still find myself using my MP3 player more and more. Yes it's not stupendous sound (fact is, I think some of the best headsets out there really bring out the performance FLAWS of these things), but for its convenience factor a iPod or Zune is awfully hard for trad gear to beat. And I don't even have to turn down the thermostat like I used to do when my electronics really got rocking in the summer months.

[make_or_break]

One other thing...there will always be the high end. Not everyone will be satisfied with mere run-of-the-mill iPod offerings (as long as iPods continue to be engineered in the manner that they are).

As for D&M Holdings...well, they made a go of it. Sorry to see that it hasn't been as successful has Harman appears to have been with their mega audio portfolio (Harman Kardon, JBL, Mark Levinson, Becker, etc., etc., etc.). I was glad when they bought McIntosh; never thought their association with their prior Clarion owners did the brand any real favors (except they DID get them into the car audio marketplace). Shame that D&M couldn't do more with their purchase of Rio, but then again nearly everyone was already in love with those viral iPods by then.

[jw55]

There will always be a high end, unfortunately what's disappearing is moderately priced quality audio equipment. Listening to music on a ipod is like cooking with margarine instead of butter. Unless your senses are really fine tuned you may not notice the difference immediately, but over time the experience becomes much less satisfactory and rewarding than it should be.

[Claude-j]

I've been in audio business for 30 years, selling High end audio equipment like McINTOSH, HH Scott, Fisher, Crown etc. etc. I left the audio business when the market was invaded with cheap chinese, or japan made product (although there have been good audio from Japan) and then came the digital concept that sounded awfull compare to analog. The beautifull market for audio was killed when the manufacturer where looking for more money, Peoples are looking for low price equipment, like the cheap iPod and MP3, and it's been so long on the market that the new generation has never heard what good sound should be.