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.
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
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.
Which reminds me of a recent triumph-of-the-mass-produced high-priced goods "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster."
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.
- by Claude-j April 22, 2009 7:58 AM PDT
- 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.
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