Sorry it's taken so long to post this. The idea is to present the brands beyond the audiophile marketplace in an attempt to attract well-off consumers who are willing to buy other kinds of luxury goods but do not know about high performance audio.
The concept is based upon the idea that consumers know of the McIntosh brand name in the same way they know of Harley-Davidson, which is why of all of the brands under the umbrella McIntosh was the name chosen.
The concept was introduced to the press at an event last fall at the New York WOM townhouse that you can read about at the top of the story hyperlink.
Meanwhile, the very first WOM to open in an American audio store was at Ann Arbor Michigan's Paragon Sight And Sound.
I had gone there for an in-store even last fall and shot this video, which shows you what a World of McIntosh store in a store looks like. The high performance audio industry really needs such an outreach.
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COMMENTS
I never heard about the Paragon event last November until after it had taken place. Had I known, I would have attended. Interesting marketing concept, but it sort of makes me wonder how it will affect Audio Research. This move makes it seem like an afterthought in the grand scheme of things.
I see you discovered Encore. Did you hit any of the others like Underground Sounds, Wazoo or PJs? Encore is one of the area's best record shops. I've killed hours (and many dollars) in there!
Like Best Buy with a Magnolia section? So did Paragon only sell home theater previously, or was there no high end there before WOM? If so, I understand the temptation to skip the regular sales staff and go straight to the signage instead to spread the message. But is this also the same thinking that had McIntosh available on Amazon?
And yes the umbrella branding is weird. Paragon's site gamely lists "the others" but states it's Mac that's for "discerning" listeners.
Third generation Mcintosh user until service deteriorated about the time this consolidation occurred. Mcintosh was great at one time, and now they make the odd good product. But without the legendary service, I've lost confidence.
For all practical purposes, Wadia has ceased to exist.
Sure there are a few Wadia products, but for example they had a 24/192 upgrade engineered and ready to move toward production for the S7i, but instead Fine Sounds gave their existing customer base the finger after the acquisition, watered Wadia down to have an integrated DAC/amp in the line and pretty much wiped 30 years of high quality digital audio playback off the map. :(
Yes, acquisitions tend to do that, but they had the opportunity to do some really synergistic things like say deliver an ARC CD Player with the option to use Wadia's vaunted Digimaster filter.
Nope.
I heard a couple of key people who were long time employees in World of McIntosh abruptly resigned recently, possibly because of their selling at Best Buy and the like. What's next, ARC at Best Buy?
I realize there is controversy surrounding this business decision. But I applaud any efforts to inject some much needed vitality and marketing resources into the audio industry, especially if it is to promote more than just headphone listening. I am not saying there will be no mistakes along the way, but marketing to the same aging audiophiles who subscribe to the hi-fi rags and attend the shows is not a long term strategy for growth.
This might work in America, but frankly i am appalled as a Sonus Faber follower and owner of a pair of Cremonas since 12 years. Why 'McIntosh' that many have never heard of seriously here in Europe? They are sometimes considered as a bit 'Bang and Olufsen' here, so why not use Sonus Faber as lead name? That such a splendid company, producing some of the very finest and best value speakers, should have to hide behind McIntosh, God only knows. A massive massive marketing error. Here McIntosh will be confused with the computer company. Stupid imperialist Yankee nonsense i say!!
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