If the leaves are falling in Southern New Hampshire, it means its Groove-tober for John Rein and the AV Therapy team.

Holding its annual fall marketing event, the proceedings honor the dealership’s late co-founder and “groove champion” Mark Terletzky. The company notes these fall events were always one of Terletzky’s favorite business activities and for 2024 the company decided to promote some brands that sometimes get overlooked by audiophiles.

“This event is always near and dear to our team, not only to celebrate Mark’s legacy but also to make it a premier destination for our brands to showcase their top products,” comments John Rein, owner, AV Therapy. “This year’s event is particularly special, as we welcome representatives from the industry’s leading brands that are participating in Groove-tober for the first time. It’s a fantastic opportunity to audition some of the most respected brands in the market and learn from the incredible folks who represent them.”

2024 AV Therapy Groove-tober Event Spotlights NAD, Bluesound, AudioQuest

Located just across the Massachusetts state line in Nashua, N.H., Rein notes that because of the current state of home audio and the entire smart home industry finding brick-and-mortar electronics businesses is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers.

Marketing events like its fall Groove-tober evening, he continues, provide new and existing customers the ability to come in at their leisure to see some of the market’s latest home AV components. Rein points out that over the years as the home technology market has evolved, AV Therapy has seen its client base grow with more customers frequenting the business from locations outside of Southern N.H. and the greater Boston area.

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Today, he elaborates, AV Therapy’s marketing events draw customers from all over New England and this fall the business took the opportunity to showcase some brands that some consumers may overlook.

“I want people to come and have fun and to have everyone enjoy themselves,” enthuses Rein. “People can come and see things they don’t normally get to see. There aren’t many audio shows in New England anymore and people can come to this event and talk to people from the industry.”

A Closer Look at Some of the Brands Featured

AudioQuest: Scott Jordan, regional manager and Ken Forsythe, director of high-end audio were on hand for Groove-tober to talk about the company’s Mythical Creatures cables, as well as AudioQuest’s power-conditioning products that include the Niagara models.

Chord Electronics: John Bevier, regional manager for Chord, demonstrated the English brand’s Ultima amps and preamps, as well as some of its user-friendly mobile audio solutions.

Focal/Naim: Arnaud Hendoux, managing director of the Americas, Sanjay Sharma, national sales manager, and Steve Presti, the local Rep from Roberts Associates showed Groove-tober attendees Focal’s Utopia, Sopra, and Kanta loudspeakers.

Michi: Bob Staples, regional manager for the brand attended the marketing event to talk about Michi’s X3 Series 2 integrated amplifier, along with the company’s P3 Series 2 and S5 power amplifiers.

NAD/Bluesound: David Dunn, technical specialist, Brian Farley, regional manager, and Ed Barmakian, the brands’ local representative, at Groove-tober 2024 spotlighted the latest versions of the Bluesound Node, and other soon-to-be-released models from the Lenbrook family of brands.

Explaining the theme of the AudioQuest demo Forsythe says he and Jordan are establishing a baseline of performance starting with the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cables that are included with components. Once the baseline is established, he and Jordan are demonstrating the step up in performance AudioQuest cables and power products can provide.

Jordan says each demo will take a few minutes and the system they are using includes the Niagara 7000 power management solution, along with Totem Acoustic Tribe tower speakers, a Bluesound Node, and electronics from Chord.

In a room downstairs Bevier featured several Chord products, including some of the British company’s portable components and a stack of higher-end home components. The long-time industry home audio veteran points out that Chord designs products for younger music lovers, as well as traditional audiophiles, and the company is meeting the demands for the newest genre of audio consumer¾music lovers that are downsizing in their lives, but still want a nice system to access.

This stack of Chord Electronics components is designed to deliver audiophile performance without taking up large amounts of space. (photo credit: Bob Archer CE Pro)

Elaborating on his earlier comments Rein sums up the event by stressing the home audio market is different today than back in its golden era and events like Groove-tober may be the only way that consumers see brands beyond the Internet.

“A brand like Chord has really come on with their electronics,” he adds. “People don’t know Chord around here. The same with Michi. This is a good chance to get to see these products in front of 150 people.”

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