Looking to break from the “Man Trap” “Arena” of traditional consumer audio marketing, Nashua, N.H.-based AV Therapy lifted “The Savage Curtain” and found the “Way to Eden” during its latest marketing event.
John Rein, principal partner of AV Therapy, and the rest of his team recently hosted its annual fall marketing event on Oct. 25 using the theme of “Trek or Treat.”
Through this “Star Trek” party theme, AV Therapy was able to provide a festive event backdrop as a means to support an environment for audiophiles to gather and network.
“Our events have been going on for seven years and we have two a year. I think they are successful because I think people enjoy seeing other people and technology they are into and enjoy. There really is no group of people like audiophiles and music lovers that just enjoy something so passionately other than race people and it just doesn’t cost quite as much as a race car,” explains Rein.
“I think one of the best things we can do is get people together to talk and enjoy the evening; have fun and have no format whatsoever except to ask questions and talk.”
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AV Therapy Trek or Treat Hosts a Galaxy of Audio Stars
Supporting the event’s theme, another major attraction of AV Therapy’s marketing endeavors is the participation of Rein’s vendor partners.
Taking part in the fall 2019 event was David Kroll and Johan Coorg from KEF America, Joe Finn from Parasound, Jim Price from NAD and Bluesound, Ben Newhall from MoFi, and Amy Hansen and Michael Taylor from Nordost.
According to Kroll, organic, grassroot marketing events such as AV Therapy’s Trek or Treat promotion enable dealers the ability to compete in an environment that is geared to favor large big-box retailers.
“This is a great dealer event that gets well in excess of more than 100 consumers into the door over the course of the evening to listen to the offerings from multiple manufacturers. There is typically multiple manufacturer representatives here, so it’s also a great time for consumers to come and connect with the manufacturer,” comments Kroll.
“In this day and age, it has become increasingly tough for small, family-run retailers. They need to get their voice out into a very large world where the cost of advertising and marketing has become exponentially more expensive than it was 10 or 20 years ago. The dealers like AV Therapy who really do a great job of connecting with consumers, each have found their own secret sauce—these events work well for AV Therapy.”
Some of the products highlighted during the event included KEF’s LSX wireless series of loudspeakers and the company’s Blade series of floorstanding loudspeakers.
This is a great dealer event that gets well in excess of more than 100 consumers into the door over the course of the evening to listen to the offerings from multiple manufacturers. There is typically multiple manufacturer representatives here, so it’s also a great time for consumers to come and connect with the manufacturer,
David Kroll, KEF America
The LSX Series is an active wireless audio loudspeaker that can be used as a standalone solution. The speaker can also be combined with multiroom audio components from top companies such as Sonos, Bluesound, HEOS, Yamaha MusicCast to provide zones of audio within a wireless multiroom audio system.
In addition, the speakers can be combined with cable/satellite set-top boxes, while providing options such as Spotify, Apple AirPlay2 and Roon compatibility.
KEF’s Blade Series is available in two versions and these products combine the company’s latest industrial designs and UniQ driver arrays.
Moving from the KEF demos, which were held upstairs in the multi-level showroom, Finn demonstrated the new Parasound New Classic 200 integrated amp in the facility’s basement level room.
According to Parasound, its latest integrated amp utilizes a Class D design that produces 110 watts per channel. The New Classic 200 integrated amp also offers a choice of analog and digital inputs that include provisions to accept moving coil and moving magnet phono inputs, and home theater bypass options.
Pairing the Parasound products with Spendor speakers, Rein showed attendees the speaker company’s “old-school” Classic 1/2 that draws inspiration from famed BBC monitors that were the envy of past audiophile generations.
Upstairs, in a room down the hall from the KEF demonstrations, Price showed AV Therapy Trek and Treat attendees NAD’s M10 integrated amplifier.
The M10 has received a lot of fanfare from audio enthusiasts for its combination of modern industrial designs and modern features. Some of those features include Bluesound wireless whole-house audio options, MQA high-resolution audio, Dirac Live room correction, 100 watts of power per channel and a selection of inputs that include HDMI.
Summing up, KEF’s participation in events such as AV Therapy’s Trek or Treat, Kroll says it simply comes down to KEF helping its dealers to sell more products.
“KEF has a very large consumer base, and our consumer base is always looking for places to go, touch, hear and play with the gear,” Kroll admits.
“So it’s very important for KEF as a brand to provide every bit of support that we can for dealers like AV Therapy to help drive consumers in their doors so conversely they can stay in business and consumers have a place to go to play with our gear.”
