It's been quite a week in the custom electronics industry.
First, Control4 dropped a bombshell when it announced the acquisition of custom installation bedrock brand Triad Speakers.
About a day later, Sound United, parent company of Definitive Technology and Polk Audio, announced the acquisition of D+M Group and its brands Denon, HEOS by Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics.
When you look at the Sound United deal, the immediate question once the dust settles will surely be, what will happen to these brands?
Each of the formerly D+M Group brands are all strong and respected within their individual categories.
Will Sound United allow the brands to operate as separate entities, like the way The McIntosh Group handles its brands (McIntosh, Audio Research, Sonus faber, Sumiko and Wadia)? Or… will the brands get folded into a larger portfolio, like the way Leviton incorporated HAI into its product line or the way Legrand handled its acquisition of NuVo Technologies?
From a business perspective it probably doesn't matter, but aesthetically it could matter for dealers that simply prefer some brands over others for a variety of reasons.
HEOS vs. Play-Fi
This question could also have a huge impact on the future of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology products.
At this moment Polk Audio, Definitive Technology and HEOS by Denon are rivals in the highly competitive wireless whole-house audio category. At the foundation of the Polk and Definitive Technology products is DTS' Play-Fi wireless audio platform, which is licensed by a growing number of companies, including Sound United.
If Sound United were to allow Polk and Definitive Technology access to the HEOS platform, that would likely end Sound United's use of Play-Fi while simultaneously expanding the HEOS universe.
This would increase the adoption of HEOS which, according to CE Pro Top 100 Brand Analysis statistics, is already growing rapidly despite Sonos' dominance of the wireless audio category.
Such a move could really ignite a fire in the wireless whole-house category and could even force Sonos into a competition that it has never really faced before. This could be good for the market because competition means better products, and for dealers it means these improved products could create more sales opportunities.
Right now it's nothing but speculation, but it's a pretty good assumption to think that this move would be welcomed by a lot of dealers that have demanded change in the wireless whole-house audio category.
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