Lew Freedman of PAA says PowerHouse Alliance will help bolster his distribution business in IT especially. New England-area distributor Professional Audio Associates (PAA) is leaving the Catalyst AV group to join the PowerHouse Alliance effective November 1, 2019.
“PowerHouse Alliance provides us with more product capabilities and more opportunities. It helps us get into product categories that we should have been in,” says Lew Freedman, president of PAA. He says PAA was particularly lacking in the IT space.
Freedman specifically points to several key lines that will now be available for his company, including Ubiquiti, Apple, Seura, MSE Audio’s Soundtube, Luxul, Aruba Networks and Wilson Electronics.
“I have wanted to carry Wilson Electronics cell phone signal boosters for several years now,” comments Freedman. He is also excited to be able to offer PowerHouse Alliance’s house brand of products, dubbed A2V, which launched in 2017. That line includes mounts, subwoofers, outdoor speakers, HDMI cabling, racks and in-wall and in-ceiling speakers.
The 11-member PowerHouse Alliance has been without a New England-area member since May 2019 when SnapAV acquired MRI. The group also recently lost its West Coast member Volutone after it was also gobbled up by SnapAV. Similarly, Catalyst AV had one of its founding members, Allnet Distributing, be acquired by SnapAV.
CE Pro Newsletters
CE Pro’s Email Newsletters deliver timely news, industry-leading content, product information, and downloadable resources directly to your email inbox. Sign Up Today!At the CEDIA Expo 2019, PowerHouse Alliance executive director Dennis Holzer indicated to CE Pro that a new New England member was in the works. PAA, which has been in business since 1978, joined the 13-member Catalyst AV group back in 2017.
Based in the northern Boston suburb of Waltham, Mass., with a second location in Canton, Mass., south of Boston., PAA is known for its annual open house event and golf tournament it hosts every spring.
“This was a tough decision,” says Freedman, citing his 35-year friendship with Helge Fischer, executive director at Catalyst AV. “But I had to do the right thing for my company. The opportunities to grow are much stronger for us with PowerHouse. It was too much to walk away from.”
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
