Over the past several years residential dealers have increasingly crossed over into the commercial market as a means of growing their revenues. Citing CE Pro numbers that validate this trend as well as its own research, Russound has announced that it will introduce a new line of 70-volt audio products in the fall.
Russound plans to release more details later this summer about the audio product line, which will include a source solution, speakers and volume control options.
“We are going to focus on light commercial and 70-volt products. In the past Russound has had some accessories that work with 70-volt. We see in CE Pro data that dealers are doing about 30 percent light commercial and that matches our research,” says Colin Clark, vice president of product development, Russound. “We are excited to dedicate some product to the 70-volt market. This comes from an audio source, streaming audio, amplifier, speakers and volume controls to offer a complete solution to customers. These products can be used for yoga studio, bars, etc.”
“The feedback from dealers has been fantastic,” adds Clark. “It’s [the development of this product line] to help our customers with light commercial and there are some applications in residential such as outdoors that run better as 70 volt.”
Dealers will be able to see the products in the company’s CEDIA 2016 exhibit (booth #5110).
The products were developed through dealer input, says Charlie Porritt, CEO of Russound, and they will represent Russound’s design philosophy that places an emphasis on audio performance, simplicity and reliability.
“We’re putting the finishing touches on what will be one of our most impactful and most relevant CEDIA introductions to day,” says Porritt. “Our customers will see that when it comes to distributed audio, Russound is the best option in both the residential and light commercial channels.”
New Website Design
Supporting dealers in a different manner, Russound also announced a redesign of its website. Coordinating new company initiatives with its upcoming 50th anniversary, Russound says the new website provides increased functionality to users and more product information to help dealers make informed decisions.
“Every time we update the Russound site, we try to reimagine it as a new start, rather than a facelift,” says Porritt. “The latest version is our biggest web overhaul to date with a clean, detailed, yet stripped down approach that is ideal for customers who research our products on mobile devices.”
Highlighting some of the new design elements, the site is now mobile friendly to allow users clear navigation when using smart devices. Russound adds the site now offers searchable categories that include product summaries that consumers can understand.
“The site is designed with a responsive web engine, which is a web design buzz term,” says Porritt. “It scales to any browser, and it also has a new search bar. The redesign is long overdue, and it is live now.”
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
