Mark's a really nice guy.
I think their problem right now is that sales of large speakers of any kind have been falling off. That, and the fans of two-channel stereo are aging out -- younger people favor headphones and portable audio. At the same time, the dealer network has been shrinking, and the old mid-fi stores have disappeared, so there's no funnel to get new customers into the remaining higher end stores. Finally, as an American manufacturer competing against low-wage producers in countries like China, they're very constrained in what product lines they can go into since the Chinese can undersell them. So strong headwinds that would challenge any management team.
In any case, the purpose of this speaker concept was to overcome what Wendell diplomatically calls the conflicted couple -- as in the prospective customer wants a pair of 30.7's and their spouse thinks earbuds are too big. And based on the situation and what guys were saying at the focus group I attended, I think it will increase sales. But ultimately, I think they'll have to diversify beyond that if they're to maintain sales. The question is how.
That said, they really do have to fix that website.
