Bose buys McIntosh and Sonus Faber

[caspian1985]

Bose Corporation Snaps Up High-End Audio Brand McIntosh

Iconic audio brands will combine 175 years of technology, innovation and craftsmanship to deliver transformative sound experiences.

www.forbes.com

Wonder what if anything will change

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Bose Corporation Snaps Up High-End Audio Brand McIntosh

Iconic audio brands will combine 175 years of technology, innovation and craftsmanship to deliver transformative sound experiences.

www.forbes.com

Wonder what if anything will change

So maybe finally the next Sonus Faber Stradivari will come with an ipod dock

 

[balavignesh002]

So maybe finally the next Sonus Faber Stradivari will come with an ipod dock

Will have the famous blue badge of McIntosh embeded

 

[muralimmreddy]

So maybe finally the next Sonus Faber Stradivari will come with an ipod dock

 

[sandeepmohan]

Wait! what!
I didn't know Bose had so much money to suck up two giants in Audio.

 

[rajkr100]

Bose's historic double swoop sees the US brand acquire McIntosh and Sonus Faber

BoseIntosh? Sonus fa-Bose?

www.whathifi.com

 

[deafbong_kolkata]

Who cares ?

 

[arj]

Wait! what!
I didn't know Bose had so much money to suck up two giants in Audio.

Bose is a 3B company and with private ownership hence expect healthy profit margins and cash reserves. This should be positive for the Audio industry

From what I know of the industry,
IAG which has almost 1/2 a Billion of estimated revenue which has more of entry and mid level brands including Quad
Then there is Massimo which has B&W/Polk audio other than Denon/Marantz..since it was acquired for a billion might be 200M in revenue
The 4th is of course Harman ( now owned by Samsung) and is actually the behemoth with 8B and brands like Mark levinson, JBL etc with a vast spread

Not aware of other Large consolidated players but the others do add up as well.Considering the luxury audio market is around 10B and expected to have a CAGR of 9% its not a bad idea to consolidate.

I do believe this is great for the Audio industry as it might bring SF/Macintosh to more mainstream audio discussions

The problem could be Spare parts for Older products..Bose may not keep old inventory parts

 

[sidvee]

Usually with these type of acquisitions 2 undesirable things happen to current equipment owners:
1. Distribution/Dealership Churn - New mgmt. looks for new D&D's or moves product to their current base. Leaves a current owner hanging in case of support required.
2. And as Arj alluded to above, parts shortage, in case paid service required.
Anyways this seems to be the direction the industry is headed, so one has to be careful when considering a high end Audio purchase.
So far I heard Conrad Johnson and Verity audio shut down, and some others are in difficulty including DartZeel.
Anyways I hope Bose is able to maintain or improve these storied brands.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[caspian1985]

Bose is a 3B company and with private ownership hence expect healthy profit margins and cash reserves. This should be positive for the Audio industry

From what I know of the industry,
IAG which has almost 1/2 a Billion of estimated revenue which has more of entry and mid level brands including Quad
Then there is Massimo which has B&W/Polk audio other than Denon/Marantz..since it was acquired for a billion might be 200M in revenue
The 4th is of course Harman ( now owned by Samsung) and is actually the behemoth with 8B and brands like Mark levinson, JBL etc with a vast spread

Not aware of other Large consolidated players but the others do add up as well.Considering the luxury audio market is around 10B and expected to have a CAGR of 9% its not a bad idea to consolidate.

I do believe this is great for the Audio industry as it might bring SF/Macintosh to more mainstream audio discussions

The problem could be Spare parts for Older products..Bose may not keep old inventory parts

Quick search for numbers
Bose ( including professional ) $3.2B
Harman ( including professional ) $8.8B
Sound United ( Denon, Marantz, B&W, Polk ) $800M
Premium Audio ( Klipsch, Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer ) $250M-$300M

 

[insane79]

I feel this is better then being owned by an Equity firm that just looks at Numbers/Profit.

Time will tell. Mcintosh's pedigree & heritage has always held their Value in the Audio Industry even after multiple owners of the brand.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Wait! what!
I didn't know Bose had so much money to suck up two giants in Audio.

To be fair most so called giants are struggling to stay in business these days. Denon/Marantz/bowers and Wilkins/polk they all are struggling just like pioneer/onkyo and co.

 

[edjamesx]

To be fair most so called giants are struggling to stay in business these days. Denon/Marantz/bowers and Wilkins/polk they all are struggling just like pioneer/onkyo and co.

All of the brands are very expensive these days.. they need to work out affordable price ranges ..then of course their market will be up.

 

[hifimaddy]

Quick search for numbers
Bose ( including professional ) $3.2B
Harman ( including professional ) $8.8B
Sound United ( Denon, Marantz, B&W, Polk ) $800M
Premium Audio ( Klipsch, Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer ) $250M-$300M

In the end, everything goes to Samsung

 

[square_wave]

Wait! what!
I didn't know Bose had so much money to suck up two giants in Audio.

2023 revenue for bose was 3 billion usd. Mcintosh was around 25 million usd. That is peanuts for Bose.

 

[Nitin K]

2023 revenue for bose was 3 billion usd. Mcintosh was around 25 million usd. That is peanuts for Bose.

After hearing the news of the acquisition of these 2 big brands by a company that makes tiny speakers, sounds like " Chota muh badi baat"

 

[MaSh]

This is absolutely awesome news for the market. I am sure this will bring these two brands to millions of showrooms across the world making them much more accessible to the general public. Imagine being able to listen to them in a mall down the road instead of some fancy Audio show . Will definitely help with the sales.

Man I am just dying to see those VU meters on every product. Sound Bar with blue VU meters.

MaSh

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

I would expect Bose to launch premium all-in-one offerings in their existing highend stores with Mcintosh and Sonus Faber branding to stand above the crowd like Marshall, JBL and Sonos Etc.

 

[sidvee]

I think this whole thing is because Bose wants to get into premium automobile audio systems and has less to do with home audio. Car audio systems is where the large sales volume/margin is, home audio is miniscule. Current size of Bose at USD 3 billion is from car audio - they are tied up with some major OEMs, like hyundai/kia etc. Now they may propose SF/McIntosh systems for higher end brands like naim did with bentley. Back in the day there were some McIntosh branded - Clarion car audio systems available.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sandeepmohan]

I do believe this is great for the Audio industry as it might bring SF/Macintosh to more mainstream audio discussions

Not implying this a bad thing. I just don't understand the vision of the parent company and the other two being in alignment.
Bose has always been about trickery in sound. Getting the most sound out of tiny little boxes. They have pretty much given up selling stereo speakers such as even the 301 (Forget the 901). Even for these loudspeakers, it was more a gimmick based approach. They were never really the pinnacle in terms of audio reproduction. McIntosh and SF are at the other end of the spectrum, where the tag line "Better Sound Through Research" maybe more fitting. Not for Bose.