Fisher/ Sanyo/ Panasonic/

[Superduper]

The electronic playing field keeps getting smaller. Sanyo absorbs Fisher, I believe. Now Sanyo, as of 12/2010 got absorbed by Panasonic.

Fisher, Sanyo and Pansonic produced A LOT of boomboxes over the years, all with different character. Now, they are all combined into one. Not much more competition to drive innovation.... = not a good thing.

 

[monchito]

:spam: now can we see the triple boomer that came out

 

[tshorba]

The electronic playing field keeps getting smaller. Sanyo absorbs Fisher, I believe. Now Sanyo, as of 12/2010 got absorbed by Panasonic.

Fisher, Sanyo and Pansonic produced A LOT of boomboxes over the years, all with different character. Now, they are all combined into one. Not much more competition to drive innovation.... = not a good thing.

Nothing new. Panasonic owned around half of JVC before selling it off to Kenwood
Pioneer is partially owned by Mitsubishi (they were audio back in the day) and Sharp - this is a % of shares trade deal after Pioneer hit trouble with the losses from the plasma business
Sony has consumed a number of smaller players over the years.

A lot of the time these acquisitions are driven by joint ventures between companies or buying a technology, companies like JVC wouldn't be around today if Panasonic didn't prop them up years ago

To put some perspective on it look at the audio brands owned by the likes of Harman International, Klipsch Group and IAG. It is a shame about the homogenization of these brands under single parent companies.

 

[Reli]

Wasn't Aiwa owned by Sony?

 

[tshorba]

Wasn't Aiwa owned by Sony?

Only at the very end did they purchase the whole company before that Sony was only a shareholder, they also brought out Wega in the 70's

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Lucky we all got most of the gems from the past!

 

[Fatdog]

Maybe if some of those companies didn't start producing crappy products, they would have never needed to merge with other companies or be bought completely. Think of all the classic, vintage gear that made each company great. Now, think about the gear each company was making before going bankrupt / being bought / merging. It's sad. I've heard some people say, "Well, it would just cost too much money to produce that same gear these days." I say that's bull crap.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Back in the good old days they didn't want 50% gross margins.

There must be a way to feed the FAT executives.

Mediocre quality with higher prices will come to the picture. They have to cut corners somewhere.

 

[baddboybill]

Now you see why I love Lasonic . Never went bankrupt , sold , or merged!!! And still going strong today

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Now you see why I love Lasonic . Never went bankrupt , sold , or merged!!! And still going strong today

 

[BoomboxLover48]

Norm,

Why don't you start a new SuperBox company. We all can invest.

Start making the Rolls Royce of Boomboxes.

 

[baddboybill]

Now you see why I love Lasonic . Never went bankrupt , sold , or merged!!! And still going strong today

Hey you shouldn't laugh... It's true . Might not be best quality but I would say there are more 931's left then any of the other boxes. Which goes to show owners of them never tossed them out, even if there were issues.

 

[THAFUZZ]

Now you see why I love Lasonic . Never went bankrupt , sold , or merged!!! And still going strong today

"Very wise Grasshopper'' So, with all this talent, this new 'Fish-Sany-onic' company could/should) be able to produce one heck of a Boomer now. I dare them to

 

[BMoney]

Norm,

Why don't you start a new SuperBox company. We all can invest.

Start making the Rolls Royce of Boomboxes.

Do it Norm!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

The only thing San-Phil-Sonic wants to produce are $30 Walmart mass produced garbage iPod docks made in China and already broken on the pallet in a shipping container at sea.

I think it's safe to say that not only with this, but with all companies that have swallowed their competition, that quality in all regards is gone and what is left is junk!

 

[tshorba]

The only thing San-Phil-Sonic wants to produce are $30 Walmart mass produced garbage iPod docks made in China and already broken on the pallet in a shipping container at sea.

I think it's safe to say that not only with this, but with all companies that have swallowed their competition, that quality in all regards is gone and what is left is junk!

The average consumer has driven this with their demands of downward pricing. Look at Pioneer plasma TV's as an example, best TV on the market every year since plasma came out but the price pressure of the likes of Samsung (driven by consumer demand) forced them out of the market. Consumers simply won't pay a premium anymore for what is clearly a superior product if others won't see it. It is a different story for "products' they can show off like cars and houses that they believe show as a status symbol, same goes for all Apple products. There is only a small % of consumers that understand sound quality these days.

If we use this forum as an example of the market place for a new quality boombox, there is 1541 members but what % post regularly or at all? It's not a very high %, extrapolate that to the wider market and the % of potential buyers is very, very low. The cost of tooling and R&D of remaking/redesigning something like a M-70/90 or RT-S931 would put a high ticket price on it, thus limiting sales and the net result would make it very hard to claw back any pre production costs (The boxes I have mentioned are known to have good build quality hence their use as a example)

 

[Scotty_M]

The only thing San-Phil-Sonic wants to produce are $30 Walmart mass produced garbage iPod docks made in China and already broken on the pallet in a shipping container at sea.

I think it's safe to say that not only with this, but with all companies that have swallowed their competition, that quality in all regards is gone and what is left is junk!

The average consumer has driven this with their demands of downward pricing. Look at Pioneer plasma TV's as an example, best TV on the market every year since plasma came out but the price pressure of the likes of Samsung (driven by consumer demand) forced them out of the market. Consumers simply won't pay a premium anymore for what is clearly a superior product if others won't see it. It is a different story for "products' they can show off like cars and houses that they believe show as a status symbol, same goes for all Apple products. There is only a small % of consumers that understand sound quality these days.

If we use this forum as an example of the market place for a new quality boombox, there is 1541 members but what % post regularly or at all? It's not a very high %, extrapolate that to the wider market and the % of potential buyers is very, very low. The cost of tooling and R&D of remaking/redesigning something like a M-70/90 or RT-S931 would put a high ticket price on it, thus limiting sales and the net result would make it very hard to claw back any pre production costs (The boxes I have mentioned are known to have good build quality hence their use as a example)

Matt you have Buddha like wisdom! I agree 100%. I remember the whole pioneer plasma thing when it went down.

Scotty

 

[tshorba]

thanks Scotty, I think I'm more of a , but I do know that the key to succeed in AVIT/CE is know your market

 

[Superduper]

Norm,

Why don't you start a new SuperBox company. We all can invest.

Start making the Rolls Royce of Boomboxes.

Do it Norm!

I would Brian except I won't be able to produce a quality product for under $200 like most folks want.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

The only thing San-Phil-Sonic wants to produce are $30 Walmart mass produced garbage iPod docks made in China and already broken on the pallet in a shipping container at sea.

I think it's safe to say that not only with this, but with all companies that have swallowed their competition, that quality in all regards is gone and what is left is junk!

The average consumer has driven this with their demands of downward pricing. Look at Pioneer plasma TV's as an example, best TV on the market every year since plasma came out but the price pressure of the likes of Samsung (driven by consumer demand) forced them out of the market. Consumers simply won't pay a premium anymore for what is clearly a superior product if others won't see it. It is a different story for "products' they can show off like cars and houses that they believe show as a status symbol, same goes for all Apple products. There is only a small % of consumers that understand sound quality these days.

If we use this forum as an example of the market place for a new quality boombox, there is 1541 members but what % post regularly or at all? It's not a very high %, extrapolate that to the wider market and the % of potential buyers is very, very low. The cost of tooling and R&D of remaking/redesigning something like a M-70/90 or RT-S931 would put a high ticket price on it, thus limiting sales and the net result would make it very hard to claw back any pre production costs (The boxes I have mentioned are known to have good build quality hence their use as a example)

I totally agree...

Allot of people today are broke and there for only buy based on price alone. Add into the fact that places like Walmart and Target bombard people with advertising that emphasizes on low price and low price ONLY, AND the fact that these 2 retailers have cornered the market place and ONLY carry the low end of product line, a large percentage of people have now come to accept this as the norm.

Since this is now the norm, LOW QUALITY and since this is the largest percentage (possibly/probably) bringing a new product to market with the features and build quality of an M90 would be nearly impossible because of the cost tooling as Norm mentioned. I would have to think an M90 today would be $2000 and up

Obviously, there are companies building higher end stuff (TDK ect), but these are not products I personally am interested in.