Ex-Apple and Sony Veterans Eying Underserved Audio for Video Market

Following a road show touring the country to “give demos and build hype,” In2 Technologies is on track to be in stores with its new category of TV sound system by mid-2012, company executives told Consumer Electronics Daily Wednesday. In a conference call with Chief Marketing Officer Mike Fidler in California, founder and President Todd Beauchamp told us he was currently in China speaking to contract manufacturers about the lifestyle product that combines speakers, amplifiers, electronics and a Blu-ray player into a utilitarian stand for a flat-panel TV.

Called Unity, the product will hit store shelves next summer at a retail price between $999 and $1,299, Fidler said. So far, the company has spoken to a broad range of potential dealers including mass merchants, specialty dealers, regional chains and online retailers, he said. The company is banking on a resurgence in audio sales to sell the product, which is designed to add full-range sound to flat-panel TVs, Fidler said. The company is hoping to build on the marketing experience of Fidler, who has some 30 years of CE experience with Pioneer, Sony and Digeo, and Beauchamp’s audio design experience with Apple and Carver, among others. “We've been involved with the industry for a long time but there’s still the challenge in integrating audio and video in terms of where it’s merchandised, who sells it and who buys it, Fidler said.

When asked how the company will make add-on sales on such a highly discounted product category as flat-panel TVs, Fidler talked about opportunity instead. He said the current attachment rate of selling audio with TVs is 3-5 percent. “We're seeing a real disconnect on the consumer side,” he said. Specialty dealers do “a little better” but overall there’s a challenge for consumers to select audio to go with TVs because of unsatisfactory options in the market, he said. “We're delivering a solution that eliminates wires and provides the perfect soundstage, requires no drilling in walls and you don’t have to worry about where speakers and subwoofers will go,” he said. “It’s a new category that bridges the gap between traditional soundbars and the perfect attributes of audio separates,” he said. Fidler wouldn’t disclose margins but said dealers will see a “positive impact” compared with what they get on a TV sale. Drawing on the appliance business, he cited the washer/dryer model where consumers “buy a package, not one or the other."

Beauchamp decided not to use neodymium drivers in the system due to the high cost. With all spaces limited to 3-4 inches in depth for cosmetic reasons, “when we cram a speaker in that small enclosure, we need a fairly high magnet strength to counter the depth issues,” he said. The natural design of the Unity has 18 times the box volume of a typical center channel, “so we're not limited by driver size anymore,” he said. He used a more cost-effective ceramic magnet instead since the magnet “is the most expensive part of the speaker,” he said. “We can keep a very cost-effective driver because we have a very large box volume to work with,” he said.

The first-generation product is about audio for video. Future iterations of Unity could include technologies such as over-the-top video and AirPlay for wireless transmission of sound, Beauchamp said. “One of the things the consumer is looking for is simplicity of operation and that includes development efforts we're undertaking to bring more content services into the mix,” he said. “Once you get into the living room, it provides an opportunity to be a gateway product,” he said.