Sound United Parts Ways With Longtime Classe Audio Head Nauber

Sound United announced to staff a reorganization Monday, with Classe Audio and Marantz President Joel Sietsema assuming all general management responsibilities that had been under Brand Director Dave Nauber. Nauber had been Classe president when Bowers & Wilkins owned the brand; Sound United bought the Classe Audio line in 2018 from B&W and Nauber headed the brand under the director title.

Sietsema told us Sound United “wanted to see how it would pan out” with Nauber at the brand’s helm, reporting to Sietsema, when Classe was integrated into the Sound United portfolio. Nauber had been with Classe since 2002. Going forward, “We’re going to be leaning on a handful of other people plus myself now ... to lead the Classe business,” he said. The high-end audio brand will get “more than its fair share of attention from the leadership team as well as from a broad set of shared service, functional partners, etc. inside the Sound United organization.”

Sound United’s plan to build the business going forward includes “pushing heavily in product development, marketing and brand partnerships for the Classe brand,” said Sietsema, saying the strategy will “improve our operating performance and success in our global markets.”

On whether there’s a broadening of the Classe line in the works, Sietsema cited the "strong legacy” the brand has with audiophiles in electronics and amplifiers: “We think the brand has a lot of appeal in those elite, luxury price points. So we want to be the first choice in hyper-luxury audio,” Sietsema said. The company wants to “broaden our aperture at some point," though not near term, he said: “We still have a range of products we need to expand into in the current Delta series.”

Long term, “the Classe proposition is absolutely one that would appeal to people who love the very best things in life,” Sietsema said. On whether Classe will incorporate a multiroom audio component from either of Sound United’s Formation or Heos technologies, Sietsema said that information is still under wraps: “There’s a lot happening behind the scenes, not just on Classe,” he said. “More than likely we’re going to move into a connected sort of world with Classe, and I think Heos is the most likely way we’re going to do it, but we haven’t released any products that have those yet.”

Sietsema thanked Nauber for helping to “stabilize and integrate” the Classe business and for completing the launch of the company’s signature Delta series line with engineering teams in Montreal and Japan. Nauber will help through the transition; his last day with Sound United is March 31.

“Critical to this transition, we will emphasize re-establishing supply of the Delta Series with our dealer partners and distributors,” Sietsema said. Adam Zaghlool remains general manager of Classe’s engineering division under the restructuring, he said, and all Montreal staff will continue in their roles. Ellie Fukuda, Sound United director-product planning, will assume product planning duties. Emmanuel Millot will continue to be responsible for hi-fi category duties, working with Fukuda and Zaghlool.

On the decision to part ways, Nauber told us, “It wasn’t working that well. ... I don’t have any animosity toward anybody there; we’re just moving in different directions." Classe is “on a good path, and is in a position to grow and be successful,” said the high-end audio industry veteran. He credited the design team that “stuck with me” through the transition to Sound United.

On how industry challenges from the past two years -- the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions -- played into the reorganization at Sound United, Nauber said: “With high-end components, you don’t have the luxury of substituting as many parts. There are many parts in a high-end component that are single-source. It shows the vulnerability of the manufacturing capability, and that’s certainly something that has caused a lot of stress within Classe over the last year.”

Sietsema told us there are certain components that Classe requires “to deliver the best sound quality that we know how,” and some of those “weren’t as available as we would like.” Though Sound United -- as a large-scale audio vendor with the Denon, Marantz, Polk and other brands -- has strong buying power, Classe has been affected by parts shortages “to a great degree this year.” He’s hopeful shortages will ease over the next few months, allowing Classe to get back into a “healthy in-stock position with our dealers.”

Nauber is weighing his options within the industry. After many months shut in due to COVID-19, he had his first trip to see dealers in November. “I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to stand in front of people in a store and talk about this stuff. I can’t wait to be able to do it again someday.” Nauber can be reached at DNauber@yahoo.com.