Directed Acquires Assets of ADST > >Vista, Calif. (11-30-01) Directed Electronics, Inc., America's largest >vehicle security and remote start company, today announced it has >completed the acquisition of certain assets of ADS Technologies, Inc. >("ADST"), makers of the a/d/s/Ô, Precision PowerÔ (PPI) and OrionÔ audio >brands for an undisclosed sum, dramatically expanding the scope of >Directed's audio business. > >According to Directed Electronics President and CEO Jim Minarik: "One of >our key strategic initiatives at Directed, in addition to maintaining our >number one position in vehicle security and remote start, is to rapidly >grow our audio business. The acquisition of these well-known brands, along >with many of the talented people who have played key roles in their past >success, are going to be key components in our overall strategy to become >a major player in the audio business in the years ahead." > >Kurien Jacob, former president of ADST, will be joining Directed as >General Manager of Directed's new Phoenix-based audio operation, which >will be focused on product development, engineering, and sales & >marketing. In addition, Karen Metros, Roger Paeselt and Bill Turner will >be continuing to lead the respective sales organizations of a/d/s/, >Precision Power and Orion. > >"We are excited about having a mobile electronics presence in Phoenix, >which is analogous to being in the Silicon Valley for companies in the >computer business," said Minarik. Parallel operations such as customer >service, credit & collections, accounting and shipping are scheduled to >transition to Directed's state-of-the-art headquarters facility in >Southern California no later than the second quarter of 2002. > >"We recognize that many retailers may have been inconvenienced by some of >the recent challenges that ADST has experienced," noted Minarik. "Dealers >naturally have certain expectations for these famous brands, and within 90 >days we are committed to delivering the same world class levels of product >quality, service and support for a/d/s/, Precision Power and Orion that >customers have come to expect from Directed."
-------------------- Alex Jordan Rockford Technical Specialist
Posts: 497 | From: Phoenix, AZ, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
I hope they don't. I hope they learn from PPI and ADST's mistakes, and just gut all three companies to one decent one.
The High End market has shrunk considerable since babyboomers are no longer buying car audio. We need fewer brands to make more profitable ones. If they are smart, they'll just end up with 2 lines, one a crap line to make them consumer money, and another, a top shelf company that they can sink their esteem into.
It' like being a high end typewriter salesman. Sure, you can make an awesome product, but if no one buys it (or even needs it) why bother?
Of course, if they were REALLY smart, they'd have just let all 3 companies die off, and swallow their market share later. Either way, Good Luck DEI. You'll need it.
[ 12-12-2001: Message edited by: Mr. Brownstone ]
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posted
If someone else doesn't swallow the market share before DEI can get it....I think that maybe they should integrate PPI and Orion into the DEI name however if you kill off A/D/S then I believe you would be making a mistake. I wonder what BMW would think about getting rid of A/D/S? DEI products can be found at what I consider a low end price for quality performance, you can get the 1100d for $400 so why not have a three step process and integrate PPI and Orion for a quality performance mid line and then have keep A/D/S dealing with BMW and all the guys with too much money? Just my thoughts though.
Posts: 1285 | From: Crouse, N.C. | Registered: May 2000
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posted
I'm with ya! That'd probably work. Small, medium & large. Just don't bother spending too much money on the large section. The ROI is too low.
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i wonder if the guys from PPI/ORION/ADS now get employee discount on Banana Boat sun lotion with that buyout? to all those that dont know, DEI is owned by a bigger company that also owns Banana Boat & other companies. Keep em nice and tan in Phoenix, LOL!
Posts: 8822 | From: over yonder | Registered: May 2001
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I'm certain they'll be more concerned about finding jobs than getting an 'all over tan'. I wish them well, but hope they don't try to make the new amps any uglier than either the PPI muffler series or the DEI Fosgate ones.
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jeez ... such a pessimist you are, Mr. Brownstone. I look forward to a year for the folks at Directed Phoenix that demonstrates just how much "life" there still is in the "dying" upper end market (as you see it), and for their three premium brands.
Also, what exactly is a "DEI Fosgate" amp?
JD
Posts: 752 | From: San Diego | Registered: Jan 2000
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CMon JD! I thought you worked for DEI! You should have seen the DEI 1100D by now. The DEI fosgate, as I called it, was the look they had last year. Simply put, they looked like a bad take on the RF amps. This is not to say that DEI made junk, only junky looking amplifiers.
I'm excited with the DEI looks for 2002. I was substantially impressed by the new look, and it was much needed.
Pessism? Are you on crack!!!
Let's look at the car audio market for a while shall we? Soundstream, MB Quart, Xtant, PPI & Orion & A/D/S all catered (deceased now) to the high end market. Barring the 'hott-setup' and the 'sedona' series, they always have. It's suffice to say there is not a bargain in the line, merely, the highest level of quality of amplifier and speakers available.
The problem lies with the CUSTOMER base. Car audio is an age 16 to 22 yr old market. Although there's no law saying that a 23yr old can't buy car audio, they usually outgrow that market. A 16 yr old kid isn't likely to afford a $1200 class AB amplifier, especially when a nice class D from MTX is only $700 retail. PPI should have learned this (PCX-1500 vs 81000D), but they didn't.
It all starts from the customer base. Unless you have a way to lure older, married, more financially responsible people to car audio, it's gonna be tough making it in the dwindling high dollar market. In fact, if you didn't sell Banana Boat sunscreen, I don't know how you'd be able to afford to build the amps.
Consider what products you are going to sell @ Best Buy or Circuit City to afford to cater to your 'high end' customers. You are trying to get a growing share of a dying market. This is the financial model that has killed off the high end companies, and forced them to be sold to lower level companies with better financial health.
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posted
Hmmm ... frankly, I am both moderately offended and bemused at the same time. I'm the product manager for Directed Audio, have been since we started back in 95/96. I would have said our 2001 models, while a little simplistic possibly, looked NOTHING like an RF amp - I assume you're talking about the 2001 models, not our original Mobile Power Series. Those were generic enough to look like pretty much anything you could name, though they sounded good. But given we've never used die-cast housings, or any of the fairly obvious styling cues that RF has used in their last few series, I'm still shaking my head over the "DEI Fosgate" comment. Frankly, and I say this as a guy that was a Fosgate die-hard long before there was a Rockford, the only parts of their program I'd like to emulate are the sales numbers - I haven't been a huge fan of the amps for years now. They're extremely well-built, sure, but I just don't like the looks and I don't care much for some of the design elements either. I do appreciate your comment on our new stuff though - we put a lot of work into this year's lines.
As to the high-end market, I think you're confusing bad management by a lot of the companies you mentioned with market erosion. High-end markets are niche markets to start with, by definition, and they tend to survive better longer as a result, at least as long as the occupants of the niche don't do stupid stuff. The customer base does not change drastically enough from year to year to cause the consolidations you're citing - that's largely the result of poor management and in some cases bad luck possibly. I am very much of the belief that Directed Phoenix can regain the market share they lost in the last couple of years, with their strong brand marketing skills and our dealer fulfillment skills.
I think if you wanted to make a case that there was no giant growth curve in sight for high-end car audio that I would agree, but I don't see any reason why well-run companies cannot survive in that niche indefinitely. And lest we forget, not all of their products are "high-end" in terms of cost anyway, Orion Cobalt is a very competitively priced product and PPI has had some success in upper-middle price point product also.
JD
Posts: 752 | From: San Diego | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
PPI quit it's 'ppi' line a couple year ago, and never had success with it. In fact, why do you think ADS owned them?
Strong, vital growing companies don't have problems finding financing to build their products. They also rarely sell out to another company because they don't need the money.
I think we all are forgetting (myself included) that CAR AUDIO is the Niche market--high end is a fetish of the Niche market. As to your clarification that the DEI 2001 amp doesn't look anything like a DEI Fosgate product, you'd never convince a jury of your peers. Quite frankly, it looked cheap.
Again, I don't believe that I have ever said that DEI makes an inferior product--just a fugly one. The 2002 ones I saw @ CES were very appealing--almost a meld between Concept & Orion. What my argument was was (ala bill clinton) that this 'high-end' market is not growing. Companies in business either grow or die. Rockford made timely aquisitions of both Lightning & MB Quart, as well as selling in BBuy because they understand marketing and sales. What's funny is that Rockford really didn't make a lesser quality product, they just stop underrating them. A Punch 75 (in 1990) was rated at 37.5x2 and it put out 90x2. Now, they'd sell it as a Punch 180.
You can kill a company a thousand ways, but can grow it only one way...sell something. My question is, who are you going to sell a $1500 amplifier to? Your sponsored competitors, stores that compete, and well, that's about it. The end user just isn't there. What is funny is that the Memphis 1500D is $1100 (a far cry from $1500) with the same output.
You can say anything you want to convince yourself that you know what your are doing. Right now, you are affirming my point that you are becoming the next ADSPPIORION. Swallowing these companies isn't making you stronger, it's diluting your product base. Eventually, you'll need to cut off an arm or 2 to save the division.
3 years & counting.
[ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: Mr. Brownstone ]
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posted
If it's 2 1200Ds or 2 1100Ds, it'll have the same output. Either way, hows a 16-22yr old kid (not store or mfr sponsored competitor) going to afford it. I'm willing to be 99 of 100 people will be able to get 1500 or more out of the memphis, but 2500 out of that is ridiculous.
Do you know the current draw?
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Author Comment MrBrownstone Car Audio Pimp Posts: 267 (1/23/02 2:17:18 pm) Reply JD from DEI & Mr. B go head to head -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you know, Mr. B is the Archie Bunker of this forum. Noone else is as opinionated on everything. Others may have better, more thoughtful opinion, but Mr. B is the most slanted man on the planet.
END AUTOBIOGRAPHY
At one time, when PPI, ADS, ORION, DEI, BANANA BOAT, DELPHI, DELCO, CRACO got together, I made a remark that the high end has a dying market market since the end of the baby boom. This ordeal has traversed since the end of November--when the DEI deal went down. Finally, DEI decided that they needed to answer this, and when they did, no one came rushing to their defense. My argument was simply:
1. They were buying a high end line, and that market is fading in significance. 2. DEI amps last year were U-G-L-Y
Now class, if you want extra credit, feel free to read the below post on Termpro. Please do not feel pressured to enter into the argument on my behalf. I can inflame people myself quite well. www.termpro.com/cgi-bin/u...1&t=000110
*** For those of you that are not hip to the boom, it occured from 1946 to 1964, and in car audio, it ended 22-25 yrs later in around 1989. Since then, the 'high-end' market has not budged one bit. Population has grown 40%, but the car audio market is not even getting savings account growth.
Before you bother replying to Mr. Brownstone (aka Brian Banish), I suggest you read up a little about his antics.
I would also recommend that you not be so quick to listen to someone that hacked an account, and is know replying as that person, this is not caustic, it is someone else
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posted
I think we also know that there are termpro moderators that are doing some 'funny things' here as well.
What's funny is, you don't see them rectifying any of those matters. Fixxxer has known about this for some time, and actually promotes this because of his argument with me.
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quote:Originally posted by Mr. Brownstone: I think we also know that there are termpro moderators that are doing some 'funny things' here as well.
What's funny is, you don't see them rectifying any of those matters. Fixxxer has known about this for some time, and actually promotes this because of his argument with me.
Whoa whoa whoa.. What exactly are you talking about? My argument with you?
Yes I think we had a disagreement in the past.. but thats the past and I could really care less about it now. I dont hold grudges, its a waste of time.
And what exactly am I "promoting" here?
One other thing. Before you go and blame the moderators for your (or your friends) problems, I suggest you show some proof to back up your claims. I still don't even see how it is possible to "hack" a termpro account.
posted
Just like you and your 'friend' have had bad experiences with my store, yet you've never bought anything from me.
Quit trying to play the honest, dutiful little moderator. Everyone here knows better than that.
I have enough evidence to serve you, wayne, and other-- legally, I just have better things to spend my money on than legal battles.
Why don't you do all us a favor, if you are so just, and just delete or ban Caustic's account? You know that it's not the person that opened the account.
I mean, why NOT?
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Why don't you do all us a favor, if you are so just, and just delete or ban Caustic's account? You know that it's not the person that opened the account.
I mean, why NOT?
Now see, thats the problem. None of the moderators have any control over any of the accounts. I cant ban people, I cant delete accounts, and I certainly cant "hack" accounts from a University of Michigan computer (where I do the majority of my posting/browsing). Hell, I cant even access a majority of the popular websites from here, such as Geocities and such. They're all blocked.
And I'll say it again. If you wish to slander the moderators of this board by accusing us of your problems, then be my guest. But please refrain from doing so unless you have proof. Because until you show some proof, its nothing but talk.
I'm gonna leave it at that. There's no point in arguing with you. If you, or caustic, want that account deleted, you'll have to email Wayne himself. He's the only one with the power to do so. Thats something that should have been done as soon as you knew the account was tampered with. So like I said, dont blame us.
