B&W gets sold

very interesting development! i know that, apparently, the current B&W product line up will continue as now, but i wonder what the future holds.  I noted the view: "Any company that wants to sell speakers at a significant premium would need to integrate high-end hardware with sophisticated software."

enjoy

ken

"Atkins, who owns 60 percent of Bowers & Wilkins, will take a significant ownership stake in the new company. Bowers & Wilkins’s outside investors, Caledonia Investments and Sofina, will cash out.

Yu has been a Silicon Valley dealmaker for years."

Looks like another deal by the dealmaker.

I hope Atkins remains loyal to his customer base!

Allante93!

I love b&w and really hope this goes well and dosent go the way of mission,castle,quad,wharfdale, etc, went.

Besides the B&W, I think we should worry about the Naim as well. Believe or not, after the Fine sound took over the SF, MAC and ARC (Audio Research), the sound quality of the product doesn't increase a lot but the price gone up to high level. For example, I have a chance to compare the Jadis I50 integreated amp (Class A power) with Audio Research integrated amp (Class AB power) using the same KT150 tube for both amp and same feature, but the price ARC were double than Jadis.

In the comparison, I felt like Jadis smoke the ARC at least 2 streets behind. So, in HiFi industries big cooperate took over always means higher selling price. I see Naim pricing slightly different than before, hope it will not follow the same direction like above? This is why I told Stewart Tyler (ProAc owner/designer), if he sold his company or no more there I won't buy ProAc speaker any more.

I hope no one minds me quoting from elsewhere ... but I think this comment from Patrick Butler of B&W Group North America might put this (and similar) sales in context...

We will know more in good time. As a good friend reminded me today, 30 years ago Bowers & Wilkins was sold to an accountant from Canada who doesn't listen to music. That accountant was Joe Atkins, and the company grew to become the largest manufacturer of high performance loudspeakers on the planet. 

Eloise

audio equipent sales are falling, i know less people who own audio year after year, SO  less in the to many  speaker manufacturing area ,it seemsSONOS and the likes muso are picking up most of the slack.