Goodbye Kenwood USA Home electronics... (1 Viewer)

[Jimi C]

This news may be old and may have been covered, so at the risk of being redundant..

Audio Revolution:

"Rumors surfaced today that Kenwood USA is closing their home electronics business. Contacts at Kenwood and their PR firm were not available for comment at the time of publishing.

Email correspondence confirmed by sources inside the AV industry imply that the brand manager for Kenwood’s home audio division, Dean Hutto, was let go by the company today. Kenwood is likely to stay the course in its car audio business where the company owns a much larger portion of the electronics market.

Kenwood is a legendary Japanese audio brand with tremendous brand equity. They were first to the market with many technologies. Most recently, they were one of the first home theater brands to incorporate Faroudja’s internal video processing chips inside a DVD player at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, their Sovereign line was never the success the company had hoped for. With $49 DVD players lining the shelves of Costco, it is easy to see how an added-value brand like Kenwood could get lost in the din of consumer electronics in 2005.

Other sources have suggested Kenwood Home Electronics could be sold to other international companies. With a brand that most consumers know and respect, don’t be surprised to see Kenwood make a comeback someday soon."


:frowning:

 

[DavidSGT]

Another one bites the dust. Pity thou', I remember not too long ago when Kenwood presented us with their Pre/pro and power amp version which was relatively affordable, where I come from anyway, and didn't sound half bad. And their ICE systems were pretty decent too.

Regards.
David SGT

 

[LanceJ]

If this actually happens, that would really suck.

But I am completely unsurprised at even a rumor of this happening, seeing how empty the audio departments are at EVERY retailer I walk into the last three years, all the way from Wal-Mart up to hi-end stores that sell $20K/pair B&W Diamond series speakers.

I was at Circuit City today, trying to perform a casual audition of Sony's SA-VX700 sub, but couldn't because of the jostling crowds in the video department (that's where their 5.1 demo system is-a buddy usually hooks up gear there for me to check out). There was no way I was going to use their typical sub demo system to check out the Sony: a receiver paired to an XM radio. :frowning: Again, at every store the *TV* section-though mostly the widescreen monitor portion-is humming with activity.

Anyway, personally I am preparing to see more companies abandon audio, particularly component gear.

 

[ChrisHeflen]

...then I wonder why they showed this at CES this weekend...

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...6-page-13.html

 

[Jimi C]

Yea, Im kind of doubting how legitimate this is now.. I saw it posted on another forum, but after searching i see this article originated months ago on another site. However, there showing at CES is very weak. And looking at there website shows a very, very small lineup for this year. 4 AVRs and 1 DVD player is the extent of it..

 

[Craig W]

I thought I heard this a few months ago. Maybe its becoming official.



I thought the same after hearing the rumor about them exiting the business.

 

[Craig W]

Kenwood had big expectations with its Sovreign line 3 to 4 years ago, but many owners ended up frustrated with the incompatiblities and bugs that were all over their systems.

 

[LanceJ]

I don't want to pick on them too much, but the styling of the Sovreign receivers might have also helped to turn off more than a few people to this series (I didn't like it myself). I saw one at Tweeter & its strange, rounded "wave" shape just didn't work with the image I think Kenwood wanted this expensive component to project.

The last time I saw some really nice (and nice looking) Kenwood gear is when I worked at Incredible Universe in '95. We sold a preamp/power amp combination-all brushed aluminum metal construction, no plastic-that we used to power our THX certified Altec-Lansing 5.1 system (this is when Altec still made good gear). One of us sold the Kenwood pair to a customer and we helped him carry the two huge boxes to his car. Holy crap those things were heavy!! The five channel power amp must have weighed at least 80lbs and the preamp probably around 30.

For those that didn't know, pretty much all the Japanese audio manufacturers have (had?) a line of truly hi-end gear but only sell it in certain markets......and the # of those markets seems to be shrinking more and more.

 

[FNS.40 5.7]

I don't want to pick on them too much, but the styling of the Sovreign receivers might have also helped to turn off more than a few people to this series (I didn't like it myself). I saw one at Tweeter & its strange, rounded "wave" shape just didn't work with the image I think Kenwood wanted this expensive component to project.

The last time I saw some really nice (and nice looking) Kenwood gear is when I worked at Incredible Universe in '95. We sold a preamp/power amp combination-all brushed aluminum metal construction, no plastic-that we used to power our THX certified Altec-Lansing 5.1 system (this is when Altec still made good gear). One of us sold the Kenwood pair to a customer and we helped him carry the two huge boxes to his car. Holy crap those things were heavy!! The five channel power amp must have weighed at least 80lbs and the preamp probably around 30.

For those that didn't know, pretty much all the Japanese audio manufacturers have (had?) a line of truly hi-end gear but only sell it in certain markets......and the # of those markets seems to be shrinking more and more.

Hey lance are you still around? Did you work at the incredible universe in colorado? Hope your still around.

 

[FNS.40 5.7]

I think you sold one of those altec lansing tix sets to my family and set it up for us on your free time. That was so cool.

 

[FNS.40 5.7]

I think you sold one of those altec lansing tix sets to my family and set it up for us on your free time. That was so cool.

Still have the whole set, minus the pioneer big screen and the vcr. But the sub, the bipoles, and the mains are still in my collection. I still have the awesome speaker wire, you got for us too. If this was you thank you!! I had lots of good times listening to that gear with my dad. It was my first intro into home theater and i was hooked!!!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I can tell you LanceJ hasn't posted on the forum since 2010.

Sorry.