Another ML voice

[Peter Soderberg]

Hello Everyone. I am Peter Soderberg, Sales Mgr for ML and have been asked by Justin to jump in once in awhile so that I can help shed insight on certain issues. As I am with the ML, all of you need to know that I must maintain a certain distance from certian issues and can not be used as a salesman, councelor or psychiatrist. My principle job will be to help maintain certain facts and since I have owned, sold and now work for ML for over 20 years, I am the most hands on of anyone in our group. Please, please, keep the healthy banter going and I can not be a "nanny". Tom does a great job keeping the objectivity going so you can all continue liking, loving or bitching going, just sometimes I can shed some more light on issues so you can all get back to better things.

 

[Rich]

Great to have you on board, Peter. Always good to have someone from ML chiming in with facts to keep guys like me straight when we start speculating too much.

 

[spectral]

Peter,

in your view, what qualifies ML's CEO for that job?

 

[C.A.P]

Peter,

in your view, what qualifies ML's CEO for that job?

Come on . Be for real.:banghead: Like he will be able to answer that. It would be self incriminating and just plain WRONG. Would you pass judgment on your boss on a public forum?:wtf:

LETS NOT RUN OUR ALLY OFF !

Thanks for coming on board. Welcome

 

[MOON]

Thanks for posting Peter, we welcome your input to the forums.

Cheers, Greg

 

[GaryG]

Welcome aboard Peter. You're selling a great product, but you already know that.

 

[TomDac]

Welcome, Peter!

 

[churchill]

Welcome and thanks for posting Peter!

 

[Peter Soderberg]

Thanks all and after plenty of years lurking, it is good to be aboard.
Actually, I will answer Spectral's question. Tim is a very good operations man. His last position was a even more competitive world and his responsibilities are simply to create the most efficient operations as possible. He is not an audiophile and had little knowledge on our specific goods, but now that he has hung around us all, he is like a kid in candy store and loves what we do. He does not have any effect on design or direction and let's Dean Tassio, our VP of sales, ex Polk VP, generally guide our business. To Deans credit, he has let the engineers loose with his general vision with the result being Motion, and multiple upcoming products at both end of the spectrum. Both additions have turned us into much more of a stable company versus some hobbiest company, making us stronger for the long haul. You all may have missed the good old days in some ways, but since I have been dealing with ML for a long time from every perspective, I am very pleased with the current direction. By the way, Gayle S. came by the booth at CEDIA and he is looking good. He loves what we are doing and is glad that his baby is continuing to grow. Bastard never seems to age!

So thanks for the welcome, but please remember I can only say so much and have to let you guys to continue the chatter freely.

 

[repman]

Peter, I appreciate the perspective.

Running a business is not a hobby as some would want it to be but an endeaver to make money.

I think some here were nervous that ML would be abandoning what we all love about the speakers in an effort to become more mainstream.

It seems to me that because you are making speakers that now have more mass appeal ( hence better sales) you will now have more resources to commit to R&D for the higher end speakers most of us love here.

Please do not abandon the high end !!!

 

[jaandmel]

To Deans credit, he has let the engineers loose with his general vision with the result being Motion, and multiple upcoming products at both end of the spectrum. Both additions have turned us into much more of a stable company versus some hobbiest company, making us stronger for the long haul. You all may have missed the good old days in some ways, but since I have been dealing with ML for a long time from every perspective, I am very pleased with the current direction.

As a HT enthusiast and proud owner of your speakers, I too am very pleased with ML's current direction. I do not have the budget to purchase the higher end products you have(hope to someday). Speakers like Preface, Encore and the new Motion line, allow me to enjoy your fabulous sound at a price point I can afford. I am looking forward to upgrading to the Electromotions as soon as they come out. Keep up the good work and I know more people like me will become new ML owners. Thanks,

Jason

 

[Peter Soderberg]

Fear not. the high end is where we came from and won't forget. We also know that we have long needed legit gateway drugs (Motion) in order to start people off and yes, give us more R&D bucks. More sales means more money for all of our plans. If you think of how we built products 10 years ago to today, there really is no question we have gone through big learning curves and now work in extrusions, plastic moldings, veneers, active electronics etc, that we didn't touch back then. It is a business though, so we need to keep the focus on what we do and not dilute it. I see no evidence of dilution coming down the road.

 

[TomDac]

"gateway drugs".

nice!

 

[spectral]

Peter, thanks for the response. To those stunned at my question - I was obviously looking for the positive spin on this, what exactly drove ML to hire him, since no one was willing to come to the CEO's defense before, and there had to be a good part of this. I know where I stand on the issue, but I am willing to listen.

Next question, if Peter is so inclined to answer - there was market upheaval last year, with dealers dropping ML (including my own). Since then, some have picked up the line again (including again my own). What would you attribute this to?

 

[sleepysurf]

Peter, thank you for your insight and candor. It's encouraging to know that management is still committed to the higher end of the line. Hopefully the success of the new gear will indeed support continued development of new Reserve line products. Perhaps, when the economy recovers, we'll even see a resurgence in higher end dealers. Well, one can dream!

 

[Peter Soderberg]

The real problems started in the year before with the sudden closure of Tweeter, a 90 store account, just before Xmas. I had also just sent 90 pairs of CLX to Europe and their arrival was perfectly timed so hit the bottom falling out of that market, so payments where terribly slow. Add to the Best Buy rethinking MHT into downsizing and we where looking at some very tough times. BB brought MAV people to the home office, did a 180 and now have a great support and training systems. Not all of them are the best, but most have improved tremendously with us working very hard to support that move. The result of that was that we where awarded the Vendor of the Year award, something that actually makes us very proud. Dean made some very ballsy moves which even I had my personal doubts about and even though some wheren't popular, resulting in lost dealers, they where overall why we still exist today. It was tough watching everyonoe through us on the fire while we struggled to simply exist, but here we are in our best shape. Dean, knowing that our real history lies in the high end indy, created a reserved program, with good features for that type of dealer so that is why many are coming back to us. Another helper was B&W jumping into BB, so now we aren't the only ones that have changed some spots. Dealers who run businesses pretty well are starting to realize that it takes a certain amount of dollars flowing for us to do all that we are doing so have started to except that we need some big partners to keep the that moving. I don't want to go back to the days where there is was a bandsaw and 10 guys in a cold building with black paint and some wood strips.
hoped that helped.

 

[GaryG]

BB brought MAV people to the home office, did a 180 and now have a great support and training systems.

I don't want to go back to the days where there is was a bandsaw and 10 guys in a cold building with black paint and some wood strips.

Peter, thanks for a great post. I had heard the MAV point of view recently from their crew in Santa Monica. This fills in the ML side for me.

When I bought my first Prodigy's 9 years ago and opened up the high pass I could see the wood strips and bandsaw cuts. My business partner and I smiled (we own an aerospace manufacturing company) and I said "Luckily it just has to sound good and not fly straight." And sound great the Prodigy's did and still do. I own 12 ML speakers 8 of which I purchased new from authorized dealers. You have a great product and fine service department (Dana Brown always takes good care of me). I am very happy to hear the company is heathy and look forward to purchasing future products (especially high end).

Gary

 

[spectral]

Peter, very helpful indeed. (Hey I am gonna milk this as much as I can can, so...) What is the vision for the next 5 years?

 

[2beornot2bop]

Peter,

in your view, what qualifies ML's CEO for that job?

11:19 am Peter signs in, and less than 2 hours later this question gets asked. Peter I guess no honeymoon deserves to go more than 90 minutes.

 

[JonFo]

Peter, thanks for joining the discussion.

As a ML owner for 17+ years, I really enjoy the products, and am pleased to see the progress of the company over that time.

I totally agree with the direction the company is pursuing, reaching broadly into the market and bringing some of the ML magic to affordable price-points. This brand awareness is critical to also gaining traction with the mid and high-end. So a good move as long as the Reserve line is well designed and executed.

I like what I see in the Motion/EM series, great balance of performance / price there. I’ll be getting some for the secondary system in the house, and frequently recommend them to people who can’t really house (or afford) the ESL products.

Having your insights and feedback here will help keep the discussion of product and roadmap hopefully a bit more ‘real’. Good move on ML and your part.