Former Audiovox Senior Product Manager tapped for ML and Paradigm brand management

[sleepysurf]

Not sure what to make of this announcement that I just stumbled upon...

Crupi Tapped For Paradigm, MartinLogan Position

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 8/18/2011


Toronto, Ontario - Dan Crupi, former senior product manager at Audiovox Accessories, has been tapped as director of brand management for the Paradigm Electronics and MartinLogan speaker brands.

In the newly created position, Crupi will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies for the brand's next generation of products with a focus on new media technology, said Tim Valters, president/COO of Paradigm and MartinLogan

Before working at Audiovox Accessories, the 17-year CE veteran did stints at Klipsch and Thomson (RCA). As senior product manager at Audiovox, Crupi was directly responsible for developing consumer electronic products, including wireless products.

 

[Tosh]

Hope you like silver-painted plastic.

 

[RedRaider]

Former Audiovox product manager? REALLY???

IMHO, this is not good news....

 

[Bernard]

Former Audiovox product manager? REALLY???

IMHO, this is not good news....

I hope we can count on Justin and Pete to keep him on the straight and narrow. Get him on this site so he can see that this is serious business ! I hope he's not just another bean counter.

 

[zaphod]

I hope we can count on Justin and Pete to keep him on the straight and narrow. Get him on this site so he can see that this is serious business ! I hope he's not just another bean counter.

I think that Justin and Pete are great additions to this site adding lots of inside and "horse's mouth" information

In fact their input is so valuable, that when they refuse comment on something, it speaks volumes more.

 

[Rich]

Well . . . you all know what I think, so I am not even going to bother to voice it . . . again.

 

[jmschnur]

It would be important to convince the fellow that Martin Logan reserve electrostatics are the jewel in the crown. That it is vital for the rest of the line to keep the electrostatics of Martin Logan as good as they can be with all that implies in terms of quality and technical support.

Losing that high end base support could lead to a decline overall
Thus it makes financial sense to maintain and improve even though it is small part of the enterprise.

 

[MDSPHOTO]

We should see a lot of cheap plastic replacing metal & wood parts.

 

[Peter Soderberg]

Your completely unfounded accusations about his purpose in being added to the staff completely ****es me off. He has been hired to help improve processes in terms of parts procurement and efficiency in getting ideas put to together, something i think is a great need as we need help in speeding up and making sense of the product line. His past manufacturer relationship doesn't mean that he will take over the designs with the goal to make plastic speakers. He is not in that postion at all and there are no changes to the design team. Our biggest issue right now is that inefficiencies are slowing up a lot of products releases so i am glad that there is product development flow manager now in place. We need to be able to keep up with growing demand so need to keep doing it right. His primary job will have little to do with ML as you will all see it and more to do with some new categories that won't affect our line up so the quick accusations, inferences made here are baseless.

 

[runnin17]

The above information is good to know. I am glad ML is working to improve their supply line. ML, keep up the good work.

 

[jmschnur]

Yes. Supply train is important. The way wealth is distributed in the US makes high end audio a likely growth market

Not sure about mid level stuff. But ml reserve speakers should do well if Martin Logan maintains line and has a good tech support reputation

 

[Rich]

Your completely unfounded accusations about his purpose in being added to the staff completely ****es me off. He has been hired to help improve processes in terms of parts procurement and efficiency in getting ideas put to together, something i think is a great need as we need help in speeding up and making sense of the product line. His past manufacturer relationship doesn't mean that he will take over the designs with the goal to make plastic speakers. He is not in that postion at all and there are no changes to the design team. Our biggest issue right now is that inefficiencies are slowing up a lot of products releases so i am glad that there is product development flow manager now in place. We need to be able to keep up with growing demand so need to keep doing it right. His primary job will have little to do with ML as you will all see it and more to do with some new categories that won't affect our line up so the quick accusations, inferences made here are baseless.

Appreciate your input, Peter. I suggest you not get too worked up by the content of posts made on the forum. Ultimately, this is a forum composed of people that own ML speakers and care dearly about the future of the brand. People will respond to whatever information is made available to them and will often jump to conclusions based on that information. That is life on an internet forum. I wouldn't take any of it too personally.

The information in the original post came (apparently) from a press release and stated that Crupi "has been tapped as director of brand management for the Paradigm Electronics and MartinLogan speaker brands." It quoted your own CEO as stating: "[Crupi] will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies for the brand's next generation of products with a focus on new media technology." Stating that he will be "Director of Brand Management" and will be "responsible for developing and implementing strategies for the brand's next generation of products" sounds like a whole lot more than just "help improve processes in terms of parts procurement and efficiency in getting ideas put to together." So surely you can see where people might be a little concerned.

And in defense of some of the comments above, ML has been making more "plastic speakers" in the past year or so than ever in the history of the company, with the Motion series being a prime example. So again, you can see where people might be concerned that this doesn't filter up to the high end lines.

 

[Jungle Jack]

Amen to that.

 

[Peter Soderberg]

Yeah, in hind sight, i was pretty tired that morning. But as i read it again, i still feel the right to react strongly to some of the statements made.
The reason I am tired is that the night before, Dennis Chern and i kicked off the CLX tour that will be appearing first in the MAVs and then selected reserve dealers over this fall, simply so markets can play with these puppies. That is right, the maker of plastic junk(in some minds) is spending $1000s on flying around doing shows for the masses at obvious company expense with there very best product. It just seems that negative seems to be always the reaction. Dennis, who has been with ML since the 80s, met him and there is a lot of good history, experience in him. Dennis, who is a picky bastard, came away with a great impression of him.
Again, we are focused on the high end as our reason for exsitence. the Motion product is a high end product and uses materials that allow it to hit its price point, design goals without compromising sound. AMTs are much more expensive, require good caps so place a demand on hitting market appeptable price points that demands care in other areas. With the success of Motion, roughly double our initial estimates, it will finance new high end products currently on the drawing boards. You need that breadth of success of a line in order to bring more high end technology to high end goods at sane prices. For those who dont' want a molded cabinet, watch out for the LX 16, a beautiful, classic bookshelf product that is made for the indy's only. I have a pair and for $800/pr, they are a jewel.
I am not picking on you as you bring reasoned comments and listen to other views. it is just the quick, non thinking pot shots that can make this site sometimes painful to look at.

 

[sleepysurf]

Peter, thanks for the clarification. That's why I said "not sure what to make of this..." in my original post. I was hoping you or Justin would jump in. Sounds like things are heading in a very positive direction! Glad to hear that!

 

[-justin-]

Peter, thanks for the clarification. That's why I said "not sure what to make of this..." in my original post. I was hoping you or Justin would jump in. Sounds like things are heading in a very positive direction! Glad to hear that!

I like Peter to get worked up and respond first, it's funner-er that way

I met Dan the other day, and it sounds like he's got a lot of great experience dealing with good supply strategies and working with things, that quite frankly, MartinLogan hasn't had experience with -- like new media products, which in case you've been asleep, any business planning on staying in business probably shouldn't shrug off as a "fad." How much of his role will actually factor into ML's product mix is anyones guess for now, but it's definitely nice to have someone who will be improving the process of bringing new stuff to market.

Keep it real guys, always love to read your perspective on things, and so does Peter, even if he pops a blood vessel once in a while.

~J