NHT throwing in the towel!

[sleepysurf]

Bummer! Another longtime speaker manufacturer looks to be throwing in the towel. According to the Audiojunkies blog, NHT is suspending regular business operations as of 3/31, and selling off remaining inventory. They will then "rethink" their future. As a longtime owner of the NHT Sub Two, and admirer of their many innovative designs, I'm dismayed to see another quality American speaker manufacturer bite the dust.

http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/1619#continued

 

[C.A.P]

Im not sure Ken Kantor was still with them. He was a great designer. I used a ffew of the 1259 drivers in a few subs. They mated well with the Carver ribbons.

 

[mrlowry]

Stereophile's Jason Victor Serinus was able to get Mr. Byrne to elaborate a bit more in this news item ( http://www.stereophile.com/news/nht_takes_a_break/ ). It's like being "on a break" in a relationship or "seeing other people" it isn't officially the end but in reality it usually is. Think of how the dealers feel. They have supported this brand for years, put in the hard work to build the brand name in their markets, made it a priority ,and then when they need NHT the most it isn't there for them. They will have to sell all of their demos at a huge discount (because many customers will read the statement as NHT is out of business) and pick up a new line to fill the void. How big of a check are their dealers going to have to write to start doing business with a new manufacturer? Can the average Mom and Pop audio store afford it right now? They just torched a lot of bridges. If they do come back everyone in the industry will be wary of doing business with them again for quite some time.

I don't know but my main concern is that by abandoning dealers he is negatively affecting NHT's ability to do business IF the doors ever do open again. If money is tight enough that they have to close the doors or go out of business where does the company get the money to open them back up later other than outside investors? What investors will want to put money into a company that has virtually no dealers and that has created that much bad blood in the dealer base? Very strange.

It all reminds me of the Planet of Magrathea ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Magrathea ) in Douglas Adam's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" that went into hibernation when business was slow and expected it's market share to be there when it returned. Their position in the market won't wait it will be gobbled up by others like Polk, Paradigm, Energy, Epos, etc. etc.

 

[sleepysurf]

Interesting update. Juicy Music (small boutique operation) also just closed down. I wonder how many other high(er)-end entities are barely treading water right now?

 

[amey01]

I must say NHT have seemed to lose their profile over the last few years. Not sure if it is just here in Australia or everywhere, but they were really a high-profile brand in the early '00s but now you hardly ever see or hear of them. I guess it was only a matter of time.

 

[Rich]

We all know that there is way too much oversupply in this market. There are too many high-end brands chasing too few dollars. This won't be the last of these that we hear about. This recession will weed out all of the undercapitalized firms that are barely treading water and don't have a large enough or diversified enough customer base and product line.