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Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

engadget.com

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Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#4

Post by dsr_ »

There are lots of speaker manufacturers; I'm not too concerned about Polk and B&W.

But! There are relatively few home theater receiver makers, and the Denon/Marantz siblings have been a big chunk of them for decades.

(Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon. Nobody else covers the low and mid cost market.)

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#5

Post by neogodless »

dsr_ wrote: post #4

There are lots of speaker manufacturers; I'm not too concerned about Polk and B&W. But! There are relatively few home theater receiver makers, and the Denon/Marantz siblings have been a big chunk of them for decades. (Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon. Nobody else covers the low and mid cost market.)

I'm curious how large this market is.

Speaking only anecdotally, when I was in my 20s, I bought a Sony "home theatre in a box" which included receiver, small subwoofer, and small satellite speakers. Over time, I upgraded to an Onkyo reciever and Polk center, surrounds, and subwoofer.

But... then I decided I wanted a more minimal look, and switched to a JBL sound bar + subwoofer, which has detachable surrounds -- but I almost never utilize them.

For sure, the sound is nothing compared to what I had before, but I'm mostly OK with it. All that to say, how popular are sound bars, and how popular are dedicated receivers?

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#7

Post by Animats »

must...have...name...brands

Recently I was looking for a toaster. Target has a nice selection of toasters. Look down into the slots, and they are all exactly the same.

There were, at peak, only three different VCRs. All those brands used one of three standard mechanisms. But you could get a hundred different cases.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#9

Post by baq »

neogodless wrote: post #5
dsr_ wrote: post #4

There are lots of speaker manufacturers; I'm not too concerned about Polk and B&W. But! There are relatively few home theater receiver makers, and the Denon/Marantz siblings have been a big chunk of them for decades. (Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon. Nobody else covers the low and mid cost market.)

I'm curious how large this market is. Speaking only anecdotally, when I was in my 20s, I bought a Sony "home theatre in a box" which included receiver, small subwoofer, and small satellite speakers. Over time, I upgraded to an Onkyo reciever and Polk center, surrounds, and subwoofer. But... then I decided I wanted a more minimal look, and switched to a JBL sound bar + subwoofer, which has detachable surrounds -- but…

Not very popular, but popular enough. If you care about sound more than looks (...and if you get the system set up and have a convincing story for your wife that it must be this way), it's the only way to experience movies 'properly'; mixed with an OLED TV, a proper subwoofer (like PB-1000 or similar) and bluray-quality content the system will be better than your average cinema experience.

Now, whether that means anything when 99% of everything made for watching is just playing in the background while you're reading HN on your phone is debatable. Still wouldn't trade the setup even if I'm watching one movie per month. (I'm not even close to that high of a number...)

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