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

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

#301

Post by Mistletoe »

hedora wrote: post #116
bigiain wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Back in the mid 80s I spent way more than was sensible and bought myself seperate NAD pre/power amps, Boston Acoustic Speakers, and a Rega turntable for my birthday. I not only still have and use all that gear, but have since bought more of the same brands 2nd hand mostly from the same era, so I now have 5.1 surround in my lounge room, and stereo amp/speaker sets in my kitchen, office, bedroom, and guest bedroo…

I’d think there would be a market opportunity here. I have an old 70’s amp, and the switches/knobs are a bit noisy. Sure, I spray it down with contact cleaner, and it fixes it for a few years each time, but the dial light bulbs are starting to burn out. Most of its internals are hand soldered and switches /relays/etc that would be cheaper, better and more reliable with modern technology. Even though it was hand wired…

Have you tried Deoxit? It works much better than contact cleaner in my experience. I just got a beautiful old Sony STR-6046A from an antique store and used contact cleaner and it helped the issues some, but they weren't totally fixed until I got more Deoxit and sprayed all the pots and switches yesterday. It removes the oxidation that I don't think contact cleaner does.

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

#302

Post by jeffbee »

hedora wrote: post #119
jeffbee wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Licensing is definitely strangling the market for Atmos decoders. If you have particular requirements you can always do it with ~$2k in Dolby software licenses and also ~$2k in converters. You cannot, unfortunately, DIY hardware for Atmos without an HDCP license. If you have one of those you can actually DIY something around a DSP like the ones Analog Devices sells preloaded with the IP. Then again if you have those…

Gee, look what fell out of the back of a truck: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HDMI-1-4-Splitter-1-i... $25 minimum order (for ten) + shipping and tariffs. No idea if these work, but they’re the top internet hit. The metadata says they do.

Yes but ADI won't even sell you the DSP I mentioned unless you produce your HDCP license.

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

#303

Post by pembrook »

immibis wrote: post #294
pembrook wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Originally yes, but now this is a complaint forum for pessimistic big tech worker bees to vent their frustrations while never actually having to invest time, money or effort on actually doing anything. Generally though, consumers have already spoken with their wallets on this topic and they have told many thousands of doe-eyed founders loud and clear: “we will happily sacrifice our time and privacy to save a $3, brin…

It's fundamentally still a forum for VCs to VC. You see this periodically where some topic comes up that's completely antithetical to VC, and gets quickly flagged or downvoted to oblivion, even though there may be lively discussion. For example, this occurs when open source licenses are being discussed. The remaining undead comments are the ones favouring licenses that favour venture capital interests.

I find this fascinating as my impression is usually the exact opposite (all I see is lots of open source fetishism and anti-VC, anti-big tech, anti-AI, anti-risk, anti-new stuff, anti-everything sentiment).

However it could be certain headlines attract a certain type of person, allowing for an entirely different subjective experience of what "people on hacker news" are like.

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

#304

Post by waymon »

elif wrote: post #215
trentnix wrote: post #77

Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…

What TV do you use? I use a Frame and don't have any of the issues you describe in the slightest. The power button turns the TV on with a 0.5 second animation, and immediately I see the Roku interface with no popups or Samsung branding or anything. Probably the ONLY complaint is that by default my washing machine puts an alert on the TV every time it's finished. I would probably find the setting to turn it off but ho…

That so stupid.

...I want it.

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

#305

Post by PaulHoule »

bluGill wrote: post #284
steveBK123 wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, maybe not re: Walmart being good enough. It goes back to the old tale of "being too poor to buy cheap boots" that US consumerism has forgotten. We are addicted to cheap stuff, not good value stuff. Cheap is not always good value.

I don't buy boots at walmart - I've been burned enough. However for other things I have often found the quality good enough.

I've found $30 sneakers at Wal-Mart that compare to $90 sneakers from Brooks, they are compatible with my feet like Brooks, they don't last as long as the Brooks but they last more than 1/3 as long.

Trouble is those were only available for a short time, I've gone back and there's been nothing that good.

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

#306

Post by davidu »

baobabKoodaa wrote: post #163
mrandish wrote: post #111

I'm a little surprised these four companies combined sold for only $350M.

In other news, Block Audio ASI Inc. (providing AI services for audio providers on the blockchain) was just acquired for $3.14B.

link?

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

#307

Post by dan_quixote »

TimByte wrote: post #280
bhouston wrote: post #11

I feel that sound bars + speakers directly attached to TVs has decimated the "home theatre receiver." "Back in the day", home theatre receivers made sense when you wanted Radio + CD inputs in addition to the TV input. But radio and CD players are gone. There is just TV. Even when I do audio, I run it through the TV. Thus why do you need a separate box? It just seems like a waste. Instead everyone these days are just…

If you're into lossless audio formats, room correction, or full surround setups with discrete speakers, receivers still have a strong case

Ahem...

> So all that is left is ultra-high end applications and there are few of those.

(and yes, I am mostly in that tiny demographic)

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

#308

Post by photonthug »

ryukoposting wrote: post #232
trentnix wrote: post #77

Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…

> How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experience? Not much. Buy used. Buying new stereo equipment is an activity of the wealthy. Everywhere I've ever lived, CraigsList is overrun with excellent used speakers and receivers at reasonable prices. I won't inundate you with brand-flexing, but I'll say I'm very happy with my home theater system. 4K OLED TV, big ol' tower speak…

Very savvy, so what’s the plan for when the used market is also completely made of bloated shitware?

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

#310

Post by itfossil »

cj wrote: post #278
itfossil wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it so happens I currently run a Roku TV that is not connected to the internet with an Apple TV attached. However that is not long a term solution and if it ever dies you can be damn sure I'll buy a different television. Roku is breaking things constantly. If you ever have to replace that hardware, it will have more up to date software and your experience will be broken. This will be by design. Even implying that s…

I'm not sure how anyone accidentally fell into the smart TV trap, honestly. From day 1, all smart TVs had horrible latency when it comes to navigating through menus and screens. I'm glad for that, because it stopped me from ever buying one in the first place! Maybe it's the people that show up at best buy without doing any research and just buy the most expensive TV not realizing it's a crappy smart TV. Who knows. Do…

The accident is that you basically can't buy a dumb TV anymore. It's a really sad state of affairs.
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