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Variety of products and demo strategies stoke a hot category.
Computer audio just might be die savior CE dealers are looking for CE dealers around the country, battered by the drop in TV margins, are increasing dieir focus on selling computer audio systems, an effort that's backed by more comprehensive and connected customer demonstrations.
The new focus, dealers said, is paying off in a number of ways, such as introducing consumers to higher-quality sound and, if demonstrated and sold properly, easing them into a digital lifestyle diat's based on new products and high-margin services.
"It's the hottest category in audio," says Leon Shaw, founder and chairman of Audio Advice in Raleigh, N. C. "It gets people deeper in to music" and introduces them to control systems.
The category has been helped on several fronts by die proliferation of iPads, iPhones and app-infested touch-screen devices, which have put receivers and music libraries in the pockets of almost every consumer, and have made retail demonstrations much easier and more accessible.
"It's now an extension of my life," said Jim Nahas, a system designer and sales associate at World Wide Stereo's Montgomeryville, Pa., store, as he waved around the iPad he uses to control the store's many A/V systems, which also serve as demonstration units.
The new line of computer audio gear hits a full range of price points, with some systems selling for as much as any rarified two-channel display (witness the $150,000 demo displays at Stereo Exchange in Manhattan). But the simpler, less expensive displays can also have profound impact on dealer's conversations with consumers.
"Peachtree Audio is good this way," said Cosmos Heidtman, a custom-sales associate at Stereo Exchange. "It's startling how dramatic the performance is improved when you play it through a decent digital-to-analog converter."
Dealers such as World Wide Stereo and Ovation in Indianapolis said customers are consistently impressed with the Sonos Play 3 and Play 5 demonstrations that use die Sonos controller app on an iPad or iPhone and the WiFi-enabled Sonos Bridge to route the audio to different locations. Part of that appeal, dealers said, lies in Sonos' intuitive interface.
Bob Cole, World Wide Stereo founder, considers the Sonos display the most important convergence demo in...