My local Rotel/B&W dealer hosted an “invitation-only” (translation: you’ve spent money here before) event the week to meet Marc Schnoll, who is a product specialist with B&W and Rotel.
Marc was a very informative and entertaining speaker. He talked quite a bit about the history of B&W and Rotel, the philosophy of each company, gave out some neat stuff (B&W/Rotel hats, B&W/Rotel T-shirts, Sara K. Nautilus Tour 2002 DVD’s :T , and the Rotel Encyclopedia of Home Theater and HiFi :T ), and then did a few demos.
One demo room was multi-channel, using a 705/HTM7/DS7 combination driven with a Rotel RDV-1050/RSP-1098/RMB-1095. The other demo room was a pair of 802’s driven with McIntosh gear (didn’t pay attention to models).
Here are a few interesting facts/topics covered (I hope I remember all of this correctly).
B&W did $150 million in sales last year (that’s wholesale to dealers, not the value of what the dealers sell stuff at)
B&W is the #4 speaker brand in the US (behind Bose, JBL, and Polk).
For speakers costing at least $1,000 each (or $2,000 per pair), B&W controls 50% of the GLOBAL market. :E
B&W owns B&W, Classe’ and one other company (something like iConnect or iCommand or iControl – a Creston-like device company). Rotel is a separate company, but they share a R&D facility with B&W and a distribution channel. Rotel is a Japanese parent company, but all components are “voiced” in the UK which gives them that “British sound.”
The B&W research facility is amazing. He said they have something on the order of 3 dozen PhD’s working at the facility. Any piece of equipment needed for testing or measurement can be found there. Most speaker manufacturers have to rent time in anechoic chambers at local universities. B&W has TWO anechoic chambers at their research facility.
50% of the cost to manufacture a B&W Nautilus speaker goes into the cabinet. Not only is the curvature of the Nautilus cabinet difficult and expensive to make, but the matrix bracing is very expensive too. B&W recently bought their own cabinet making company (located in Denmark).
There is an enormous cost in tooling up to produce a new speaker line. The Nautilus line cost several million dollars in tool-up cost
There is a single employee responsible for the construction of the Nautilus “snails”.
On average they sell a pair of the Nautilus “snails” ($40,000 a pair) each month, except last month was an unusual month when a single individual alone bought 7 of them (along with four $10,000 amps PER speaker to drive them)
B&W originally held a 20 year patent on the use of Kevlar for woofers, but that patent has recently expired. However, B&W uses a very specific weave pattern for that Kevlar, and only they and DuPont know that pattern, and it is still protected by a patent.
Marc addressed one attendees question about Rotel and their manufacturing plant in China. The plant is a Rotel-owned plant and in the “free-trade” zone of China. Working conditions are good. If Rotel didn’t manufacture in China they’d probably have to charge 4 to 5 times what they currently charge. Having their own factory allows Rotel to better control how their products are made and what components are used as opposed to other companies that outsource their manufacturing
When asked if we would be seeing FireWire, DVI, or HDMI any time soon on a Rotel pre/pro. Marc said yes, probably HDMI. The real issue is the licensing cost for the technology. There is a flat fee for the technology, plus a per unit fee. It could really add up.
Marc did publicly acknowledge that there is a Rotel universal DVD-A/SACD player in the works but he could not give any specifications on it because the prototype hasn’t even been completed yet.
And finally, when asked about what future speakers we can expect to see from B&W. He said that he is unable to give any details, but with big grin strongly emphasized that 2006 is B&W’s 40th Anniversary.
arty:
Marc was a very informative and entertaining speaker. He talked quite a bit about the history of B&W and Rotel, the philosophy of each company, gave out some neat stuff (B&W/Rotel hats, B&W/Rotel T-shirts, Sara K. Nautilus Tour 2002 DVD’s :T , and the Rotel Encyclopedia of Home Theater and HiFi :T ), and then did a few demos.
One demo room was multi-channel, using a 705/HTM7/DS7 combination driven with a Rotel RDV-1050/RSP-1098/RMB-1095. The other demo room was a pair of 802’s driven with McIntosh gear (didn’t pay attention to models).
Here are a few interesting facts/topics covered (I hope I remember all of this correctly).
B&W did $150 million in sales last year (that’s wholesale to dealers, not the value of what the dealers sell stuff at)
B&W is the #4 speaker brand in the US (behind Bose, JBL, and Polk).
For speakers costing at least $1,000 each (or $2,000 per pair), B&W controls 50% of the GLOBAL market. :E
B&W owns B&W, Classe’ and one other company (something like iConnect or iCommand or iControl – a Creston-like device company). Rotel is a separate company, but they share a R&D facility with B&W and a distribution channel. Rotel is a Japanese parent company, but all components are “voiced” in the UK which gives them that “British sound.”
The B&W research facility is amazing. He said they have something on the order of 3 dozen PhD’s working at the facility. Any piece of equipment needed for testing or measurement can be found there. Most speaker manufacturers have to rent time in anechoic chambers at local universities. B&W has TWO anechoic chambers at their research facility.
50% of the cost to manufacture a B&W Nautilus speaker goes into the cabinet. Not only is the curvature of the Nautilus cabinet difficult and expensive to make, but the matrix bracing is very expensive too. B&W recently bought their own cabinet making company (located in Denmark).
There is an enormous cost in tooling up to produce a new speaker line. The Nautilus line cost several million dollars in tool-up cost
There is a single employee responsible for the construction of the Nautilus “snails”.
On average they sell a pair of the Nautilus “snails” ($40,000 a pair) each month, except last month was an unusual month when a single individual alone bought 7 of them (along with four $10,000 amps PER speaker to drive them)
B&W originally held a 20 year patent on the use of Kevlar for woofers, but that patent has recently expired. However, B&W uses a very specific weave pattern for that Kevlar, and only they and DuPont know that pattern, and it is still protected by a patent.
Marc addressed one attendees question about Rotel and their manufacturing plant in China. The plant is a Rotel-owned plant and in the “free-trade” zone of China. Working conditions are good. If Rotel didn’t manufacture in China they’d probably have to charge 4 to 5 times what they currently charge. Having their own factory allows Rotel to better control how their products are made and what components are used as opposed to other companies that outsource their manufacturing
When asked if we would be seeing FireWire, DVI, or HDMI any time soon on a Rotel pre/pro. Marc said yes, probably HDMI. The real issue is the licensing cost for the technology. There is a flat fee for the technology, plus a per unit fee. It could really add up.
Marc did publicly acknowledge that there is a Rotel universal DVD-A/SACD player in the works but he could not give any specifications on it because the prototype hasn’t even been completed yet.
And finally, when asked about what future speakers we can expect to see from B&W. He said that he is unable to give any details, but with big grin strongly emphasized that 2006 is B&W’s 40th Anniversary.
arty:
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