by Sound United, the parent company of Denon, Polk Audio, Marantz, Definitive Technology, HEOS, Classé, and Boston Acoustics (link to article in Forbes Magazine) Sound United Moves To Acquire Iconic British Speaker Brand Bowers & Wilkins
Seems to be a trend , Arcam , Quad, etc have all come under the umbrella of one owner with brands maintaining their identity.
I am right in thinking only the 800 series is made in the UK now?
I believe Sound United inflict very little influence over their brands. All those brands very much go their own way. Marantz and Denon compete head to head and their local holding company (D&M Holdings which also has McIntosh) lets them have at it.
I wonder if they’ll end up using Classé again. Especially as it’s just the name really, nothing else in common with the Classé of yore.
Wasn’t there another English high-end hifi company that was bought by a foreign company a few years ago? If only I could remember its name…
Mark
1 Like
Both purchased by private equity companies too - it would be interesting to read their business case papers (if only we could 
)……and how things are panning out in the case you may refer to.
….and also understand if there is any material debt leverage within their ownership structures, which is often the model of PE.
I wish someone buy and rename Audi.
It’s not a secret that after B&W’s relationship with Eva Automation (Silicon Valley start-up), their venture into the already crowded wireless multi-room speaker market with the proprietary (not compatible with other brands) B&W Formation was hugely unsuccessful. The two dealers near me haven’t sold any of their B&W Formation products since launch and have had to sell off their demo units (some still sealed in the box) for huge discounts - even then, there’s been little-to-no take up!
I’m a huge B&W fan (I’ve owned many of their speakers and headphones over the years), and I wish them well under whoever takes them over next. My 803D3s, 805D3s and 705S2s all sound superb now, as did my CDM1s and 804D2s ‘back in the day’.
George.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.