Word: mcintoshes
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...being the best--or the highest priced--doesn't guarantee profits. Attacked by Japanese copycat brands from below and other cult brands from above over the past decade, the audio market has become a rough place for niche labels like McIntosh. That led to a buyout 4 1/2 years ago by D&M Holdings, a Japanese audio company traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange--a far cry from the rural headquarters of the McIntosh Laboratory in Binghamton...
...high-end, underachieving fashion labels: share resources, consolidate the back end to cut costs but nourish the brands' creativity, quality and individuality. "They have more money to do better development and make better products," says audiophile Tim Schwartz, 47, of Goodyear, Ariz., who owns $250,000 worth of McIntosh gear. "The company is leaving them alone so Randall can do his thing...
That would be Charlie Randall, 42, since 2003 McIntosh's amicable and revered president, who started working at the company when he was a 19-year-old student at Rochester Institute of Technology. Randall was there in 1991 when the outfit was bought by Clarion, a car-audio specialist, which transformed the brand into a supplier for the luxury-car market...
...ultimately, Randall wanted McIntosh to return to its roots, making superior vacuum tubes and solid-state amplifiers with enormous amounts of power and bulletproof accuracy. (Higher power and lower distortion rates are what characterized the revolutionary amplifier that launched the company in 1949.) By adding leading-edge CD players, music servers for digital files and iPod docks, Mac would be set for the next generation of audiophiles. D&M Holdings liked the plan. "We told them, 'Here is an opportunity to create what you want,'" says Pacor. "You can't do that when you're struggling to make payroll...
...also infused much needed capital and resources into Binghamton's baby to expand its global footprint. Since the takeover in May 2003, McIntosh's export business has boomed; nearly half its retail is now outside the U.S. Mac sales have increased 59%, while production costs have decreased 11.5%. The net effect: gross profits are up a stunning...