Phoenix Gold introduced several products at the big Consumer Electronics Association show last month in Las Vegas, including a new advanced series of Xenon car audio amplifiers and two new home theater amplifiers. In addition, the company is gradually shifting from its emphasis on marketing to high-end specialty retailers to a focus on more mass merchandisers. "We're doing business now with Best Buy and Sears," MacBeth said. Also in January, the company spent $300,000 to buy the marketing assets of Carver Corp. Phoenix Gold had purchased most of Carver's product lines in 1995 but did not have rights to all the trade names. This transaction with Carver's bankruptcy trustee is expected to make it easier for the company to use a name that still has resonance in the audio component business. Phoenix Gold also is adjusting its approach to international markets, which make up about 20 percent of all sales, with the idea it can do better there. The company's performance in the most recent quarter, which ended Dec. 31, already shows some improvement. Sales were up 32 percent from the same period a year ago, to $6.9 million. And the company's losses were trimmed to $28,000 for the period, versus $354,000 in the same period a year before.
It looks like they did the same thing Orion and Fosgate did years ago...switching from great high end products to mass appeal - mass produced middle of the road stuff.
I also just got back into car audio a little over a month ago after a 10 year absence. There's definitely been alot of changes. The Hifonics brand is the one that surprised me the most. Once a top-notch amplifier brand, now it's just a bargain brand for cheap power. The info I've read on RF also surprised me quite a bit. They made killer amps in the early to mid 90s and are now considered just average. It also seems that PG, PPI, and Soundstream are nothing like they were back in the day. I was also stunned to see that Red Line no longer existed. They were considered by many to be the best sub producer back in the day. Oh well, I'm glad I found forums like this one!