The Hindu Business Line : Onkyo to bring in high-end AV cables from AudioQuest

Onkyo Sight & Sound India Pvt Ltd has tied up with the US-based speciality audio-video and power cable major AudioQuest to distribute the latter's products in India.

Announcing the tie-up, Mr M.A. Dhandapani, Managing Director, Onkyo Sight & Sound India, told Business Line that AudioQuest cables are far superior to other cables that are generally available in the market. Though AudioQuest cables are, in general, high-end ones, the company has in the last two years developed cables at different price points to penetrate every living room. "Now, we have cables at a price spectrum ranging from $15 to $6,200 per pair per metre of speaker cables," said Mr Joseph Strovas, Director, International Sales, AudioQuest. He was in India to chart out a strategy for the Indian market. He said India presents a huge and potential market for AudioQuest.

The brand, distributed across 53 countries, has only a few competitors such as Monster and QED. According to Mr Strovas, the $88-million brand had almost trebled its turnover in the last three years. "We are very positive about the Indian market and confident that the new market would account for a substantial portion of the company's revenue eventually."

AudioQuest has a major facility in China to manufacture these cables. It has had a tie-up with the UK-based audio electronics major Arcam for several years.

"We may explore the possibilities for similar tie-ups with some major players in India as well," he said, adding that, "Our product platform is so wide that we have cables for every need in the segment, including for ipods and even computer peripherals."

Explaining the distribution tie-up, Onkyo's Mr Dhandapani said, "We already have a tie-up with other product brands in the audio-video segment such as Elac and B&W for high-end speakers, and LG (display devices) for our home theatre packages. Now, with this tie-up, we will have a complete end-to-end home theatre solution."

Onkyo will retail AudioQuest cables through all its exclusive outlets and other multi-brand outlets that sells Onkyo products. Onkyo recently launched a low-end home theatre box — Gladiator — at a price tag of Rs 27,000, which comes with a 5.1 channel AV receiver and 5 speakers and a woofer.

To sell its complete range of audio-video products and all branded accessories imported by Onkyo, it recently opened a new retail model called Wonder Land through the franchisee route. "We at present have only one Wonder Land (in Bangalore), but are planning to open four more — in Kolkata, Pune, Surat, Delhi — before the end of this year," said Mr Dhandapani. Apart from this, it also has a tie-up with Pantaloon's Home Solution stores to sell Onkyo products.

Talking about its competitors in India, he said, "Not only in India, even globally, it's a three-horse race between Onkyo, Yamaha and Danon."

According to Mr Dhandapani, Onkyo is very much on track to achieve its target turnover of Rs 100 crore in 2006.

More Stories on : Brands | Consumer Electronics | Music & Dance

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
RmKV to patent new saree weaving technique

Soil-testing lab at Coromandel Fert

Festive shirt collection

Notification to curb violence, obscenity on cable

Kenstar to launch umbrella brand campaign

S. Kumar's unveils new home textile brand

Onkyo to bring in high-end AV cables from AudioQuest

Mistral to offer Curtiss Wright product

Trane launches air-conditioners for residential segment

Wind River releases new Linux

Airtel launches fixed wireless phone service in TN