42 l April 2014
www.psneurope.com
livefeature Arezzo Wave is a major showcase for new talent in Italy
they open and it’s hard to know how long they’ll survive.” Audio Factory, a small
Roman enclosure manufacturer run by a dynamic young team, carefully filters “risky” clients, as it concentrates almost exclusively on the Italian market, but technical/ commercial manager Corrado Belia adds: “We design and build enclosures for both rental and installation applications and recently launched a more economic range of systems for the latter, with an attractive design and available in a wide range of colours, and there was considerable interest in them from foreign visitors at Frankfurt.” Two enclosure manufacturers
going against the general Italian sales trend are Montarbo and Outline. The former’s international sales manager Paolo Stefani reports, “We’ve added two new brands – one manufactured in China under our technical department’s supervision. Design and technology are Italian, but cutting
K-array’s Alessandro Tatini:: “China is currently the most dynamic area for us”
which accounted for over 20% of its turnover, as Coppini explains: “Manufacturers are getting more and more organised and are willing to spend more on Italian speakers to ensure quality. There are certain markets in China that are only open to domestic manufacturers, such as karaoke TV venues, which are a huge market.” Sales director Alberto Ruozzi
confirms that RCF also has some very good market strongholds in
“Manufacturers are getting more and more organised and are willing to spend more on Italian speakers to ensure quality”
manufacturing costs has enabled us to hit the entry-level market. We’ve also launched a range of products addressing the installation market, thanks to which we’ve worked on prestigious projects such as Ciampino airport.” Outline’s Michele Noselli,
adds, “In the last 18 months our Italian sales figures have risen considerably, thanks to key clients such as the Italian branch of UCI, Europe’s largest cinema operator – who has installed our Movie Series systems with our proprietary iMode technology.”
CHINESE WHISPERS Speaker and enclosure manufacturers unanimously indicate China as one of the most dynamic markets at present.
18 Sound’s sales manager Giacomo Previ confirms that the Chinese pro-audio market is growing fast and an increasing number of Chinese enclosure manufacturers are using quality European components, and Faital’s pro audio division manager Flavio Naggi adds, “I wouldn’t say we concentrate on any specific area of the globe, but addressing the south-east Asian market, including China, we are experiencing very fast growth.” This is also borne out by Noselli; while K-array owner Alessandro Tatini contìnues, “On the global market, China is currently the most dynamic area for us – there’s greater spending power and European products are very popular.” B&C experienced a real boom last year with sales to China,
as do Noselli and Ruozzi. Closer to home, Previ says
sales are particularly good in Europe as a whole, Ruozzi singles out Turkey as extremely successful, as well as Germany, the UK and France, where Faital also has long-standing trade relationships. Massimo Polo, general manager with wireless microphone system manufacturer Wisycom, enthuses, “We’re actually market leaders in this field, with systems in Finland, 90% of the Danish market, and public tenders won in France and Spain.” Another slant on the Italian
market comes from a pair of key distributors. Stefano Rocchi owner of
Lorenzo Coppini, B&C
Asia, particularly in China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Another area singled out by
several manufacturers, including FBT and Eighteen Sound, as fertile terrain for their products is Latin America, where Faital products are used a lot to refit existing systems, or by rental companies that build custom enclosures to clients’ specs. The majority of RCF end users in Chile and Brazil are rental companies and, in spite of it being a difficult market, B&C products sell well in Brazil, where the firm has opened a branch. Naggi continues, “The USA is an interesting market for us, as it’s the nation with the largest number of enclosure manufacturers in the world.” Eighteen Sound also reports particularly good US sales,
Audio Sales, which distributes brands such as Martin Audio, Optocore and XTA, confirms the crisis has hit the live sound sector in particular, where, apart from the majors, rental companies are buying the minimum indispensable, but adds, “By adding brands such as Audac, we’re now focussing more on small to medium installation clients, for small
Alberto Ruozzi of RCF: good market strongholds in Indonesia and Malaysia
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