Totem The One vs. Usher "Tiny Dancer" Be 718

I'm amazed at the assertions bloggers make regarding companies and organizations they know nothing about, besides hearsay.

So, let me set the facts straight.

Regarding showrooms at CES, the U.S. distributor, MusikMatters, has nothing to do with room setup. Usher/Taipei sponsors the CES show and handles in room equipment choices and system setup in the two Venetian Conference Hall rooms. There is one additional Usher room in the Venetian Tower that is done jointly with Oracle Audio. This room is equipped and set up by the MusikMatters and Oracle manufacturer's rep..

The RMAF rooms are set up by the Oracle/MusikMatters rep with the addition of Exemplar Audio and Audio Design and Marketing in the main Lupine demonstration room for 2008.

Usher being mentioned as a small, and I guess (guaging by tone), naive company, is also a misnomer. By "audiophile" product standards, Usher is a very substantial company with revenues between 15 and 20 Million annually. They are the largest audio retailer in Taiwan with 10 locations, and have just expanded their manufacturing capacity with the addition of a new 10 million dollar facility in TaiChung. Believe me, Usher is not at the mercy of its U.S. distributor MusikMatters. Musikmatters gives Usher/Taipei input and suggestions and sometimes they use them and sometimes they don't.

The assertion, "most of the distributors and importers are more focused on selling stuff and making money..." is funny and ironic. My contention is that if more audio companies concentrated less on being audiophiles and more on running their businesses there would be more successful companies. It goes without saying that you need a great product to build a successful company.

Stan Tracht
Partner
MusikMatters, Inc.

No point intended. Just wanted to set the facts straight. Gundam91 based his assertions on beliefs and hearsay, not facts. I'm OK with a straight opinion of "I liked the sound" or "I disliked the sound", hey, that's the way it goes at shows...

In terms of show sound, we've found attendee feedback is subjective. For every show goer who likes a room there's another one that doesn't like it...no matter how good the setup. Also, the only way to truly compare two products is in a side by side comparison in exactly the same room/system. A comparison any other way is purely subjective.

I mentioned our Venetian tower room because it represented our attempt to setup properly. And, it sounded great. We chose a tower room because they are more manageable than the large rooms we had in the Venetian convention rooms....20 foot ceilings with thin partitioned walls. We, as the U.S. distributor, controlled the tower room only. Usher controlled the others...but we don't second guess them...their international sales have been doubling every year for the past 5 years....so they must be doing something right.

Bottom line, the success or failure at a CES show is determined by the number of dealers/buyers who visit your room and respond favorably...not forum bloggers. We signed more than our quota for the show, so in those terms, we succeeded. Hopefully, those dealers will be able to offer their customers an optimal setup. After all, its ultimately the dealer who sells (or doesn't sell) a customer via a good product that's properly demonstrated.

ST