Turn it up

High-end audio equipment makers focus on quality, create a successful niche for themselves in Colorado

By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Carmel Zucker © Special to the Rocky

R.J. Butler, a craftsman at Avalon Acoustics, prepares a speaker for a veneer at the company's factory in Boulder.

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Indra loudspeakers from Avalon Acoustics cost between $20,000 and $23,500.

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The woodworking shop at Avalon Acoustics, a maker of high-end loudspeakers, is so quiet you can easily hear the music playing in the background.

It's not because employees aren't busy. It's because so many things are done manually, rather than by loud, whirring machines.

Thin strips of cherry, walnut and maple veneer are carefully matched by hand, pressed and trimmed with an X-Acto knife.

Fiber board is glued in multiple layers to ensure speaker cabinets themselves are stiff. Employees painstakingly test and match audio components, assembling high-quality materials such as diamond diaphragm tweeters and Nomex-Kevlar composite woofers.

"It's a huge amount of handiwork and aesthetic decisions," said Lucien Pichette, vice president of operations.

Avalon Acoustics, whose sleek, angular speakers range in price from $875 to $144,000 a pair, is one of a handful of companies along the Front Range making high-end audio equipment. Total systems can run $10,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Phil Murray, marketing manager for Denver-based ListenUp, an audio and video retailer, said the Colorado companies appear to have created a successful niche, buoyed by sales in Asia and Western Europe in addition to the U.S.

"Those markets really value American companies and craftsmanship," Murray said.

ListenUp doesn't carry the products, but it has in the past, and Murray said he admires the quality.

Avalon counts as customers famed record producer Rick Rubin, radio stations such as KVOD in Denver, and professional musicians and orchestra conductors. But the bulk of its buyers are well-to-do consumers.

There appears to be no particular reason for the Front Range being an audio hub of sorts, other than perhaps lifestyle choices and the influence of local pioneers such as Jeff Rowland and Charles Hansen.

Hansen and a friend founded Avalon two decades ago after they heard "killer speakers" at a friend's house and decided to make some for themselves. Hansen said it was so much work to design one set that they decided to build three, then 10, then start a company "even though neither one of us had any idea what we were doing."

Rowland, already recognized for his audio equipment expertise, supported their efforts and later bought a share in Avalon. Rowland, then Hansen sold their shares to Neil Patel of Pennsylvania.

Rowland went back to focusing solely on his own amplifier design business in Colorado Springs, while Hansen started Ayre Acoustics in Boulder. Both are known for their award-winning designs, as is Avalon.

"For me, at least, (the attraction to Boulder) had to do with the artistic bent that the people have there," said Patel, who has designed the Avalon speakers since buying the company in 1989. "There's a lot of free-thinking, open-ended ideas that are allowed to grow."

Patel briefly lived in Boulder but moved back to Pennsylvania.

"I have enough space here to do my design work in a quiet way and not interfere with their realization (in Boulder) of the projects."

Said Steve Viezbicke, Avalon's manufacturing engineer who's been at the company 18 years: "It's a nice, casual place and we get to build groovy stuff."

Despite recessionary fears, times are busy. Avalon has a four-month backlog for its new $20,000 Indra speaker, while Ayre has more than $1 million in back orders.

In many ways, the Colorado audio-equipment makers are an antithesis of corporate America. They operate more like family-run businesses, hand-selecting their distributors and stressing quality over volume. Avalon has 20 employees, Ayre 17. The privately held companies declined to give revenue figures.

Patel said Avalon is building only five to six pairs of its $65,000 Isis speakers a month, even though demand might be for 20 a month.

Hansen said Ayre Acoustics once waited five years to get the dealer it wanted in the United Kingdom. Nothing is made overseas. He said he would worry too much about workers being exploited and whether hazardous chemicals were being dumped into the environment.

Brandon Howell, owner of HD Home Cinema and A/V Design in Denver and Evergreen, has been selected as a dealer for Avalon, Ayre and Jeff Rowland. He remembers being "taken aback" the first time he toured Avalon's factory.

"What makes them so special is the amount of workmanship in every aspect of the product," Howell said. "Looking at the price point, people say, 'That's really expensive,' but it's a great value."

Many consumers question whether they can hear the difference between a $1,000 and $100,000 system.

In Avalon's listening room, it felt like being in the middle of a live performance. If one didn't know which two of the many speakers were connected to the CD player, it would have been impossible to tell.

"I've had recording engineers (in here) looking around to see where the sound is coming from," Pichette said.

But the sound quality wasn't compared to other, less expensive systems.

Other consumers grumble high-end audio systems translate into ridiculously high-profit margins for the companies making them.

"The cost of the final product is high, but I'd be willing to bet you that there's not the huge profit margins you might think," Patel said. "I'm not sitting by the pool with my drink and umbrella in it."

Some audio equipment artisans along the Front Range

* Ayre Acoustics Inc., Boulder, owner Charles Hansen. Amplifiers, preamplifiers, CD and DVD players. Components range in price from $3,500 to $18,500. New: KX-R preamplifier, $18,500. ayre.com

* Jeff Rowland Design Group Inc., Colorado Springs, owner Jeff Rowland. Amplifiers and preamplifiers. New: Concerto integrated amplifier, $5,000, jeffrowland.com

* Avalon Acoustics, Boulder, owner Neil Patel. Loudspeakers range in price from $875 to $144,000 a pair. New: Indra loudspeaker, $20,000-$23,500. avalonacoustics.com

* Boulder Amplifiers, Boulder, owner Jeff Nelson. Amplifiers, preamplifiers, home video equipment. New: Boulder 1021 Disc Player, $24,000. boulderamp.com

* YG Acoustics LLC, Arvada, owner Israeli-born Yoav Geva. Loudspeakers. New: Anat Reference II loudspeaker, $33,000-$107,000 (one to three modules), yg-acoustics.com

smithje@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5155

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