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View Full Version : Nortek/Speakercraft pulls the plug on the NIRV multi-room and automation line



2ndRick
05-01-2012, 08:43 AM
http://www.cepro.com/article/speakercraft_kills_nirv_multiroom_av_control_syste m/?utm_source=RC&utm_medium=module


SpeakerCraft Kills Nirv Multiroom AV/Control System

After four years, Nortek subsidiary SpeakerCraft drops Nirv home automation/multiroom AV system based on CobraNet. Layoffs ensue.

By Julie Jacobson, April 30, 2012

SpeakerCraft -- a subsidiary of Nortek, Inc (Nasdaq: NTK). -- has abandoned its Nirv multiroom audio, video and control system after spending four years on the project.

Nirv was to be a whole-house A/V system requiring only a single Cat 5 cable to deliver content and two-way control using CobraNet networking technology. While home automation was a key element of the original system, announced in 2009, SpeakerCraft backed off of that feature to focus on multiroom audio and video.

“Nortek is working very hard to better integrate all of its brands,” SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt tells CE Pro. “We found that there was just too much overlap between Nirv and [sister company] Elan.”

Elan Home Systems, acquired by Nortek in 2003, has its roots in multiroom audio and video and is gaining traction with its latest home automation system, G!.

Burkhardt says, “Elan is selling a lot of product, so it makes sense to direct dealers to G!”

Nirv never shipped in quantity; it was released only to a handful of dealers.

“They will all be made whole,” Burkhardt says, indicating that SpeakerCraft will take back products and reimburse affected dealers for any expenses incurred around the Nirv line.

The same can be said about SpeakerCraft’s own personnel. There will be layoffs, Burkhardt says, but “they will be taken care of.”

Burkhardt is personally contacting all affected dealers, reps and other parties. “The most important thing is to be a good corporate citizen and we have never strayed from that mission,” he says.

As for SpeakerCraft, Burkhardt tells us to expect more products around its core audio business. Wireless will be a big push going forward.

Nortek just wrapped up a meeting with the presidents of its home technology group, including SpeakerCraft, Elan, Niles, Xantech, Linear, Panamax/Furman and Gefen. Nortek sold its lighting-control division, LiteTouch to Savant earlier this year.

In 2010, Nortek rolled Niles, Elan and Xantech into a group called Linear AVC (Audio Video Control) but SpeakerCraft was not included in the roll-up.

2ndRick
05-01-2012, 08:55 AM
Just one person's observation/speculation here, but it would appear that the head office is no longer sticking to the old mindset of allowing the individual brands to keep their own development path.

Obviously we saw what they did to the Florida offices of Niles and the Lexington offices of Elan... taking the NIRV platform from S'craft is not as drastic, but it seems to fall in line with AVC group's new mindset that is reminiscent of the 70s-00s Detroit automakers,

It appears the AVC has the mindset of consolidating production, warehousing, training, service etc and gaining efficiency through offering identical re-branded SKUs to it's dealers who compete against each other with little to differentiate between offerings.

It looks like if there are going to be multi-room audio & control items on the price sheets of Niles and S'Craft dealers, they will soon be re-branded Elan G items.

In the auto industry example given in the above analogy, GM pulled the plug on two of it's lines (Saturn and Pontiac), and Chrysler killed off it's Plymouth brand.

Part of me wishes that these companies were all still independent entities.

ssamsal
05-01-2012, 09:07 AM
The other side of the argument surely is that 5 years of R&D without generating any income on a product line that isn't coming to market with a value add or game changer makes the accountants nervous nellies..

jberger
05-01-2012, 10:30 AM
Can we move this out of the public forums?

PAAI
05-01-2012, 12:43 PM
The other side of the argument surely is that 5 years of R&D without generating any income on a product line that isn't coming to market with a value add or game changer makes the accountants nervous nellies..

Have you seen the SC price increases? We all pay.

2ndRick
05-01-2012, 03:08 PM
Can we move this out of the public forums?

This is an industry news story, which is why I posted it in the industry news section.

jberger
05-01-2012, 03:29 PM
I understand it's news, but before something gets said on the public side that should have stayed on the private side, I thought it could be moved.

2ndRick
05-01-2012, 04:10 PM
I understand it's news, but before something gets said on the public side that should have stayed on the private side, I thought it could be moved.

If anyone wants to air grievances that they may wish to keep from full view, they can create a Verified thread.

Alternately, they can post that kind of thing on the CEPro comments section, where there seem to be a line forming to poke Jeremy in the eye.

I am not a fan of that mentality, and the quality of the sniping anonymous comments on CEPro's articles often makes me feel like I need a shower after reading them...

I am glad we ask members to list their locations, and MOST members take credit for their words. I say what I feel, but I also sign my work.

TedW
05-01-2012, 05:57 PM
If anyone wants to air grievances that they may wish to keep from full view, they can create a Verified thread.

Alternately, they can post that kind of thing on the CEPro comments section, where there seem to be a line forming to poke Jeremy in the eye.

I am not a fan of that mentality, and the quality of the sniping anonymous comments on CEPro's articles often makes me feel like I need a shower after reading them...

I am glad we ask members to list their locations, and MOST members take credit for their words. I say what I feel, but I also sign my work.

Problem with that stance is that there is so little traffic on the public side that there is a history of responses by members thinking that the post is private. considering the whole point of IP was to be a private forum it's not hard to understand why that would happen. So if you are going to do this stuff it would be nice if you could see your way clear to post right at the top that this is in a public forum. Or maybe I'll just fix it for you.

cory
05-01-2012, 06:08 PM
Agree with Ted - I forget 80% of the time that there is even a PUBLIC side of IP and personally don't see much point in it. I don't come here to discuss things with end users and DIY'ers.

I'd be very curious to see how much legitimate non-ci/public only type viewers come through this site.

jonnyg
05-01-2012, 06:27 PM
This is an industry news story, which is why I posted it in the industry news section.

I agree that it should be posted in the private section. The NIRV was never a main stream system. General feeling and the on going changes within the AVC group or any group for that fact should be kept in the private area, so as not taint the feeling of perspective/existing clients of the product that we supply and support.

Putting this out where anyone can read it, is like standing in your client living room and see video ab-orations in a system you just installed. You know that they are there and you are going to address them, but you don't say anything to the client because then they see them regardless of whether you fixed the problem or not.

Just my 2cents.

Fins
05-01-2012, 07:04 PM
Did NIRV ever work?

TedW
05-01-2012, 07:34 PM
Agree with Ted - I forget 80% of the time that there is even a PUBLIC side of IP and personally don't see much point in it. I don't come here to discuss things with end users and DIY'ers.

I'd be very curious to see how much legitimate non-ci/public only type viewers come through this site.

It's not hard to figure that out. More than 75% of the posts in this specific forum are started by Rick. Please don't go down the road of what forums are really necessary. I miss the old days when it was limited to a few sections total.

TedW
05-01-2012, 07:54 PM
Did NIRV ever work?

Apparently there are some systems out there - but most of us assumed it was never going to make it to full release as long as three years ago. Certainly when they started down that development road they could not know the outcome but I would have preferred they put some real effort into the MZC system to keep it as current as possible and fix some of the small issues that have been known about for years. I'm not suggesting a full scale assault on keeping the MZC relevant, just some effort and engineering time.

2ndRick
05-02-2012, 05:03 AM
Problem with that stance is that there is so little traffic on the public side that there is a history of responses by members thinking that the post is private. considering the whole point of IP was to be a private forum it's not hard to understand why that would happen. So if you are going to do this stuff it would be nice if you could see your way clear to post right at the top that this is in a public forum. Or maybe I'll just fix it for you.

Do you see the lines right under where it says :"Welcome, TedW"...??? That is the directory tree that tells you exactly what forum and section you are viewing / posting in at any point while you are on the site.

Gary and Matt put (PUBLIC) and ((THESE ARE PUBLIC FORUMS) in those descriptions a long time ago, and he even made them color coded for those who have trouble with reading comprehension...

The public area, and specifically the "industry news" and "product announcements" were meant to allow new signups to see SOMETHING besides DigitalJohn's jokes thread.

The content comes from CES, CEDIA, InfoComm, CEPro, ResiSystems, Custom Retailer, etc, and I generally put in the entire article and give

It's kind of a news aggregator section similar to what TechCrunch does with computer/IT stuff (except our site is not staffed with people to scour the web for stories to add).

The idea came from a fellow member and I liked it. I discussed it with Gary, and here it is. I wish more people would share stories in this section, but you are correct that I have been driving the content in this area.

TedW
05-02-2012, 06:44 AM
Do you see the lines right under where it says :"Welcome, TedW"...??? That is the directory tree that tells you exactly what forum and section you are viewing / posting in at any point while you are on the site.

Gary and Matt put (PUBLIC) and ((THESE ARE PUBLIC FORUMS) in those descriptions a long time ago, and he even made them color coded for those who have trouble with reading comprehension...

The public area, and specifically the "industry news" and "product announcements" were meant to allow new signups to see SOMETHING besides DigitalJohn's jokes thread.

The content comes from CES, CEDIA, InfoComm, CEPro, ResiSystems, Custom Retailer, etc, and I generally put in the entire article and give

It's kind of a news aggregator section similar to what TechCrunch does with computer/IT stuff (except our site is not staffed with people to scour the web for stories to add).

The idea came from a fellow member and I liked it. I discussed it with Gary, and here it is. I wish more people would share stories in this section, but you are correct that I have been driving the content in this area.

It's OK Rick. I understand.