It's hard to beat face-to-face training when it comes to introducing a newer speaker technology. That's why Wisdom Audio, maker of the very thin, high-end planar magnetic speakers, recently opened a training center at its corporate headquarters in Carson City, Nevada. “Training dealers on [the loudspeaker’s] technology and installation is an essential component of our factory-direct sales strategy,” say Mark Glazier, president of Wisdom Audio.

One of the negative effects of widespread layoffs for any industry is the loss of experience and knowledge to other industries, as people scurry to find new work. One of the problems for the CE business is that there were few, if any, specific job outlets targeted to this market alone. Recognizing this fact, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) launched the CE Industry Career Center, a job listing and resume site targeted specifically to the consumer electronics field.

Sometimes control for just one room is needed. Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) has a solution for one-room installations such as boardrooms, classrooms, or stand-alone rooms—the CPB-1 control port connecting block. It provides power to one RTI in-wall system controller and features two output ports that allow the connection of up to two single or dual IR emitters. It also has a RS-232 port for the serial control of devices, from an RTI in-wall controller, without the need of a separate RTI central control processor.

Design Centers are becoming more and more popular. The most recent one comes from projection screen manufacturer, Da-Lite, however, this center escapes high real estate bills by being completely virtual. The company set-up a special section of its website, dedicated to projection promotion and training for installers, designers, and even consumers who happen to find themselves on the site.

Boasting superb sound, active power and multitude of application possibilities is the Focus 110 A from Dynaudio Featuring two 50-watt power amplifiers per speaker (one each driving the tweeter and mid/bass driver), the Focus 110 A is compact and powerful.. It couples the simplicity of a refined speaker with the sophistication of a compact monitor.

Webinar's are a great way to learn information on a particular subject area without taking a lot of time out of your busy schedule. For the some information on the elusive luxury market, Unity Marketing, a research firm that survey's luxury consumers and reports on trends in the luxury market, is offering a free webinar on its Luxury Tracking Study.

Home theaters can be pretty grand, but this one, designed by First Impressions is one of the grandest.  This 13-seat theater, named "Cinema De La Mer," almost seems as if it could seat more and comes complete with a lobby, which in and of itself would make most people's jaws drop before they even saw the main room.

While word-of-mouth marketing may still be the number one form of getting more business for independent dealers, there is still something to be said for direct mail marketing whether it be electronic or the old fashioned way, via mail. But retailers are finding that casting a wide net isn’t always the best way to catch a customer, so they are tuning to companies like Revenew Systems to help them target their messages more effectively.