Libratone CEO To Direct Speaker Company's Growth From Framingham HQ
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Libratone Inc., with U.S. headquarters in Framingham, makes wireless speakers that have been compared to Bose products for sound quality.
Libratone Inc., a Danish company that designs and sells high-end wireless speakers and colorful wool covers, has already made a name for itself in the home audio industry, recently clinching an industry award for its sleek design, and being compared to major competitor Bose Corp. for sound quality.
Now, Gregg Stein, the company's new CEO for North America based in Framingham, said it's time to grow the company's prestige as a leading name in the United States through brand awareness campaigns and increasing the company's retail partners, which already include the likes of Apple Inc. and Audi.
“Jaw-dropping” Sound
"When people see and hear these speakers their jaws drop every time," said Stein, who previously worked as a professional musician before transitioning to marketing and communications for the musical instruments and electronics and industry.
Libratone, which has its world headquarters in Copenhagen, hired Stein in January as vice president of sales and marketing before tapping him to lead the company in the U.S., starting with an office of three at 550 Cochituate Road in Framingham.
Stein, a resident of Framingham, said as the company grows over the next several months, his office will add more employees. According to Stein, the company chose the MetroWest town to locate its U.S. headquarters because of its proximity to the right workforce, and geographic location; previously, the U.S. headquarters was in Palo Alto, Calif.
"Having it here has made it a lot easier," Stein said. "I think, also, this as a hot bed for building the right team (of) intellectual people."
Scandinavian Simplicity
Scandinavian simplicity defines Libratone speakers, which were designed by a small research and development team in Copenhagen. Stein said the stylish look allows customers to integrate the sound systems seamlessly into their homes, leaving behind the days of black box speakers and tangled wires. The industry has paid Libratone recognition for its attention to aesthetics, with the Consumer Electronics Association naming it as a 2012 International CES Innovations Awards honoree for outstanding design and engineering.
As far as engineering, Stein said Libratone speakers employ high-end parts that create "such an incredibly warm sound," streaming music from wireless devices to avoid audio compression.
The method by which Libratone speakers connect to and streams music from ioS devices or iTunes is called PlayDirect. It's similar to Bluetooth technology in that it's wireless technology. But PlayDirect creates a direct network connection between the speaker and the computer, meaning users can bring the speaker outside or to areas without Wi-Fi networks and it will still work.
Unlike Bluetooth, PlayDirect also avoids audio compression, which results in a deterioration of sound quality, according to Wired magazine.
Customers pay for the high-end specs, with the Libratone suite of products ranging from $400 for the four-pound, 10-inch-tall Zipp speaker, to $1,299 for the 27-pound, 41-inch-long Lounge speaker.
TheVerge.com said Bose makes a comparable unit to the Zipp called the SoundLink Air, which retails for $350 and has an optional battery pack for $90.
TheVerge said in October that Libratone has 30 employees, which means it has a long way to go before it can catch up to Bose, which according to Forbes had more than 9,000 employees and more than $2.2 billion in revenue in 2011. In 2008, Bose ranked third in overall market share for home audio products behind Sony and Monster Cable, according to New York-based NPD Group.
But with an office just three miles down the road, you might say that the up and coming Libratone has Bose in its sights.
But according to a review by Forbes in February, they may be well worth the cost.
Forbes contributor Jason Evangelho wrote that he bought the Libratone Zipp, the least expensive speaker, after a week-long trial.
"It truly fills the room with crisp highs, deep booming bass, and volume that doesn't approach distortion until dialed almost to maximum. I liken the initial listening experience to the first time I heard a Bose, utterly shocked at the volume and fidelity piping from the unassuming little box," Evangelho wrote.
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