Radial engineering

Nailpicker · #1 05-08-2018, 04:42 PM

I'm a huge fan of Radial products. I've accumulated quite a number of their varied products over the past few years. When there is some box (di/eq/aby/spitter/whatever) that I want/need, when in doubt as to what brand to purchase I simply fallback on old reliable, Radial. I learned about Radial from a local, small box music accessories store. The owner of the store does not carry the Radial brand, but highly recommended it to me. To me that speaks volumes about the brand.

I was surprised just today to read that Radial had early this year sold out to an investment equities firm. I sure hope that doesn't spell the death of Radial as a brand, or in terms of their innovation and especially their quality as happens so often when a reputable, quality brand gets bought out.

pieterh · #2 05-08-2018, 11:57 PM

I think sold out is not the right way to put it. As I understand it the owner wanted to retire and so sold the company. The rest of the creative team are still active and as Radial is pretty much the leading brand in the professional music and theatre world for DI and other gear I can’t see any owner wanting to change a winning concept.

pieterh · #3 05-09-2018, 01:12 AM

I agree on the quality of their products by the way. About ten years ago I was assisting on a gig (basically running the gig as their sound guy didn’t know his way around the gear...) and we were using Samson DIs for the acoustic guitars. After that gig I said that we needed to upgrade the DIs as they sounded thin (the artists had noticed too) and that we needed to be providing higher grade gear for professional acts. We already had a working relationship with Radial’s Swedish agent so we started with two passive JDI and two active J48.

Since then we have expanded our stock and have several active and passive plus a JDI Duplex and regular stereo versions of the J48 and JDI, 3 JPC for consumer audio, a ProDI 8 for digital drum or keyboard setups, a footswitch for talkback mic, two Pz-DI (excellent!) and even a pair of JDX amp DIs.

At home I use Trimode, Vienna Chorus, Pz-Pre, JDI Duplex and the new JDX Direct Drive, so as you see I am also a big fan!

Nailpicker · #4 05-09-2018, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pieterh

I think sold out is not the right way to put it. As I understand it the owner wanted to retire and so sold the company. The rest of the creative team are still active and as Radial is pretty much the leading brand in the professional music and theatre world for DI and other gear I can’t see any owner wanting to change a winning concept.

Thank you pieterh for that reassuring view. You know I hate to see a truly quality product go down the tubes, especially when it's a product I rely on.

pieterh · #5 05-09-2018, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nailpicker

Thank you pieterh for that reassuring view. You know I hate to see a truly quality product go down the tubes, especially when it's a product I rely on.

Same here but I think it will be ok!

Br1ck · #6 05-09-2018, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nailpicker

Thank you pieterh for that reassuring view. You know I hate to see a truly quality product go down the tubes, especially when it's a product I rely on.

I'm not that optimistic. You and I see a company making good products. Just do what you do and business as usual.

Reality: The company was bought with debt as an investment. Now, interest on that debt must be paid, and there is a CEO whose compensation is tied to profit. Now, not long term. 40 year old guys with MBAs who were taught how to run a business, any business, start looking to save. Hey, there is a 60 year old engineer making a load of money. Do we really need him? Hey, we're paying too much for those caps and resistors. Our division that makes toasters is doing great and we can pool our buying power, and while we are at it, let's combine and streamline our R&D. Oh, and cutting 10% out of our labor cost, well, they won't be missed. And if folks are upset and leave, we have our fancy university processes with new productivity software that allows us to plug in anybody anywhere and they will be just fine. Oh, customers don't want hands on attention from a salesforce. They want cheap prices, so they can call customer service with any issues.

Nailpicker · #7 05-09-2018, 04:34 PM

Well, that's what I really feared Br1ck. Besides making a great product, they had/have(?) great customer service. For me a great product is not a great product without great customer service.

Br1ck · #8 05-09-2018, 06:07 PM

Only time will tell. Founder had a passion for what he was doing. Buyer won't have that.

Kalani · #9 05-10-2018, 11:07 AM

Yep, the big corporations usually spoil it as they are too focused on immediate results that impact profits (and the CEO's pay package) at the expense of quality. We can only hope this is not the case here.