Is SVS Ownership still Specialty Technologies, LLC? Who owns them?

[-Jim-]

Hi Gents,

With the recent roll out of their Ultra Evolution Speakers, I was wondering just who owns the company.

I took at look at this from 2011: SVS Under New Ownership - Specialty Technologies, LLC and was somewhat surprised that the then new (and current) CEO was Vice President, Strategic Development at Monster Cable for years. Some members here have expressed less than stellar opinions about Monster.

I've tried googling both SVS and Specialty Technologies with little success. I've found that engineering is in the USA and manufacturing is all in China; but that's it.

Do you know any details on ownership?

Thanks for the assist.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I believe that "V" is for Tom Vodhan.... or something like that who started the company. He was very active about subs in a previous audio chat board back in the late 90s.
Must have partnered up with the two P folks.
Gene would know more.

 

[-Jim-]

I believe that "V" is for Tom Vodhan.... or something like that who started the company. He was very active about subs in a previous audio chat board back in the late 90s.
Must have partnered up with the two P folks.
Gene would know more.

I know SVS stood for SV Subwoofers so finding out what the V is gets us more info. Was it a two person partnership before being sold to Specialty Technologies in 2011?

Hey @gene - can you provide any more info?

 

[-Jim-]

I just found a 22 year old post elsewhere with:

S=Ron Stimpson
V=Tom Vodhanel

the two founders of SVS

Then on LinkedIn I found this on Ron Stimpson:

President/CEO, SVSound LLC: 1999-2011 - Co-Founder, acted as Director of Product, Sales and Marketing leading SVS to world-wide critical acclaim in a hyper-competitive consumer audio market in less than a decade. Developed unprecedented product and factory direct web retail sales/service models now widely emulated throughout the industry.

• Products: Designed, sourced, produced and retailed numerous audio industry firsts including three tiers of powered cylinder home theater subwoofers, multiple tune DSP-controlled digital amps with LCD user interfaces, and state of the art room correction (with Audyssey Labs). Managed final assembly of full products in USA and multiple locations in Asia.

• Achievements/Awards: Editor's Choice awards and laudatory reviews from Sound&Vision Magazine, CNet, Wired, TechTV, Stereophile, HomeTheater Magazine, WhatHiFi, Audioholics.com, and virtually all top-tier equivalents inAsia, Europe and South America. Served as reference standard subwoofers for WGBH Boston, Walt Disney Studios, Fox and numerous artists and studio executives. Award winning product ad and PR campaigns for Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

• Markets/Sales: Profitable in first year. Sustained over 30% growth for over 5 years as "garage start-up". Peak $4+m/annual sales with staff of fewer than 10. Led grass roots expansion to over 30 countries begun 2007. Export nearly 50% of unit sales by 2010. Established industry's first satellite fabrication to service Asian demand from free trade zone Taiwan. Successful asset sale to veteran audio industry principals in 2011.

I found this on Tom Vodhanel of PSA =>

Power Sound Audio - About Us

"Power Sound Audio owner, Tom Vodhanel, has been designing subwoofers and speakers for nearly two decades. In the mid 1990's, Tom actively participated in various DIY internet forums, sharing many of his ideas with fellow home theater hobbyists. In 1999, Tom became the driving force behind a new subwoofer company called SV Subwoofers. At the time, the new company's goal was to help home theater enthusiasts, who were not interested in DIY, to enjoy loud clean bass performance at a fraction of the typical cost. With this common sense business model, SV Subwoofers quickly grew into a multi-million dollar company. Tom held the position as the Director of Research and Development from the company's inception until he resigned in late 2007. In addition to his R&D responsibilities, Tom also undertook the duties as the Director of Marketing from 2005 until he resigned."

So I'm gathering info on the past, but still no ownership data.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is Ed Boyd the guy from Monster? The free info at D&B (Dun and Bradstreet) points to him as key principal.... https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.specialty_technologies_llc.b9d38140ef4bc32481426d7f1ada2919.html

 

[cpp]

2011 ; President and CEO, Gary Yacoubian, SVS, past :Monster Products, and MyerEmco AudioVideo.

 

[-Jim-]

Thanks for the posts Gents. I knew of Gary's past, but didn't want to post it in case it would get Gene in trouble if we were discussing a "sponsor" on the Forum. He's the one with the "Monster" background. I can't find anything yet on Ed Boyd.

Many here have said Monster was (is?) a vendor who makes outrageous claims for cables and such, whose functions can be accomplished by items made by other OEMs costing pennies on the dollar in comparison. I personally have avoided anything with Monster branding, except when I found some cables for a friend dirt cheap in the discount bin. I put Monster in the same category (maybe not quite as bad) as "Fraudioquest" and their claims of Voodoo. I find it somewhat troubling that Gary, who seems to be a very upright and straightforward honest type in all the Videos / Streams I've seen of him in his last few years with SVS; was Vice President, Strategic Development at Monster Cable for years.

My memory (which could be wrong) was those years were when the community was hammering Monster at almost every turn. Comments?

Hopefully someone will chime in on the current ownership of SVS. I'm assuming it's privately owned as I can typically find info on publicly held ones. (At least those in the West.)

Let's keep digging.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks for the posts Gents. I knew of Gary's past, but didn't want to post it in case it would get Gene in trouble if we were discussing a "sponsor" on the Forum. He's the one with the "Monster" background. I can't find anything yet on Ed Boyd.

Many here have said Monster was (is?) a vendor who makes outrageous claims for cables and such, whose functions can be accomplished by items made by other OEMs costing pennies on the dollar in comparison. I personally have avoided anything with Monster branding, except when I found some cables for a friend dirt cheap in the discount bin. I put Monster in the same category (maybe not quite as bad) as "Fraudioquest" and their claims of Voodoo. I find it somewhat troubling that Gary, who seems to be a very upright and straightforward honest type in all the Videos / Streams I've seen of him in his last few years with SVS; was Vice President, Strategic Development at Monster Cable for years.

My memory (which could be wrong) was those years were when the community was hammering Monster at almost every turn. Comments?

Hopefully someone will chime in on the current ownership of SVS. I'm assuming it's privately owned as I can typically find info on publicly held ones. (At least those in the West.)

Let's keep digging.

I looked at LinkedIn about Yacoubian and says he's president and managing partner of Specialty Technologies LLC but mentions Maryland so perhaps different company than the Ohio one for Ed Boyd (but was thinking SVS was in Ohio, too). I didn't see anything on who his partner(s) is/are. He was with Monster for 3 years, as a VP of strategic development and later as senior strategic advisor for Noel Lee (the head monster/owner). Before that 21 years with an audio video chain MyerEmco in the DC area, left as president.

Was this (when reformed in 2011) when SVS started selling cables and the vibration feet?

 

[cpp]

About SVS | High-performance home audio engineered in Youngstown, OH

Learn about the team, design philosophy, and values that set SVS apart from other audio brands.

www.svsound.com

There is NO Ed Boyd noted in their upper management levels.

 

[-Jim-]

About SVS | High-performance home audio engineered in Youngstown, OH

Learn about the team, design philosophy, and values that set SVS apart from other audio brands.

www.svsound.com

There is NO Ed Boyd noted in their upper management levels.

Yes, he is listed as a "Principal" at the ownership level on some financial sites like D&B, and is not in day to day management of SVS. I'm assuming they'd list him as a "Proprietor" if he had sole ownership, so there must be some other structure and players involved. He could just be the managing director for Specialty Technologies probably with some ownership stake fronting a group of investors who like to remain hidden from the public. Who knows?

I'm just surprised it is this difficult to find out who own SVS. It should be readily available.

Help @gene please.

 

[cpp]

Yes, he is listed as a "Principal" at the ownership level on some financial sites like D&B, and is not in day to day management of SVS. I'm assuming they'd list him as a "Proprietor" if he had sole ownership, so there must be some other structure and players involved. He could just be the managing director for Specialty Technologies probably with some ownership stake fronting a group of investors who like to remain hidden from the public. Who knows?

I'm just surprised it is this difficult to find out who own SVS. It should be readily available.

Help @gene please.

Send SVS a email. Can't be that difficult.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yeah, asking SVS probably easiest. That D&B for the LLC in Ohio did indicate base business wasn't audio, so maybe this Ed Boyd is more on that side of the fence and someone else is more active at the SVS level?

I just tried Specialty Technologies LLC in the Ohio secretary of state business search, and it comes up with the detailed name of "SPECIALTY TECHNOLOGIES OF DELAWARE, LLC (SPECIALTY TECHNOLOGIES, LLC) " and is a foreign limited liability company (llc). Clicking on details says agent is Paracorp Inc of Cleveland. Searching Paracorp then comes up with status as cancelled. Hard to know these days who owns what without seeing more from their records than the simple searches bring up....

 

[BMXTRIX]

I worked with Gary at Myer-Emco for a few years and always thought he was a solid guy. Myer-Emco was one of the premier home theater installation companies in the Washington DC area when I was with them. My role was their senior systems programmer at the time for integrated homes. Got to see some pretty incredible homes while I was with them. Very different than the commercial stuff I work on these days.

I literally have nothing at all negative to say about my interactions with Gary. I think there was some point where they were trying to eliminate SKUs in the accounting system and they were looking at getting rid of a part that was a super good value to the client. We still made good money on the part, but it was an added SKU and inventory item.

I raised a bit of a stink about it. I mean, we had to have some part to fill that need, and I was okay with using a different part, but we'd still be stuck with some SKU in our system regardless, so why not pass on the best value to our clients and free up their cash for better speakers or other better hardware?

I believe he was kind enough to listen to my little rant about it, and at the end they agreed that it did make more sense to just keep that as the product we used. I'm not sure I handled it as well as I could have, but I found the professional response to be excellent.

I also think that most people do find that SVS is one of those companies that delivers a quality product at a reasonable price without the BS that went along with Monster. I mean, it says something when you are with a company like Monster for just a few years and LEAVE THEM even though they are nearing their absolute peak of sales. That he left for a company which wasn't a national reseller of products, but was a smaller high end retailer. That's a pretty bold move and I think speaks to the character of the individual.

We did sell a lot of Monster stuff when I was with Myer-Emco, but they were a pretty big profit center for custom installation at the time. It's not like retailers aren't still pushing high-end cabling to customers even today. But, back then, when a good TV was $5,000, adding $500 in cabling seemed like a no-brainer. No Monoprice or forums back then to check things out either. Even today, it's still the practice of stores to make a lot of money on cabling.

Anyway, that's my personal experience with him, from many years ago, but it was all positive from what I remember. Calm and level headed within the company and the work that I did with him. I'm really glad he has made things work with SVS.