Classe Audio Revived! (Classe NOT closing it's doors on October 6 . See Post #38)*

Classé never went bankrupt. As the moderators have noted (bychanging the thread title), post #38 recaps the whole chain of events.

 

I note that the new revived CLASSÉ AUDIO is up and running and set to release some new products on the market very soon! See here Classé Audio - Home Page

I am very pleased to see this and wish everybody at CLASSÉ the very best for the future. I never sold my CAM-350s monoblocks which I have always liked. Hopefully, the company now be free of B&W Loudspeakers, can appoint new international distributors. I have a volume control issue on a CLASSÉ CP-65 line level pre-amp that I have. While B&W was helpful to me in my endeavours to get this rectified, they ultimately made it impossible for me to send the unit on directly to them. I am hoping that once new international distributors are announced that maybe I can get the matter addressed, assuming that they will be able to get the necessary part(s). I must say that I always found the Canadian company very good to deal with and always willing to help. I owned a few of their amplifiers and pre-amps over the years and enjoyed them very much.

 

But is this new company actually Classe' in anything other than name? After all, post 38 says that they fired their entire staff a couple of years ago.

 

Is it owned by another Chinese company? Luxman today is a Chinese owned company ...

 

Not Chinese, it's owned by Sound United, based in the US. The engineering staff is in Canada, and they plan to manufacture in Japan.

 

The main shareholder is a famous right wing former California Congressman whose name escapes me at this moment. I believe they also own Polk, Marantz, Denon, and NAD, and Bluesound.

Sound United

 

That was probably in the wake of B&W's withdrawal and before new investment was found? Anyway, Dave Nauber is the 'Brand Director' at Classé Audio according to the company's website! I was encouraged too to see Classé Audio listed as a Brandlist on the forthcoming Munich High End Trade Fair, beginning on the 9th of May next and continuing to Sunday the 12th May. The Exhibitor is stated to be D&M Germany GmbH. I will be traveling to Germany for the show and visiting D&M Germany's exhibition space is already a priority!

 

B&W is now owned by some Silicon Valley tycoon. He will not cheapen the brand for sure ...

 

Yes, and Classe, now entirely separate from B&W, is owned by an unrelated hedge fund (DEI Holdings). The latter is owned in part by Darrell Issa, formerly a California congressman. Trivia: it was Issa's voice that said "Please step away from the car" via those obnoxious car alarms he made and sold through DEI.

 

It is probably a private equity company as most hedge funds are not interested in long-term investments ...

 

FYI, he no longer owns it.

It is now owned by Charlesbank Capital Partners. Information about those partners can be found in the SEC 13d (EDGAR Filing Documents for 0001193125-11-260115 )

 

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

It will be interesting to see if Steinway will stay American ...