AV technology distributor Steljes has launched a new British consumer audio brand.
Called Steljes Audio, it will target the mid-market with a range of products, including portable DAB radios, powered desktop and floorstanding connected loudspeakers, TV soundbars, a music streamer and a high-resolution hybrid stereo valve amplifier.
Steljes Audio is a new company that is part of the Steljes Group, based in Bagshot, Surrey. The line-up of 27 products, including colour variants, will be available from February.
Speaking exclusively to ERT, James Roth, Steljes’s head of audio, said: “We’re looking to launch into specific market sectors where we’re aware that there’s growth. We’re working with Frontier Silicon and its UNDOK technology [for connected audio] and we’re putting it into some of our radio products. We’re also bringing an UNDOK adapter [streamer] to market, which can be plugged into any existing audio product.”
Mr Roth said that the open-source UNDOK platform was appealing because it meant Steljes products are compatible with other brands. “It changes the game for multi-room audio.”
Added Mr Roth: “We’re also going to be releasing some loudspeakers, but we’re not going to compete with British brands. But we can put a spin on the traditional loudspeaker.”
One of the products Steljes Audio will be introducing is a high-resolution hybrid valve amplifier (pictured top).
Said Mr Roth: “We’re making it relevant by using 21st century technology. It has a hybrid front-end and a solid-state back-end, a USB input and its own built-in DAC – plus Bluetooth.”
Mr Roth told ERT: “We shouldn’t be competing with the lower end of the market because we don’t have that scale of manufacturing. We’re building in some high-quality technologies that have a cost.”
Steljes Audio said it would limit distribution, focusing on specialist retailers and those that can provide quality service, demonstration and added value, but it added that some products would be suitable for the mass market.
Said Mr Roth: “We still have a remarkably high level of service in the independent retail sector. I’d love the products to be sold by Euronics.”
The Steljes Audio brand will also be rolled out across Europe and North America.
Commenting on the launch of the new brand, Nigel Steljes, chairman of Steljes, who founded the company in 1987, said: “It is a conscious decision to be the masters of our own destiny – no longer a distributor for a third-party manufacturer. There’s plenty of opportunity for us.”
- See the full story on Steljes Audio in our February issue of ERT
- For more information, visit http://steljesaudio.co.uk/
