Nine years ago, Gibson acquired the Stanton Group and Cerwin Vega among many other businesses. Gibson lost focus and went bankrupt. It was purchased by investors that brought in new management to refocus the brand. Part of this is selling off non guitar businesses.
InMusic (Numark) has picked up what was left of the Stanton brand. Stanton had some good products on the vine that Gibson never allowed to ripen. I think they lost a lot of key talent though over the years. I'm not sure if the Florida office still exists or if that was closed years ago. Interestingly enough in the early 90s, Numark's current CEO was working for Stanton and tried to convince them to buy Numark (who was struggling at the time). Stanton wasn't interested so he quit and bought Numark for himself. InMusic now has Numark, Akai, Alesis, Denon DJ, Rane and M-Audio.
Cerwin Vega was actually bought by Cerwin Vega Mobile (the car stereo company). The two businesses had split up about 13 years ago (before Gibson acquired CV). The KRK brand (studio monitors) was also part of the CV fold for many years and the same speaker designers had worked on both product lines for the last few years. The KRK brand is still owned by Gibson. In fact, it was really the only pro audio brand that Gibson didn't allow to fall into ruins under the previous management. However, when Gibson moved KRK/CV to Nashville, they lost some good people. The primary speaker designer though did make the move. I was ready to buy some KRK monitors for the home a few weeks before they canned my contact there. His replacement was so disorganized, I went with another brand.
The consolidation of the DJ business has been interesting to watch. There are not really many independent brands anymore. Gemini still exists but they are more focused on their consumer products (branded Altec-Lansing) these days. Pioneer DJ was sold again just this year. The new owners, Noritsu, are still in Japan. Their main business has been photo-processing so it will be interesting to see what happens with Pioneer.
InMusic (Numark) has picked up what was left of the Stanton brand. Stanton had some good products on the vine that Gibson never allowed to ripen. I think they lost a lot of key talent though over the years. I'm not sure if the Florida office still exists or if that was closed years ago. Interestingly enough in the early 90s, Numark's current CEO was working for Stanton and tried to convince them to buy Numark (who was struggling at the time). Stanton wasn't interested so he quit and bought Numark for himself. InMusic now has Numark, Akai, Alesis, Denon DJ, Rane and M-Audio.
Cerwin Vega was actually bought by Cerwin Vega Mobile (the car stereo company). The two businesses had split up about 13 years ago (before Gibson acquired CV). The KRK brand (studio monitors) was also part of the CV fold for many years and the same speaker designers had worked on both product lines for the last few years. The KRK brand is still owned by Gibson. In fact, it was really the only pro audio brand that Gibson didn't allow to fall into ruins under the previous management. However, when Gibson moved KRK/CV to Nashville, they lost some good people. The primary speaker designer though did make the move. I was ready to buy some KRK monitors for the home a few weeks before they canned my contact there. His replacement was so disorganized, I went with another brand.
The consolidation of the DJ business has been interesting to watch. There are not really many independent brands anymore. Gemini still exists but they are more focused on their consumer products (branded Altec-Lansing) these days. Pioneer DJ was sold again just this year. The new owners, Noritsu, are still in Japan. Their main business has been photo-processing so it will be interesting to see what happens with Pioneer.