Interview with Mr.Andy Duffield of PMC

Date: 2009-05

PMC has been very active in marketing its products and technologies in recent years even more so since the introduction of the i-series which has garnered a myriad of commendations from reviewers in the industry. In order to capitalize on this opportunity and better serve the markets in Hong Kong and China, Mr. Andy Duffield of PMC had come all the way from the UK and had a brief interview with us in our HK office on PMC’s latest developments.

R: In light of the world’s current economic climate, what would be PMC’s strategies for the rest of 2009?

A: Ah! This is a very good question. I believe everybody is aware that the world’s economic outlook is very uncertain at this moment. As far as the consumer market is concerned, nobody is immune from its impact, regardless of the type of products we are dealing with. Fortunately, PMC’s results in the 4th quarter of 2008 and the 1st quarter of 2009 were not seriously affected. I would attribute this to the polarization of the current market. In the past, the consumer electronic market was basically divided into 3 segments, the novice, mid-end and high-end products. Today, however, the pie has been shrinking; consumers are either buying all-in-one systems, or going for the high quality, high price individual components. Going back to PMC’s loudspeakers, we have insisted on having our products hand-made in the UK, and most of the material parts that we use on the products are developed in-house to ensure that our product’s uniqueness and sound quality are never compromised. Such practice has given us an edge in the market and we will continue, without end, to find ways to improve and fine-tune the performance quality of our products to satisfy our users in the high-end market.

R: What are your views on the growing home theatre market?

A: Results in recent years have indicated that the gap between the demand for professional applications and that of the consumer is getting bigger every day. The consumer market has had a significant growth in the UK and EU areas as quite a number of the rich and famous had chosen PMC speakers for their home theatres because they have realized that PMC products are being used in a lot of the world’s top studios as monitors, and it just so happened that most of these studios are doing post production mixing for Hollywood movies. This has given them plenty of confidence in using our products, and therefore, we are optimistic on our future sales growth.

R: Would PMC introduce specific products for the home theater market in the future?

A: PMC has always had 2 major product lines, one is for professional applications and the other is for home use. I believe for the latter, we have an ample supply of models to meet the needs of our consumers. The neat DB1i could be used as surround speakers while for the centre channel, we have 3 models to offer. A few years ago we had already sensed what the market would probably need and had introduced the Wafer which is a slim and wall-mountable line of speakers. The Wafer is using the same drivers as the DB1 and is also designed with our proprietary ATL technology; it is really a technological breakthrough as we had to construct the ATL maze within such a thin structure. Phase and sound field adjustments are also available for flexibility in installation. We have had several Wafer installations in high class restaurants and record shops recently and the reasons for the choice are superb sound quality, simple shape, and very adaptable to different decors.

R: Would there be any new models immediately after the PB1i?

A: The introduction of the PB1i arises out of our consideration that within the i-series, there was a missing link between the OB1i and the EB1i. We had a lot of feedbacks from customers in the past that they really liked the lows on the EB1i, but due to limitations in living space, they could not place a pair of EB1i in their homes, so they had asked if we could develop something that would have similar lows as the EB1i while being slim and space-saving. Ultimately, we have the PB1i as answer, and this is the only PMC floorstander with twin bass drivers within an 8 inch wide cabinet. This has just filled the void along the i-series lineup and now we have a full line ranging from the neat DB1i to the monumental flagship BB5i. I believe this lineup is comprehensive enough to meet the different needs of our consumers and we do not yet have plans to add new ones for the time being.

R: Last year PMC had introduced the Free wireless speaker. What is PMC’s perspective on the market for such products?

A: The arrival of Free can be traced back to a speaker development project we had participated 3 years ago. The main purpose of such design project was to help explore the markets among the younger generations and the professionals. As far as the future of the market goes, there exists a niche for a speaker product that is both fashionable and hi-tech. However, such development is still at an infant stage when compared to the traditional mainstream Hi-Fi market. We always have to be very sensitive to any new trends in the market and develop suitable products to fill the gap.