The live audio revolution. Hills mute on L-ISA strategy

Last week cxnetwork.com.au revealed the L-Acoustics L-ISA system, one of several implementations of spatial audio mixing – and a very significant product for the French company. L-Acoustic share leadership in the global loudspeaker system market with German competitor d&b audiotechnik, who likewise have a rollout in this space called The d&b Soundscape.

While d&b are engaging their distributors worldwide with training, strategies and implementations, L-Acoustic seem to have a problem in Australia. Distributor Hills have just delivered around $2 million worth of K2 and associated systems to NW Group in Australia, yet Hills remain mute on anything L-Acoustics.

You would think they would be all over this, as L-Acoustics (and d&b) are set to unleash a marketing campaign like you’ve never seen before. The prize is obvious, since every implementation of a spatial audio mixing system involves significantly more loudspeaker sales. Given the long time frame and briefings on the product road map that distributors get from manufacturers, it is a no-brainer that Hills ought to be very visible on the delights of a system such as L-ISA.

L-ISA was shown in demo at Infocomm in the middle of 2017. (As was The d&b Soundscape). A number of consultants in Australia attended, and have formed first impressions of the systems. We understand one of the systems has already been demonstrated in Australia, however the details are sketchy.

It doesn’t add up. The inference is that this is now too big for Hills. They have not responded to several emails from us, other than to say: “At this point in time Hills continues to distribute L-Acoustics in Australia and New Zealand market.”

At the Australian d&b distributor National Audio Systems, it is green for go. They are working on their rollout, and engaging the market.

Do you know more? juliusmedia@me.com