Topic: Audiotonix to acquire DPA and Austrian Audio

[pohaku]

https://www.reddit.com/r/LocationSound/s/HMCRrLWeW2

More independent audio companies being consolidated.

[VibrationOfLife]

That's a really big deal.

[Melanie]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

[pohaku]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Well, they previously acquired Sound Devices.  Anyone want to weigh in on their post acquisition experience getting service from SD?  Might be a harbinger.

[Niels]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Depends what you mean by Independent. DPA was sold at some point to an Italian private equity fund and people were/are complaining about poor support.
Not someting I personally have felt, though.

[VibrationOfLife]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Well, they previously acquired Sound Devices.  Anyone want to weigh in on their post acquisition experience getting service from SD?  Might be a harbinger.

They want over $900 to look at my 442.  I can buy 3 used for that.  Granted it will come out "like new", and I understand labor costs, but come on.  That's a long way towards a Mixpre6II.

[jbell]

Sound devices is doing the expensive fees with legacy gear to encourage people to move to current products.  It isn't as expensive to have current recorders Mixpre 3, 6, 10 or 833, 888 serviced.

[rocksuitcase]

This sounds to me like an Opportunity for vulture capitalists to fuck the audio/video industry the same way they screwed medical and dental providers.

[if_then_else]

There has been a concentration process anyways.

Just remember all the audio / video gear companies owned by Videndum / Vitec group (Audix, Gitzo, Manfrotto, Sachtler, Rycote, ...).
And no, that's not great but at least some former employees have started their own companies - like Cinela or Radius.

In further news Native Instruments (incl. iZotope) entered insolvency proceedings.

[voltronic]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Well, they previously acquired Sound Devices.  Anyone want to weigh in on their post acquisition experience getting service from SD?  Might be a harbinger.

They want over $900 to look at my 442.  I can buy 3 used for that.  Granted it will come out "like new", and I understand labor costs, but come on.  That's a long way towards a Mixpre6II.

For those reading this who may not know: The flat rate bench/labor fee for the legacy gear is $795, parts extra. If you do a pre-authorization of an additional $150 for parts, they give you a 10% discount if they don't hit that amount because it saves them time having to contact you again.

Sound devices is doing the expensive fees with legacy gear to encourage people to move to current products.  It isn't as expensive to have current recorders Mixpre 3, 6, 10 or 833, 888 serviced.

I sent both of my 788's in for service the last couple of years - one because I damaged it, the other because it just needed some things. For the 788 I think the repair cost is reasonable given the complexity of the unit and the fact that you end up with a unit that meets or exceeds the quality of any other field recorder in current production. For the simpler units like a 442 or my old FP24, the cost would be a bit hard to justify.

[voltronic]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Well, they previously acquired Sound Devices.  Anyone want to weigh in on their post acquisition experience getting service from SD?  Might be a harbinger.

I dealt with SD service 3 times over 2024-2025 and they were simply outstanding in every way (albeit expensive).

There's a quote from SD CEO Matt Anderson about the Audiotonix acquisition on the SD site (source: https://www.sounddevices.com/sound-devices-25th-anniversary/)

In 2021, we decided to sell Sound Devices to Audiotonix, and things have never been better - truly a match made in heaven. Many people have asked me “how’s it going with Audiotonix?”, and the answer is always the same: “Fantastic!” James Gordon & the gang at Audiotonix are amazingly hands-off in that we've been left alone to design, build, market and sell products like we’ve always done, but with many more engineering, financial, sales, and marketing resources at our disposal. It's the best vibe we've ever had in the company – we are working on many new products, and having a lot of fun at the same time. I feel grateful to say that after all this time, I remain here, as active and engaged as ever. Along with Lisa and Libby (and dozens of other truly incredible coworkers), I feel fortunate to run this fantastic company, and on a daily basis do what I truly love - design products. In the rest of this series, I will focus on the individual products that we've made, and my memories from designing them."

[scb]

2013: The global private equity firm Riverside acquired 100% of DPA in late 2013 to accelerate its international growth and product development.
2019: RCF Group: In December 2018, the Italian professional audio conglomerate RCF Group acquired DPA from Riverside to complete its audio chain from microphones to speakers.
2023: Palladio Holding, an Italian private equity fund, took control of DPA Microphones from RCF Group (though RCF retained a minority stake).
2026 (Expected): Audiotonix will acquire DPA Microphones, along with Wisycom and Austrian Audio, from Palladio/RCF.

[VibrationOfLife]

Really scary, DPA has always worked well as an independent company. Hopefully service and help won't change, but nothing good lasts forever it seems.

Well, they previously acquired Sound Devices.  Anyone want to weigh in on their post acquisition experience getting service from SD?  Might be a harbinger.

They want over $900 to look at my 442.  I can buy 3 used for that.  Granted it will come out "like new", and I understand labor costs, but come on.  That's a long way towards a Mixpre6II.

For those reading this who may not know: The flat rate bench/labor fee for the legacy gear is $795, parts extra. If you do a pre-authorization of an additional $150 for parts, they give you a 10% discount if they don't hit that amount because it saves them time having to contact you again.

Sound devices is doing the expensive fees with legacy gear to encourage people to move to current products.  It isn't as expensive to have current recorders Mixpre 3, 6, 10 or 833, 888 serviced.

I sent both of my 788's in for service the last couple of years - one because I damaged it, the other because it just needed some things. For the 788 I think the repair cost is reasonable given the complexity of the unit and the fact that you end up with a unit that meets or exceeds the quality of any other field recorder in current production. For the simpler units like a 442 or my old FP24, the cost would be a bit hard to justify.

This post is 100% accurate.  It still doesn't keep plenty of many serviceable units from ending up in the trash and the parts to fix them just sitting there on the shelves at SD.  Seems very short-sighted.  I have heard nothing but glowing reviews of their repair work.