OSD (Optimal Speaker Design), which sells OSD-brand architectural speakers and related audio products through online channels, will go to next month’s CEDIA Expo with a new brand that is sold direct to custom integrators and a limited number of premium A/V distributors.
The brand, Black by Optimal Speaker Design, focuses on premium-quality custom-installed audio products, which won’t be sold direct to consumers, a spokesman told TWICE.
Compared to the OSD brand, Black products feature better materials, sound quality and styling, the spokesperson continued. Bezel-less magnetic grilles and square grille options for in-ceiling speakers, for example, are not available in the OSD line.
The initial Black products are speakers, which recently became available. Electronics such as amplifiers will come in 2016. The products are positioned as offering “unique features and technologies that make them better looking, easier to install and more durable while delivering life-like sound quality more typically found in free-standing speakers,” the company added.
The products are backed by what the company said is a first-of-its-kind warranty that compensates integrator $50 for post-installation service calls caused by the failure of a product within the first 30 days. The speakers are covered by a limited lifetime warranty, and the planned electronics will come with two-year warranty.
The initial lineup consists of 15 in-ceiling and eight in-wall speakers, all with flange-free magnetic grilles that minimize the speakers’ visible footprint. Other products to come include freestanding and built-in subwoofers and outdoor speakers.
The Black round in-ceiling speakers offer a square grille option to match the aesthetic of rectangular architectural elements such as lighting fixtures and air registers.
CE veteran Jack Travis, formerly with Harman, SVS, and Sound United, is heading up Black sales and marketing efforts and managing rep firms and distributors. He can be contacted via email [email protected] or by phone at 516-991-7044.
Optimal Speaker Design got its start in 2007 selling outdoor and indoor architectural speakers and related audio products direct to consumers, and it began in 2012 to sell OSD-brand products through Amazon. The OSD brand also features amplifiers, volume controls, IR system kits, A-Bus multiroom-audio systems, and speaker switchers.
Black products were initially unveiled at last year’s Expo but didn’t ship until recently.
