These brands are mentioned frequently on this forum and What Hi-Fi? is now reporting that they are being acquired:
“Marquee audio brands Focal and Naim will soon have a new owner | What Hi-Fi?
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An interesting new owner. The What Hi-Fi article seems to value Barco as a healthcare company. They certainly have an interest in the healthcare arena but this is as a supplier of professional medical imaging equipment.
They are one of the most important actors in the manufacture and supply of professional imaging equipment such as broadcast TV monitors. Coincidentally a late friend of mine was a UK rep for them back in the 1970s.
This acquisition may prove very interesting for the two audio brands as Barco see them not only as players in the home audio market but also in conjunction with their professional studio customers.
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I saw this earlier and looked at the primary industry. It will be interesting to see how the two companies get integrated
Barco make very high end AV projectors for home cinema and commercial use . Their top of the range projector would make Varese owners blush !
Indeed they do.
We shall have to wait and see how this transpires but Barco’s acquisition of Naim and Focal may be a very good match given that it adds the A in A/V to what is probably the most prestigious brand in the V domain.
The Hi-fi is dying slowly…30 years ago it was possible to get a nice sounding stereo for 5000 to 25000€…Nowadays you get an average stereo for that money…you must spend 100.000 or more to get something special in the way it sounds…As the middle class disappears in Europe, no one can pay Naim and Focal gear. For rich people these brands are not enough high end, not enough expensive…Linn raised its prices like crazy, dCS did that as well…I paid my Vivaldi Upsampler 20.000€…3 or 4 years ago…I can sell it second hand at that price today !! Only hyper high end is selling, all the rest will soon be replaced with Chinese products…(they improve every year…).
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Well, the facts that Chi-Fi products improve every year and are much more mass market products than traditional hi-fi brands somewhat contradict the statement that “hi-fi is slowly dying”.
Yet, I mainly agree with your statement but definitely disagree with Chi-Fi product being the culprit.
The Hi-Fi market has become a niche since the vast majority of people across the globe is now only focused on a personal screen (computer, smartphone, …) and spend 70% of their living time on it, whether for their leisures or for their work.
Even listening to music is now passing through those individual screens with the related devices/eco-systems (AirPods, Apple Music, YouTube…).
What remains today to Hi-Fi is a constantly diminishing market of elder people that knew a world in which they were not only focusing on screens, but they were also reading books (printed on paper supports) and listening to music on large non portable sound devices…
So, the only chance of survival for old hi-fi brands is to keep sufficient margins by going high-end, mainly targeting this category of wealthy elder people, letting the “rest” to Chi-Fi.
This may work for a while, but will eventually collapse after 1-2 generations will pass…
…and Chi-Fi won’t survive this collapse either.
EDITssss: Trying to fix my English.
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As this thread is specifically about Barco’s acquisition of Naim and Focal, changes to general state of the audio market is an important subject but one that seems quite a move from this very specific topic.
I would suggest a separate “audio market “thread. However this has all been discussed at length several times over recent years.
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I personally feel Erwan’s reply is on topic
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Thanks Gregg.
It’s ErwAn, with an “A” BTW.
It’s a French(Britton) variant of similar Celtic names like Erwin, Hervé, …
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Stupid iOS autocorrect
Already corrected in my post 
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