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Reflecting dramatic changes in the high-end industry, British loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins has developed for its products a new US retail outlet. Beginning in October, audio shoppers will be able to audition and buy the company's loudspeakers in Best Buy's chain of Magnolia stores.

B&W Group North America (Equity) has announced that Doug Henderson will assume the position of vice president of sales and marketing as of April 30. Henderson has been a principal of Audtek Associates for more than 20 years. "I'm excited about this move," Henderson told Stereophile. "At Audtek, we specialized in brand building, and we accomplished a lot with some very good companies. With B&W Group, I have the opportunity to use those skills with some of the finest equipment available today—and I have a great independent sales force to work with. It's an unrivaled opportunity."

The practice of "Transshipping"---selling a product outside one's designated territory---is widespread in the audio industry. It's commonplace for dealers to sell not only to walk-in customers, but also over the telephone or Internet to customers in other dealers' territories, usually at discounted prices. While not problematic on a small scale, the practice favors large-volume dealers over smaller ones, and is almost always a violation of a dealer's agreement with a manufacturer.

At nearly simultaneous press receptions in London and New York on November 17, B&W unveiled its new 800 series loudspeakers, the first complete redesign of this respected and venerable line in more than six years. Wisely, the presentation began with cocktails and a surprisingly entertaining technical description of the innovations. The latter offered many reassurances that, although all aspects of the 800 line were examined, no changes were made simply for the sake of change, and the basic design principles withstood this re-examination. Thus, when we were, at last, treated to the displayed speakers themselves, we were not surprised that they greatly resembled their predecessors, and we focused, instead, on the new features.

Loudspeaker manufacturer B&W has been extremely aggressive in the past two years in reining in abuses of its dealer agreements. Last year, the company cut off many dealers and stocking distributors in an attempt to tighten control over its distribution. Now, as a result of a program announced November 22 by KnowledgeLINK, many B&W dealers will be able to take sales online in complete compliance with their dealer agreements. Rotel dealers are also participating.

The year 2001 was a bleak one for the music industry. Of the major labels, only Universal">http://www.umusic.com">Universal Music Group managed to turn a profit.

We reported">http://www.stereophile.com/news/10339/">reported last year about the new direction that Bang">http://www.bang-olufsen.com/">Bang & Olufsen America has taken in distributing its products: the company has recently opened a series of branded BOA stores around the US. The strategy seems to have paid off. The company reports increased sales of more than 60% in the first quarter of its current fiscal year, and claims that individual shops reported an average sales increase of 20%.