[Doublej]

In another thread there's a discussion about Fried speakers being revived by Salk. That got me thinking about the questions, What are the most successful speaker brand revivals and what percentage of revived brands actually survive?

What is your gut response to these questions?

My answers without any data to back it up -

Quad

2% at best. Reasons being threefold:

1. Speakers often represent the sonic vision of a single individual. It's hard to pass that to another person.
2. Once the brand momentum and interest is lost it is hard to regain it. It seems easier to build a new brand from scratch.
3. Often it seems to be a financial play. Many of these speaker companies only survived in the first place because of the extraordinary efforts of the founder/owner. Bean counter management just doesn't work.

Good luck to the folks at Salk. I rooting for them to bring Fried back to its former glory.

[Tyson]

Klipsch.

[Letitroll98]

Snell, with good and bad.  Good when Peter Snell died tragically and Kevin Voecks took over keeping the company going for a while.  Bad when he left over differences with the business manager and the company was purchased by corporate bean counters.  Semi good when Audio Note UK resurrected the Type E design.  I like that they were successful in bringing back a classic dear to my heart, no so much about the price of same, no matter how much improvement was made to the original.   

So pretty much a microcosm of what you wrote:
"1. Speakers often represent the sonic vision of a single individual. It's hard to pass that to another person.
 2. Once the brand momentum and interest is lost it is hard to regain it. It seems easier to build a new brand from scratch.
 3. Often it seems to be a financial play. Many of these speaker companies only survived in the first place because of the extraordinary efforts of the founder/owner. Bean counter management just doesn't work." 

[Coleyzzzz]

Cerwin  Vega

[FullRangeMan]

JBL was resurrect by Harman.

[mav52]

I've owned a lot of KEF's since the 104a/b's came out almost 50 years ago, still have them. And still today, I still have 201/2 and 140's. One thing I have found with KEF, give them some power.

[fredgarvin]

KLH was revived a handful of years back, and they have done very well. In fact, after the success of the Kendall tower, they were the first maker that got a lot of attention with the revived old school form factor. their KLH Model Five. Shortly after that success, Wharfdale, Mission and others developed old school stand mount floor speakers.

[stylerb]

not sure Kef qualifies as resurrected, seems like they've been continuously successful for a long time. same for klipsch. seems like most companies have ebbs and flows but its not like Kef or Klipsch were out of business. KLH certainly seems resurrected. AR needs resurrection. Advent seems to need help. Would be cool to see Dynaco come back. would like to see ADS come back.

[FullRangeMan]

Ditto for Infinity and Genesis, not that I like those monster but it moves the parts market.

[Letitroll98]

Another old collection of brands, EPI, Epicure, and Genesis have been semi revived by Human Speakers in New Hampshire.  Selling parts, kits, and sometimes refurbished speakers I haven't checked to see if the concern is still on going, but the website appears fresh.
https://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epistory.htm

[studiotech]

JBL was resurrect by Harman.

Please explain.  I don't think JBL has ever gone out of business.

[newzooreview]

JBL was founded in 1946 and sold to the Jervis Corporation (now Harman International) in 1969, which was headed by Sidney Harman at the time.

Harman accepted a position in the Carter administration as the United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce in the 1970s. To avoid a conflict of interest, he sold his company to the conglomerate Beatrice Foods, which later sold many portions of the company, including the original Harman Kardon division. After leaving his government position in 1978, Sidney Harman reacquired the businesses he had sold to Beatrice, including JBL, and consolidated them under Harman International Industries.

Harman International went public in 1986 and used the additional capital to acquire AKG, Infinity, and Mark Levinson, among others.

[Dieterle Tool]

Genesis is still very much alive, Gary Koh has kept the company going. I recently sat with him at the Southwest Audiofest and listened to the Series 7 and discussed all things vinyl. The thin towers made from bamboo sounded great.

 https://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/

[dolsey01]

There was an announcement that Mirage was returning but haven't heard anything since.   

[planet10]

Of the brands mentioned;

Snell, revived successfully by Audio Noite UK under their own brand, KLH risen from the dead.

QUAD, Klipsch, JBL, KEF, Infinity never went anywhaere but changed ownership one or more times.

Genesis. If we are talking about the stuff that evolved from the big Infinity lone arrays they have been rersurrected more than once but i don’t thinkj ever successful

Cerwin  Vega, don’t think they went anywhere either.

Human Speakers keeps these Wilmslow Burhoe speakers alive, not sure how successful

dave

[Freo-1]

Wish Acoustat would make a comeback.

ATC is a leader in professional markets.  Slowing expanding into consumer markets.


Dynaudio is a major player in both consumer and professional markets. 

[rbbert]

Genesis. If we are talking about the stuff that evolved from the big Infinity lone arrays they have been rersurrected more than once but i don’t think ever successful

dave

Actually as noted just above your post, Gary Koh has been running Genesis for at least the last 15 years and it is quite successful.  It tends to have the uber high-end as its clientele so it doesn't get a lot of press.

[justjed]

I'm impressed by the new KLH. Well built, good sounding speakers. Founded by speaker guys, they put out genuinely good products. I have a pair of the Kendall towers, and I'm not looking for anything better. They're basically an updated Energy RC 30, a well regarded speaker in its own right. They've even moved production of the new replacement model to Canada. I wish then continued success.

[studiotech]

Actually as noted just above your post, Gary Koh has been running Genesis for at least the last 15 years and it is quite successful.  It tends to have the uber high-end as its clientele so it doesn't get a lot of press.

Different Genesis. 

[Letitroll98]

I can't believe I neglected to mention Meadowlark Audio.  I still own a pair of Shearwater Hot Rods.  It was the vision of Pat and Megan McGinty.  He tried two different product lines and three different factories before throwing the towel in, I think, 2005.  He worked outside the industry until they recently reopened the company making cost no object custom speakers.  Pat said it was the advances in digital processing that made it possible for him to make speakers with no compromises, something he always wanted to do.  Here's the company history page from the new website.
http://www.meadowlarksings.com/who%20we%20are.htm