AV Specialists Say They'll Sell Step-Up Sharp-Made Elite TV If Quality Is There

"It’s somewhat confusing,” said Leon Soohoo, president of Paradyme Sound & Vision in Sacramento, Calif. “If both Sharp and Pioneer are going to be marketing the product, how does that work?” And Pioneer historically had supply chain problems, he said. “If they had too many of one product, they had to dump it, which caused market disruptions,” Soohoo said. With Sharp and Pioneer both marketing product under the new deal, “how do you manage the supply chain?” he asked. “Sharp makes a very good TV,” and Paradyme sells some of them, Soohoo said, “but Pioneer Elite has always been demonstrably performance-oriented. I'm absolutely taking a wait-and see on this."

"I hope it’s a savior for the industry,” said Stuart Schuster, president of Marvin Electronics, in Fort Worth, Texas. “We just hope they won’t screw it up.” Repeating his contention that the TV industry “had a race to the bottom and got there,” Schuster said his business needs a premium TV brand amid devaluation of sets in his market, where a furniture chain tosses in a 55-inch TV with any purchase of a seven-piece furniture set. “I'd like to see a better set at a premium price for a little more money,” Schuster said. Together, Pioneer, which “knows what people want,” and Sharp, “which makes wonderful products but may not have the high-end marketing like Pioneer does,” could bring it off, he said. A “screw-up” would result if “they expanded distribution beyond specialists” and brought out a product that “wasn’t really better,” Schuster said. “If it’s just the Elite name on a standard TV, that’s not what we want,” he said. “I want to see something worthy of the Pioneer name that we can all make a little profit from.” The days of 40-point margins are long gone, but Schuster would be happy with 30 and thinks they can be achieved, “because people already know the Elite name and ask for it all the time. … I'd love to feel good selling a television again."

"It could be great, or not,” said Leon Shaw, president of Audio Advice in Raleigh, N.C., who said he needs to see the product to judge it. It must offer video improved from current Sharp offerings “that are pretty good” for him to climb on board. “We hope it’s good news,” he said, “because it would be cool to have Pioneer Elite back."

"Mixed” describes the feelings of Mark Ormiston, president of three-store specialty retailer Definitive Audio in the Seattle area, who called Pioneer Elite’s exit a “huge blow for us.” Since then, he said, the Elite electronics line “has atrophied” without the draw of the TV sets. He said he doesn’t know enough yet about the new line, because executives at Sharp and Pioneer have been “tight-lipped” about plans.

The lack of product details has left dealers to speculate about features and technology. “If it’s simply a Sharp model with an Elite bezel, that would be a tough sell,” Ormiston said, and in the Internet age there “are no secrets anymore.” Any attempt to rebadge a Sharp TV would be “instantly communicated to buyers,” he said. Sharp said the TVs will be LCD-based. It didn’t mention LED light source, used in what are generally considered the highest quality LCD TVs on the market.

Ormiston isn’t bothered by the TVs’ not being plasma, as the most recent Elite models were. “High performance is high performance,” he said, adding that his stores filled the void successfully with Panasonic’s VT line. A benefit of the Sharp-Elite deal could be larger screen sizes, he said. “A 75-inch model could be exciting,” along with a 65-inch, “but there’s a bloodbath in 42-inch TVs on down,” Ormiston said, citing steep discounting on smaller LCD sets.

At The Sound Room in St. Louis, president David Young saw promise in the Elite line, but he tempered optimism with concern over the final product. As a Sharp dealer, Young has long felt that the company needed to exploit its relationship with Pioneer and build an Elite video brand that’s sheltered from big-box stores.

Regarding the switch from plasma, and especially the Pioneer Kuro line’s reputation for “blackest blacks,” to the transmissive LCD technology, most dealers we talked to weren’t very concerned, as long as the quality is high. “There are ways to make LCD black,” said Young. “Obviously there are those who knew what Elite stood for,” he said, but he didn’t think awareness among the general public of Elite as a plasma brand “was all that high.” Elite was sold, he said, because specialty dealers “sold it on its benefits, not because people came off the street asking for it.” Now, he said, he would sell it as a step-up model, hoping Sharp “truly put their best engineering and performance into it so there’s a story to tell.” Paradyme’s Soohoo, did express concern over the plasma-to-LCD move. Pioneer’s Kuro line was plasma-based, with “a story of incredibly deep blacks and performance, although not energy-efficient,” Soohoo said. “So what’s going to be the story, cosmetics or performance?"

Schuster of Marvin Electronics said LCD may even be an advantage, with a green message of energy savings. He said he believes Sharp “makes the best looking LCDs in the business,” with the Quattron brand. As a Sharp and Pioneer Elite dealer, Schuster cautioned that he wants clear separation of product. “I don’t want” the Sharp line “to be exactly like the Elite,” he said.

Dealers are hoping Sharp will double the standard one-year TV warranty, as Pioneer did with Elite, “so there’s a value proposition,” Young said. “It’s got to be a performance story, and it’s got to be legit. It can’t just be a rebadged Sharp TV.” Schuster agreed: “We want a better set with better features and it wouldn’t hurt to have the two-year Pioneer warranty."

Asked whether dealers can sell pricey, step-up TVs in the era of steep price competition that caused Pioneer’s exit from the TV business, dealers were confident in their ability to upgrade customers looking for quality. “As long as there’s a performance difference and a warranty difference, we absolutely can,” Young said. “Specialists can sell step up. We tell the story.” Shaw of Audio Advice said, “If we believe in it and it provides a better picture, yes.” Schuster said his high-end customers “want nice things” and will pay the price “if there’s a reason.” Saying TVs have been reduced to “a can of beans, just a commodity,” Schuster said his store wants to look at TVs “like a can of beans with weenies -- a little better.” His customers “want hamburger or steak,” he said. “They want better than beans so we're looking forward to this Elite deal."

Few details were available from the Sharp or Pioneer, including screen size, technology or delivery dates. Dealers said they're expecting to see product in early July. Shaw of Audio Advice said he would like the product to include RS-232 control for compatibility with home control systems. He’s not a 3D aficionado, so he’s ambivalent about including that feature. Shaw believes manufacturers should deliver flat-panels with 2.35:1 aspect ratio for “true theater performance” to set premium TVs apart from the pack.

In response to our questions about timing, marketing features, screen sizes and technology, Sharp would only say that it’s “excited to be working with Pioneer on this opportunity and we will share more details on our plans in the near future.”