Sennheiser Asia President and Managing Director Ng Chee Soon
Sennheiser executives who flew in for the launch added that they will be expanding their retail presence in the country by building “concept corners” in malls and by developing their presence in other cities.
The new concept store will carry the full range of Sennheiser audio products –including product lines targeted for travel, sports, communication, street, audiophiles and DJs — as opposed to the limited number of products in the previous arrangement where they are sold in about 200 outlet stores.
Ng Chee Soon, president and managing director of Sennheiser Asia, said during the store launch that they “have made the right decision in opening a concept store in Manila” considering the growing number of audio enthusiasts seeking better-quality equipment here.
“We recognize the potential of the electro-acoustics industry here, so it’s important for audiophiles to have a space to experience the best of sound,” Ng said during the launch, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of the German company’s operations in Asia.
According to Ricky Sy of Iontech, the local distributor of Sennheiser products, much of the brand’s growth in the country can be attributed to the rapid adoption of mobile devices by Filipinos.
“It’s growing significantly,” Sy told InterAksyon, “because more and more people are listening through their mobile devices like smartphones and media players.”
In fact, one of the two new headphone models Sennheiser is bringing to the country this year were designed specifically for Apple devices, a direction which other audio equipment makers has been taking lately.
Called the Amperior, the ruggedized headphones take from the company’s popular HD 25 DJ headphones but were made to be taken to the streets thanks to the product’s aluminum finish. It also sports a built-in microphone for taking calls while on the go.
The Amperior is fitted with powerful neodymium magnets which Sennheiser claims provide natural, life-like sound reproduction at a frequency response rate of 16 to 22,000 Hertz.
Meanwhile, the HD 700 being offered by Sennheiser is being marketed for the serious audiophiles out there, what with its magnet systems that guarantee from 10 to 42,000 Hz of lifelike audio reproduction; a total harmonic distortion of less than 0.03 percent; brilliant trebles and precise bass reproduction.
It will retail for P49,900 and will be available at the company’s concept store by July. The Amperior, meanwhile, will be brought in by the third quarter of this year, but has no definite price points yet.
