Take a look at the "Clients" page of Italian sound system developer Outline, and you'll see a list of more than 200 significant installations in arenas, theaters, festivals, clubs and facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
However, there are only five listed for the U.S., led by the P.C. Richards Clear Channel Theatre. The others are church facilities in North Carolina and Louisiana. But those five precede all of the others on the extensive list, a testament to the importance of being the world's largest touring and installed sound market.
Across the Atlantic
What the list doesn't yet reflect is the use of Outline's new GTO line array system at the Mile High festival in Denver over the summer, where SR provider Dowlen Sound used 24 of the system's 10-driver boxes (two neodymium 15-inch drivers, four neodymium 8-inch drivers and four 3-inch compression drivers, along with Outline's own proprietary waveguide), as well as its Mantas boxes, originally developed as companions to its Butterfly line array system, as underhangs. There will be more of those kinds of coups to come, says Tom Bensen, whose Long Island, N.Y.-based company, RF Pro, joint-ventured with Brescia, Italy-based Outline in the formation of Outline North America, LLC. It's familiar ground for Bensen, who earlier had brought another Italian manufacturer, power amplifier maker Powersoft, with which he also established the U.S. company – Powersoft Advanced Technologies, LLC. Before that, it was digital audio network developer Optocore, as well as establishing the U.S. market for XTA.
What Outline and Powersoft have in common is that they are premium brands coming into a crowded pro audio market that has already experienced a lot of commoditization. The premium brands already have significant market penetration and, depending upon the circumstances, the pricing power to hold onto market share. What Bensen has is a new premium brand that's proven itself in other major markets – the U.K.'s Britannia Row was an early supporter – in a business whose players he says are constantly on the lookout for something new with which to differentiate themselves.
"Passion and Risk"
"The big brands in the U.S. have good products, but they will inevitably come to dictate to the market to the extent that they can, in terms of things like cables and amplifiers and other products used in conjunction with the PA system," says Bensen. "This is a business built on passion and risk, and [sound] companies are hungry for something new that they can use to separate themselves in the market. They can't sit on 10-year-old inventory. They want to be able to offer their clients something new and" – here he pauses for emphasis – "they want to feel like they can have some degree of influence in the design evolution of a product and the culture of the company."
In terms of conveying a sense of passion, both Bensen and Outline reference the late Guido Noselli, the company's founder, who was a prolific writer of both technical white papers and more whimsical fare, such as a paper entitled Single-Point Frequencies, Gnomes, Elves And Other Strange Tales. Noselli developed a core Outline technology, the Unimetal compression driver diaphragm, one of the company's key technology differentiators.
Comparing PA systems to fashion, Bensen says some innovative systems over the years have created their own frenzies, something established brands can use their marketing and product positioning expertise to do periodically. Coming in new to the market, Bensen has to build interest one sale, one application at a time, something he says can work to the brand's advantage as it builds a buzz.
"The first challenge is to get the market to take you seriously," he explains. In addition to him using the credibility he's built over 30 years in pro audio marketing, that's done by building a web of credible user support; thus far, in addition to Dowlen, Bensen has lined up Special Event Services (SES) and Maryland Sound (MSI) as well as interest from PRG and Sound Associates for the Broadway market, the gateway to the U.S. theater market.
"The Mile High festival established Outline as a legitimate player that can compete with top brands in the large-format line array market," Bensen says. "It was used there under tough conditions – high altitude, high temperatures, with gusty winds. Adding other users supports that and takes it further."
A High-End Alternative
Bensen is positioning GTO as a high-end alternative that can offer users lighter-weight systems with more drivers at a lower cost. Bensen acknowledges that he doesn't have the pricing power that more established brands in the U.S. do, but says he does have some pricing flexibility thanks to the company's lean, low-overhead operation in the States. However, Outline, like all exporters, is sensitive to what has been a somewhat volatile currency exchange this year between the Euro and the dollar. But he also notes that Outline comes to the U.S. with a ready-made sales and marketing network – Powersoft reps are handling the line here – and the company is staying out of the MI end of the PA market, where pro audio margins have become virtually nonexistent. In fact, the overarching strategy will hew towards the higher ends of the live sound and installed sound markets, with three-quarters of the market focus on touring and an emphasis on high-end club sound. "We're not going after ceiling speakers or commercial paging," he says. "It's all about staying at the top end of the markets. That's where the passion is, and that's where we can make a mark."
