Last June, it was announced that HK Audio would join their sister company, Hughes and Kettner and share the same distribution partner, Yorkville Sound for North American distribution. The opportunity came up for the Yorkville rep force to learn about HK Audio brands including the Lucas, Elements, and Linear 3 lines that have made HK Audio renowned for Pro Audio excellence directly from the company’s head of market development, Andreas Mayerl.
Upon hearing of the HK Audio learning session from Yorkville’s U.S. Director of Sales, Steve Hendee, the Yorkville team arranged to be there from far and wide. Reps came in from across the U.S. and Canada.
Larry Bell, key accounts manager, based out of Texas made the trek to Niagara Falls. “When I heard Andreas was going to be in town to talk about HK Audio, I knew I had to be there. The HK Audio brands are so unique. They perfectly complement our Yorkville line. They say everything’s bigger in Texas and now our Yorkville- HK Audio 1-2 punch is no exception.”
Darren Butt, Yorkville Sound’s Pro Audio product specialist drove in with Canada’s national sales manager, Ray Wilson from the company’s Pickering, Ontario office while on a brief stop in between cross-Canada training dates.
“I was blown away by the portability and sound of the Lucas Nano, the expandability of Elements, and the sheer output and overall response of Linear 3 & 5,” says Darren Butt.
Steve Hendee, who arranged the meeting, expressed greater concerns as to the possible legal complications involved with the training session: “I’m just glad the cops didn’t show up,” says Hendee, “Maybe we could have been more careful and considerate about the volume levels when we brought the systems out to our parking lot, but it’s hard to keep quiet about something this good. In the end, the neighbors gave us a thumbs up! We have gotten so much out of Andreas’ visit. We have a lot to talk about.”
According to Jeff Cowling, Yorkville Sound’s vice president of sales & marketing, the HK Audio visit will lead to a bright future for the brand in North America. “This kind of enthusiasm, knowledge and sheer electricity in the air at the rep force level always creates raving fans out of the end user. We can’t wait to share what we have learned with our valued dealers.”
