Founded on the premise that amplifier technology has headroom for innovation, that design has a prominent place in the rack and that dealers want the ease of one-click digital commerce coupled with old-school partnership, LEA Professional launched today at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim. The company, led by proven executives, engineers, and sales/marketing experts from the pro audio community, will introduce a series of new amplifiers in the coming months that exemplify the commitment to power, performance, advanced connectivity and bold, compelling design.
“LEA Professional is inspired by many conversations with members of the professional audio and integrator communities,” said Blake Augsburger, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LEA. “We listened closely and looked carefully at amplifier performance, networking, UX and built a range of products and a new company that respects the way things get done today but offers a bold new approach capitalising on new technologies from outside the audiovisual domain.”
Based in Northern Indiana, a traditional hub of amplifier and audiovisual innovation, LEA is a startup with deep pedigree. The engineering, sales/marketing, and executive teams feature established leaders in their fields with considerable accomplishments in terms of product innovation and business transformation and growth.
“We have a start-up mentality in that we’re lean, agile and ambitious but we do not suffer from the challenges that afflict many start-ups because we’ve all worked together and with our dealers and distributors for a considerable time. We have a clear mission and we have strong unique technology,” Blake continued.
The first physical manifestations of Blake’s strategy is a series of professional grade two-channel and four-channel amplifiers for small to medium scale installations. Featuring DSP, wired or Wi-Fi connectivity, webpage configuration and control, the LEA Connect Series will be the very first IoT enabled professional-grade amplifiers and will provide end-users with best in class sonic performance, ease of use and bulletproof reliability. The LEA Connect Series also underscores the company-wide commitment to the dealer/integrator community: easily and cost-effectively installed and maintained and with the capacity to support monthly recurring revenue (MRR) business models, the line was engineered with the needs and expectations of contractors in mind.
Joining Blake at the helm of the new venture is Jeremy Bules, Vice President of Engineering & Operations and Scott Robbins, Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Like Blake, Jeremy and Scott each have more than twenty years’ experience in professional audio.
Commenting, Jeremy explained the unique positioning of LEA at the intersection of advanced amplifier technology with IoT. “We’re approaching connectivity and control with a fresh perspective and no legacy commitments. This enables LEA to cost-efficiently capitalise upon proven IoT innovations from global brands like Intel, Cisco and Microsoft while also bringing our unique amplifier technology to the equation.”
Scott Robbins, whose deep experience in the pro audiovisual channel provides LEA with a considerable edge noted: “We are all passionate about the audio industry so it’s very exciting to be part of LEA where we can create something from the ground up that is truly inspirational. Not only will our products be technically advanced, we will also focus heavily on the dealer experience. At LEA we are not confused about who the customer is; our customer is the dealer/integrator. Our products and support structure will be designed to make the dealer/integrator successful. Ease of doing business, timely and efficient pre and post-sales support, customer inspired product features, and advanced technology are the foundational elements upon which our company is built.”
With such depth in professional-grade technology markets, LEA is firmly positioned to serve the professional community of dealer/integrators and professional end-users. A six-year warranty with advanced replacement provide the assurance that professionals require from a new brand but also underscore the LEA team’s confidence in the product. Loyalty rebates and advanced service and support are also foundational to the LEA brand commitment. A powerful yet easy-to-use dealer ‘one-click’ digital commerce portal for order management is in development and will soon be featured on the Leaprofessional.com site.
Blake noted that LEA is empowered to innovate on pricing as well as technology and the dealer platform. “We want to be known for having the very best performing, best connected and best looking amplifiers in the market but we’re also determined to win on price. We can do that because our capabilities are of a 20-year-old company but our overhead is that of a startup!”
