When Paris-based NEXO SA, one of Europe's top three sound reinforcement loudspeaker manufacturers, entered the U.S. market in 1999, the company already had 20 years of worldwide growth and steady profits behind it.

Founded in 1979 by Eric Vincenot, a French loudspeaker designer, and British businessman Mick Johnson, NEXO had grown steadily and profitably to become one of the top three European loudspeaker manufacturers.

NEXO’s commitment to comprehensive solutions extends from product engineering to business planning and relationships. Both founders are still actively engaged in running the company: Eric has the unusual title of Chairman/Head of R&D. NEXO SA had a successful IPO last year on the Marché Libre of the Paris Bourse.

Jim Sides

With a solidly profitable global operation behind it, NEXO’s American subsidiary has been able to “start at the top” not only in product quality and customer base, but in terms of personnel. Jim Sides, a major shareholder and senior executive of Apogee Sound throughout its most successful period, launched NEXO in the US. He quickly discovered that the most effective way to sell NEXO equipment was to "turn it on, stand back and let the systems perform."

Sides, who is executive vice president of sales, believed the products would speak for themselves. Their warm, musical and accurate sonic signature quickly built a buzz among touring companies, consultants and contractors. Pivotal events in this process included a 14-manufacturer “shootout” at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, and Metallica’s US tour with symphony orchestras, supported by Thunder Audio’s Alpha rig.

The Disney World demo was a powerful lesson in letting NEXO technology speak for itself, according to Sides. "Everybody had about 12 minutes for their presentation,” he recalls. “Many of my competitors had put up elaborate staging, trussing and rigging, but I decided to go to the other end of the spectrum with a ground stack no stage and nothing flown at all."

Sides also opted to play prerecorded voice and music tracks through a very rudimental mixing desk with no external EQ, with a single microphone for those who wished to use it. "Many of the Disney guys work with prerecorded voice and music tracks, often with very basic equipment, so I thought they'd recognize the similarity with their own applications," he says.

The Disney technicians listened to the no-distractions presentation the first day, then returned the second day to do measurements. "We came away with a number of firm sales in hand,” Sides reports, “including one large Alpha rig to a regional production house who'd been invited to the shootout by one of our competitors."

As NEXO’s sales in the US grew, the company moved rapidly to support its customers with a strong operation based in San Rafael, California. The next major player to join NEXO USA was David Solari, the company’s CEO.

(Left to right) Sides, Michael Johnson and David Solari

Solari had years of experience in pro audio, having worked for Midas consoles, launched Meyer Sound in Europe as part of Autograph UK, and later founded his own company, amplifier manufacturer CyberLogic. Solari brought two former Meyer employees on board.