4/1/2016, Mobile Electronics, April Issue -- Defining PowerBass is a particularly interesting exercise. The reason lies in the fact that PowerBass is more than your standard 12-volt manufacturer. PowerBass is the parent company of Image Dynamics (ID)—a storied, high-end car audio company with deep roots in as much retail as competition car audio. The old timers of the industry will remember ID for making some of the first car audio compression horns, the IDQ, and IDMAX subwoofers.

Despite merging in 2010, each brand has its own unique set of lines, its own website and its own identity in the marketplace. While they share some common staff, the gear and its respective positioning in the marketplace is kept quite intentionally separate.

One of the factors that makes PowerBass unique is the way their products come to market.

“PowerBass is a vertically integrated company,” said Brad Fair, sales director of PowerBass. “The [parent] owns the manufacturing facility in China, but the research and development goes on here in Ontario, California.”

The company also employs a pair of dedicated acoustic engineers, with Fair acting as the third acoustic engineer. “I do a lot of the follow up work,” he said “And I do a lot with the sales and marketing departments as well.”  

The Drawing Board

Defining the viability of prospective products starts with a team asking questions, both from the consumers as well as the retailers. Once that team starts comparing notes, the round table discussion evolves into the beginnings of a product. Can it be made in a certain target MSRP range? Is it unique enough to warrant production, and if so, is it an Image Dynamics product or a PowerBass product? All these questions get bandied about, refined, experimented with, dissected and refined again. Fair believes strongly in the importance of “taking a particular product, and making it ours.” Quality and market considerations invariably come into play.

In addition to establishing if a potential product concept is financially viable and sufficiently unique, Fair’s team assesses how it could be sold and marketed. Fair offered Bluetooth enabled products as a prime example. “Bluetooth is the biggest thing that’s been out there for the last year or two. We put our twist on to it. By that I mean price point, a feature, and so on.

For example, we now have a Bluetooth sound bar for UTV’s. There are a couple of other companies that have this already, however, the R&D is much different than what we do. We added a DSP processor to two of the new sound bars we just released, which makes a world of difference to the way it sounds at low and high volume. It’s pre-programmed to account for dips and peaks as well as a distortion limiter. It allows the user to turn it up louder than the competition, and sound better at low volume. We do the same thing when we develop a speaker, woofer or amplifier.”

To read the complete story, visit: https://issuu.com/mobileelectronics/docs/16me_april/42.

6-9-2016 -- In an effort to protect the investment of our high-quality dealers, distributors and PowerBass’s brand reputation,the company has unilaterally adopted a MAP policy (Minimum Advertised Price). The policy was adopted to protect reseller's service and support efforts from from advertising and sales practices that could their business. PowerBass believes that these practices are unfair and thus discourages such efforts.

To support its resellers’ efforts, PowerBass wishes to establish policies that allow resellers to earn the profits necessary to maintain the high level of customer excellence people have come to expect from PowerBass dealers.
The new policy that is now in effect addresses all of the avenues where the industry has started to see price and brand value decline.

With the UMAP Agreement in place, PowerBass dealer and distributor partners are now able to have price protection from the likes of the internet, big box, group buy and so on. The new policy ensures that each and every dealer, direct and via distribution will abide by the suggested UMAP pricing in all forms of consumer sales or will be subject to loss in rebates and even termination with a three strike rule in place. This policy not only holds the dealer liable for its pricing to consumers but also holds the distributor liable for its dealers pricing making this one of the most effective policies presented to not fight but address the declining margin sales due to internet and cost cutting sales techniques.

ONTARIO, CA. – December 20, 2019 -- PowerBass USA, Inc. has appointed Erik Harbour to the position of Vice President, Product Development & Global Marketing. In his 20 plus years in the industry Erik has been involved in every aspect of the industry, from the car audio retail storeowner and installer, to the marketing and product development of brands across the industry. Erik has been with PowerBass for 6 years taking on various roles in the company while also leading the path for the companies marketing footprint as well as extensive help with product development. This new appointment comes as a natural fit and progression and we look forward to the future of our Product Development and Global Marketing with Erik at the wheel.

PowerBass has also promoted industry veteran and 4 year PowerBass Eastern Regional Sales Manager, Jeff Falk to the position of National Sales Manager. Jeff brings over 30 years of sales experience to the position and has been a major proponent for sales growth in the Eastern Region during his time as sales director. Jeff has a passion for the industry and takes a hands on approach to sales at the core, the dealer level where he takes pride in ensuring that every dealer feels the partnership he brings to the table with PowerBass. We are excited to see the positive changes coming to our distributor, dealer, and rep networks under this new leadership.

For more information on PowerBass visit us at www.powerbassusa.com

For more information on how you can become a PowerBass dealer email Jeff at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more product information, marketing requests, and international dealer inquires email Erik at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.