Before Jim Smith, Avantgarde Acoustic was an obscure German brand known only to insiders. After Mr. Smith signed on as US distributor, the now infamous ads began to appear in Stereophile and elsewhere. With them, Avantgarde grew into the most recognized hornspeaker brand on the face of the earth. We've just received notification that Mr. Smith has resigned his distributorship. The below post from his website explains this decision in his own words (My USP, by the way, stands for My Unique Selling Proposition):


So Jim Smith has embarked on a new venture that's more rewarding -- financially and relative to personal satisfaction, one presumes -- than dealing with the declining HiFi market and its degrading rules of engagements? That's hardly surprising. What's more, it's probably just a harbinger of similar developments elsewhere (the MartinLogan sales announcement occurred today in Stereophile). American High-End audio has just lost one of its most gifted spokespeople and a setup man par excellence, both for general audio and these speakers in particular. But not all is lost. Having once heard Mr. Smith's personal system in his Atlanta home -- well prior to the latest speaker upgrades -- I still remember it as one of the best rigs I've ever encountered. Sure, the components were topnotch but what made things magic was the setup. Since Jim Smith plans on staying on as a regional retailer, serious 'philes interested in hearing these German hornspeakers at their best should probably book an audition while the man's still in the game...