THE MOST POPULAR BRANDS ACROSS 50 CATEGORIESconnectedmag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/CH-4-2013... · Now, in a performance that is reminiscent of Clive Palmer in the 2013 Federal

20 CONNECTED HOME – October 2013

OVER 475 MEMBERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND HOME AUTOMATION INDUSTRIES HAVE COME TOGETHER TO SELECT THEIR PREFERRED BRANDS. PAUL SKELTON REPORTS.

You often hear parents of unpopular kids assure them

that life is not a popularity contest.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

For example, if you start a business without an aim to be

popular, then you won’t be around for long.

No. The simple truth is that popularity should be something

that is celebrated and highlighted. Possibly even in the form of

an award from the leading industry magazine.

THE AWARDSThere’s a lot of conjecture out there from manufacturers

that claim to be number one, and you can’t always tell fact from

fiction. That’s why we here at Connected Home have once again

asked you to identify the brands that you like to get a clear idea

of which products are being installed in Australian and New

Zealand homes, and to identify the industry leaders in each

category.

In total, 477 installers from Australia and New Zealand

responded to what has become an annual exercise in tracking

the development and growth of the industry, and to recognise

those companies that lead the way in a particular category.

These installers have taken the time to let manufacturers,

distributors and industry as a whole know exactly what they

think of their and their competitors’ products. So pay attention.

STRONG PERFORMANCESJust like last year, several manufacturers took out multiple

categories.

Integra, RTI, Thor Technologies, Clipsal, Ness and Crestron all

took out two categories each. Sonance, however, claimed three

titles – Most Popular In Wall/In Ceiling Speakers, Most Popular

‘Invisible’ Loudspeakers and Most Popular Outdoor Loudspeakers.

Wins by Thor Technologies, Kordz and Screen Technics have

also shown that there is a lot of faith remaining in Australian

manufacturing and that we are very capable of producing

quality products locally.

THE PALMER EFFECTLast year, Bose was nowhere to be seen in these awards.

Now, in a performance that is reminiscent of Clive Palmer in

the 2013 Federal Election, it is everywhere.

The consumer-friendly company not only won one of the

categories (Most Popular Freestanding Loudspeakers) but it

also had a strong showing in several others.

However, as far as I know, Bose has no plans to sue Rupert

Murdoch or the Australian Electoral Commission. Nor has it

accused Wendi Deng Murdoch of being a Chinese spy.

THE BIG WINNERWith a total of 10 of the 50 awards going to brands

represented by Amber Technology, it’s clear that the company

still has a lot of fans in the market.

On behalf of Connected Home, I would like to congratulate

Amber Technology and all of the other category winners.

For those who didn’t win, I wish you the best of luck for 2014.

MOST POPULAR2013

THE MOST POPULAR BRANDS ACROSS 50 CATEGORIES

http://trade.connectedhometechnology.com

October 2013 – CONNECTED HOME 21

AUDIO

CONTROL

INFRASTRUCTURE ELECTRICAL

CONTENT

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OTHER DISTRIBUTOR

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AV RECEIVERSINTEGRA

SOUNDBARSSONOS

SUBWOOFERSVELODYNE

TURNTABLESREGA

PREAMPLIFIERSINTEGRA

REMOTE CONTROLRTI

MOTORISED BLINDSSOMFY

HDMI CABLINGKORDZ

TELEPHONYCISCO

LED LIGHTINGPHILIPS

HVACDAIKIN

DAB+SANGEAN

NASNETGEAR

ANTENNASHILLS

TV MOUNTSVOGEL’S

PROJECTORSJVC

LIFTERSULTRALIFT

GAMINGSONY

ACOUSTIC TREATMENTSPRIMACOUSTICS

IN-WALL/IN-CEILING SPEAKERSSONANCE

FREESTANDING LOUDSPEAKERSBOSE

‘INVISIBLE’ LOUDSPEAKERSSONANCE

OUTDOOR LOUDSPEAKERSSONANCE

SPEAKER CABLING / INTERCONNECTSAUDIOQUEST

LIGHTING CONTROLCLIPSAL

MULTI-ROOM AV DISTRIBUTIONSONOS

WHOLE-HOUSE CONTROL SYSTEMRTI

IR DISTRIBUTOR/EXTENDERXANTECH

MATRIX SWITCHERSCRESTRON

RACKS/CABINETSMIDDLE ATLANTIC

COOLING SYSTEMSCOOL COMPONENTS

SURGE PROTECTIONTHOR TECHNOLOGIES

ELECTRICAL ACCESSORIESCLIPSAL

ENERGY MONITORINGCLIPSAL

UPSTHOR TECHNOLOGIES

MEDIA STREAMING DEVICESAPPLE TV

CLOUD SERVERSDROPBOX

ONLINE MUSIC STREAMINGSPOTIFY

BLU-RAY PLAYERSOPPO

MEDIA SERVERSAPPLE TV

VIDEO PROCESSORSCRESTRON

OUTDOOR DISPLAYSSUNBRITE

PROJECTION SCREENSSCREEN TECHNICS

FLAT PANEL DISPLAYSSAMSUNG

SEATINGLP MORGAN

SECURITY SYSTEMSNESS

IP SECURITY CAMERASNESS

CATEGORY WINNERS

INTERCOM AIPHONE



In a result that is likely to get people talking, Bose has been named

as the ‘Most Popular Freestanding Loudspeaker 2013’ despite not

actually making a freestanding loudspeaker.

FREESTANDING LOUDSPEAKERS

22.0% BOSE

8.3% JBL

8.8% KEF

9.9% KRIX

10.5% PARADIGM

17.1% JAMO

14.3% BOWERS & WILKINS

For the second year running, Integra has been selected as the

most popular AV receiver in Australia. And, aside from Marantz

dropping from second to fourth, very little else has changed.

AV RECEIVERS

35.8% INTEGRA

10.2% PIONEER

15.2% ONKYO

25.6% MARANTZ

28.9% YAMAHA

28.4% DENON

As any integrator will tell you, wiring may not be sexy but it is

important. And almost one third of voters believe Audioquest

offers you the best chance of getting it right.

SPEAKER CABLING / INTERCONNECTS

31.8% AUDIOQUEST

13.6% CHORD

14.6% MONSTER

19.9% BELKIN

17.2% PRO AV

Sonance has claimed the title of ‘2013 Most Popular Invisible

Loudspeaker’, stealing the title from last year’s winner, Stealth

Acoustics, which has moved to second place.

‘INVISIBLE’ LOUDSPEAKERS

54.7% SONANCE

3.7% AMINA

4.4% FLATLINE ACOUSTICS

31.2% STEALTH ACOUSTICS

9.1% TRUAUDIO

2013AUDIO

AUDIO

Proving that it offers a complete audio processing system, Integra

has also won the title of ‘Most Popular Preamplifier’. The only new

addition to the top six here is NAD, which has secured sixth place.

PREAMPLIFIERS

43.3% INTEGRA

10.2% NAD

10.9% ANTHEM

11.3% ROTEL

31.7% MARANTZ

15.7% ONKYO

Once again it’s a Sonance/Bose/SpeakerCraft trifecta, but this

time it’s for outdoor speakers. Sonance also won this award last

year, showing that its Landscape Series is a true winner.

OUTDOOR LOUDSPEAKERS

29.9% SONANCE

6.8% PARADIGM

7.1% JBL

10.8% NILES

12.0% JAMO

23.9% BOSE

16.2% SPEAKERCRAFT



Who could forget the inclusion of ‘egg cartons’ as a popular

acoustic treatment in 2012? No so this year as Primacoustics

jumps from fifth to first to take the title.

ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS

23.6% PRIMACOUSTICS

10.8% GREEN GLUE

11.2% WAVE PANELS

12.8% VICOUSTIC

22.0% DYNAMAT

16.0% CINEMA WORKS

Strangely, subwoofers didn’t get a run in last year’s competition.

But it has proved itself as a hotly contested category. With 22.5%

of the vote Velodyne is the winner, but it was definitely a nail-biter.

SUBWOOFERS

22.5% VELODYNE

12.4% REL ACOUSTICS

12.4% PARADIGM

15.9% JBL

17.1% SUNFIRE

16.2% JAMO

Despite being a very new product to the market, the aggressive

marketing campaign to a consumer audience has paid off for the

Sonos Playbar, which dominated this category.

SOUNDBARS

42.5% SONOS

6.6% BOSTON ACOUSTICS

8.2% SAMSUNG

11.0% SPEAKERCRAFT

20.4% BOSE

17.9% YAMAHA

This is a new category for us. For that reason we didn’t know what

to expect. Turntables, which were the pinnacle of hi-fi audio in the

1970s, have made a comeback. Congrats, hipsters. And Rega.

TURNTABLES

28.4% REGA

8.6% THORENS

9.5% LINN

12.8% CAMBRIDGE AUDIO

16.9% MARANTZ

23.9% PRO-JECT

21.8% DENON

IN-WALL/IN-CEILING SPEAKERS

32.4% SONANCE

7.5%

8.4%

11.7% NILES

14.5% JAMO

18.2% BOSE

17.0% SPEAKERCRAFT

PARADIGM

BOWERS & WILKINS

In what is possibly the most ‘custom-friendly’ category of the audio section, Sonance was the bigger winner (this year as well as

last year). Congratulations also to Bose for making a strong showing in this year’s awards.



Aside from slight changes in percentages, the top five placings in

the Most Popular Flat Panel Display category are identical to the

2012 awards. Congratulations must go to Samsung for this win.

FLAT PANEL DISPLAYS

63.9% SAMSUNG

9.8% SHARP

4.4% LG

30.2% PANASONIC

16.8% SONY

This is the second year running that Crestron has claimed the

title of ‘Most Popular Video Processor’, but the big story is Runco

moving from a 1.7% result in 2012 to 12.4% in 2013.

VIDEO PROCESSORS

33.3% CRESTRON

12.4% RUNCO

12.9% EXTRON

28.1% DVDO

8.9% NVIDIA

It’s always good to see a local manufacturer win. And when it

is such a commanding victory then it really shows that quality

Australian manufacturing is far from dead.

PROJECTION SCREENS

51.2% SCREEN TECHNICS

9.1% ELITE SCREENS

17.3% GRANDVIEW

27.6% LP MORGAN

17.6% STEWART FILMSCREEN

Sunbrite has won (and retained) this category. Sony came in

second with 33.2% of the vote... even though they don’t make an

outdoor display.

OUTDOOR DISPLAYS

37.0% SUNBRITE

14.0% HELSYN

33.2% SONY

14.9% LIQUIFI

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PROJECTORS

30.4% JVC

15.3% PANASONIC

13.9% MITSUBISHI

15.9% SONY

29.8% EPSON

17.5% OPTOMA

Closely mirroring the 2012 awards, the Most Popular Projector category was again the closest fought battle this year with JVC

beating out Epson for the top placing by just a handful of votes. It really is a battle of the Titans.



Is anyone really surprised that AppleTV won this award?

Interestingly, though, Kaleidescape, which sits at the opposite end

of the price spectrum, came in a healthy second place.

MEDIA SERVERS

79.9% APPLE TV

6.6% HDI DUNE

6.9% BEYONWIZ

13.5% KALEIDESCAPE

10.7% BOXEE

BLU-RAY PLAYERS

With OPPO only making one type of product - Blu-ray players

- it would be hard-pressed not to win this category. That said,

Samsung also made a strong showing with its players in 2013.

33.7% OPPO

17.3% DENON

16.7% INTEGRA

18.4% PANASONIC

30.8% SAMSUNG

19.6% SONY

Once again Vogel’s has been named Connected Home’s Most

Popular TV Mounts. But it has faced some stiff competition from

Ultralift (2.1% in 2012) and new entrant Taurus.

TV MOUNTS

43.7% VOGEL’S

10.4% TAURUS

15.1% OMNIMOUNT

25.8% ULTRALIFT

17.3% SANUS

Perhaps more surprising than Ultralift’s retention of this title

from 2012 is Future Automation’s third placing. The company has

increased its standing from 2.2% in 2012 to 13.6% in 2013.

LIFTERS

60.1% ULTRALIFT

11.2% OMNIMOUNT

22.0% VOGEL’S

13.6% FUTURE AUTOMATION

With the dominant PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the market and a lot of

hype surrounding the forthcoming release of the PS4, is it really

any wonder why Sony has won this category two years in a row?

GAMING

68.0% SONY

35.0% MICROSOFT

21.9% NINTENDO

In a not-so-surprising result, Hills and Matchmaster have

dominated the antenna category for 2013, with Hills being

recommended by almost half of Connected Home readers.

ANTENNAS

49.8% HILLS

7.8% IKUSI

11.9% DIGIMATCH

37.6% MATCHMASTER

14.2% KINGRAY



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REMOTE CONTROL

PUSH CONTROLS

37.6% RTI

5.4% URC

6.9% PRO CONTROL

31.3%

18.2% LOGITECH

It has been a stellar year for RTI. New remotes, controllers,

expansion modules and programming software prove the remote

control industry is far from over.

MOTORISED BLINDS

68.9% SOMFY

3.9% NICE AUTOMATION

4.3% BECKER

21.4% LUTRON

13.6% SILENT GLISS

When it comes to motorised blinds in Australia, is there any name

that is more synonymous than Somfy? With 68.9% of the vote,

readers of Connected Home clearly don’t think so.

LIGHTING CONTROL

56.1% CLIPSAL

8.9% VANTAGE

9.2% LUTRON

9.5% CONTROL 4

27.2% PHILIPS DYNALITE

10.8% CRESTRON

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Clipsal by Schneider Electric has once

again taken out the ‘Most Popular Lighting Control System’

category. Was this ever in doubt?

MULTI-ROOM AV DISTRIBUTION

43.8% SONOS

8.3% SAVANT

7.4% CONTROL4

11.7% RUSSOUND

14.2% CLIPSAL

25.6% RTI

7.9% CRESTRON

For the second year running, Sonos has been named the ‘Most

Popular Multi-room AV Distribution System’. Congratulations also

go to Russound for increasing from 3.9% to 11.7%.

WHOLE-HOUSE CONTROL SYSTEM

CRESTRON

PUSH CONTROLS

CLIPSAL

30.9% RTI

8.4% SAVANT

8.4% CONTROL4

17.3%

27.7%

21.4%

There has been a lot of change in this category since last year.

2012 winner, Clipsal, has slipped to third position. RTI has moved

up to first. And Push Controls has gone from 2.7% to 27.7%.

IR DISTRIBUTOR/EXTENDER

39.3% XANTECH

9.8% SNAP AV

11.6% QLINK

35.4% RESI-LINX

22.8% AXIUM

In 2013, Xantech has retained the premier position in the IR

Distributor/Extender category, but local player resi-linx has

significantly closed the gap. Axium is the big mover here, though.



2013CONTENT

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MEDIA STREAMING DEVICES

SONOS

67.9% APPLE TV

10.1% NETGEAR

45.2%

14.8% WESTERN DIGITAL

With two-thirds of voters selecting AppleTV as their media streaming device of choice, there’s no denying the impact Apple is having

on living rooms around the country. Strangely, last year it only received 5.6% of the vote.

CLOUD SERVERS

54.3% DROPBOX

9.7% MICROSOFT

51.0% APPLE

25.2% GOOGLE

Who doesn’t love a good upset? After a last minute surge in voting,

Dropbox has knocked out Apple as the ‘Most Popular Cloud

Server’. Well played, Dropbox. Well played.

DAB+

19.9% SANGEAN

14.1% CAMBRIDGE

16.4% BOSE

19.5% YAMAHA

17.6% MARANTZ

There are a lot of digital radios on the market, ranging from the

very good to the very bad. In a very tight field it is Sangean that

reigns supreme.

NAS

36.2% NETGEAR

16.4% SEAGATE

17.1% LACIE

27.3% QNAP

27.3% WESTERN DIGITAL

Network attached storage (NAS) comes in many different forms

and many different sizes. Once again, Netgear has taken the title

with QNAP and WD ranking second and third respectively.

ONLINE MUSIC STREAMING

51.4% SPOTIFY

11.8% MOG

13.3% SONGL

17.0% RHAPSODY

33.1% PANDORA

23.8% TUNEIN

Online music streaming services are a relatively new phenomenon

in Australia (legally, anyway) and after its long-awaited release

earlier this year, Spotify has won your hearts... and ears.



Apart from Belkin overtaking Billion for the fourth and fifth

position, these five companies all appeared in the 2012 awards.

Netgear, though, has increased its lead over the rest of the field.

In the 2012 awards, there was a slightly contentious draw in this

category between Cool Components and Fantech. This year we

don’t need to worry about that as Cool Components dominates.

Last year’s runner-up, Crestron, has taken the 2013 title, with new

entry AV Gear moving into third place. Last year’s winner, Leaf

Audio/Nexus Technologies, has slipped back to fourth.

MATRIX SWITCHERS

18.7% CRESTRON

11.9% HILLS

11.0% WYRESTORM

12.3% KRAMER

12.6% LEAF AUDIO/ NEXUS TECHNOLOGIES

17.1% GEFEN

15.2% AV GEAR

COOLING SYSTEMS

ROUTERS

46.9% NETGEAR

10.4% BILLION

13.8% BELKIN

37.7% CISCO

23.6% D-LINK

For the second year running, local manufacturer Kordz has taken

the title of ‘Most Popular HDMI Cabling’. Audioquest also retains

its number two placing. Belkin has moved from sixth to third.

TELEPHONY

33.3% CISCO

8.9% SIEMENS

8.9% SAVANT

17.1% SAMSUNG

28.0% PANASONIC

21.5% NEC

The first four placeholders in the telephony category are all

repeats from last year, with Cisco ever-so-slightly increasing its

lead over Panasonic by an additional 1.9%.

HDMI CABLING

40.3% KORDZ

7.6% MONSTER

12.5% BELDEN

29.0% AUDIOQUEST

15.8% BELKIN

RACKS/CABINETS

27.7% MIDDLE ATLANTIC

11.9% 4CABLING

13.7% ALTRONICS

15.4% CLIPSAL

22.8% RACK TECHNOLOGIES

17.2% B&R ENCLOSURES

Middle Atlantic has retained first place in this category. But Rack

Technologies and B&R Enclosures have both increased from 9.8%

in 2012 to 22.8% and 17.2% in 2013, respectively..

42.2% COOL COMPONENTS

13.1% ACTIVE THERMAL MANAGEMENT

33.8%

19.4%

FANTECH

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

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Energy monitoring gets a lot of press, and is often one of the

features highlighted by manufacturers. For the second year

running, Clipsal by Schneider Electric has been deemed the best.

ENERGY MONITORING

49.6% CLIPSAL

8.9% SAVANT

8.9% VANTAGE

9.3% SWITCH AUTOMATION

10.6% ENVIRONEXUS

22.0% CRESTRON

11.4% CONTROL4

Over the past 12 months, Daikin has gone from strength to

strength and has increased its lead from 12.9% in 2012 to 25.7%

this year. Everyone else has remained the same.

HVAC

49.4% DAIKIN

6.4% ADVANTAGE AIR

9.6% ACTRON

14.9% PANASONIC

23.7% FUJITSU

23.3% MITSUBISHI

From 3.4% in 2012 to 35.3% in 2013, UPS devices by Thor

Technologies have seen an unprecedented jump in popularity

among readers of Connected Home.

UPS

35.3% THOR TECHNOLOGIES

10.5% POWERTECH

14.0% FURMAN

32.2% EATON

23.4% APC

Small local operator Thor Technologies has dominated its

competition with almost half of the voters ranking it as their

preferred supplier of surge protection devices.

SURGE PROTECTION

47.6% THOR TECHNOLOGIES

9.2% HAGER

9.5% EATON

9.5% BELKIN

24.4% CLIPSAL

14.0% FURMAN

LED LIGHTING

11.8%

12.7%

14.9%

23.7%

15.4%

45.2% PHILIPS

GE LIGHTING

BRIGHTGREEN

CROMPTON LIGHTING

LUMEX

PIERLITE

The almost-ubiquitous LED lighting from Philips has clearly

dominated this category, with former runner up GE Lighting

moving down to sixth. Lumex is the big surprise here.

ELECTRICAL ACCESSORIES

81.6% CLIPSAL

9.0% HAGER

17.7% HPM LEGRAND

17.1% PHILIPS DYNALITE

With the largest range of electrical accessories on the Australian

market, and a lengthy history of product development and support,

Clipsal was never going to be touched in this category.



Ness, of course, is the ‘2013 Most Popular Security System’, while

Bosch has gone from 5% in 2012 to 20.8% in 2013 and DAS has

risen from 2.5% last year to 16.9% now.

SECURITY SYSTEMS

59.6% NESS

9.4% CLIPSAL

10.7% HONEYWELL

20.8% BOSCH

16.9% DAS

INTERCOM

41.5% AIPHONE

10.2% LEGRAND

10.2% CONTROL 4

12.5% BPT

14.0% PANASONIC

13.2% 2N

While Aiphone retains its title, the lower rankings have seen

dramatic changes. Last year, Legrand was second and Switch

Automation was fourth. In 2013, Switch didn’t make the list.

SEATING

36.6% LP MORGAN

12.2% TOP FORM

12.2% JAYMAR

20.0% D-BOX

13.2% MANHATTAN

LP Morgan has gone back-to-back, having the ‘Most Popular

Seating’ for two years in a row. D-Box has gone from 4.8% in 2012

to 20% in 2013.

IP SECURITY CAMERAS

40.5% NESS

13.2% BOSCH

6.2% MOBOTIX

25.3% AXIS

17.2% SAMSUNG

From fi fth to fi rst, Ness has leapt its competition to be the 2013

champion of ‘Most Popular IP Security Cameras’. Axis has slid to

second while Honeywell has slid off the list completely.

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“The report of my death was an exaggeration...” Despite being the target of some negative attention, Amber Technology has been

named the ‘2013 Most Popular Distributor’. A special mention must go to Avation and Hills SVL for nipping at their heels.

2013OTHER

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OTHER

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THE MOST POPULAR BRANDS ACROSS 50 CATEGORIESconnectedmag.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/CH-4-2013... · Now, in a performance that is reminiscent of Clive Palmer in the 2013 Federal

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