Meet the New 12 Volt Distributor

Sound Distributions is a new car audio distributor in the Pacific Northwest lead by Ed Weber, who also owns the 5-store retail chain Foss Audio & Tint, Tukwila, WA.

Sound Distributions has secured vendor agreements with Scosche, PAC, BOSS Audio, BOYO, Diamond Audio, JVC, Race Sport and Polk. It is also in talks with several additional major 12 volt brands, it said.

Although Weber has been a retailer, running the Foss Audio chain since 2003, he served as a rep and distributor for many years prior to that.  He worked at Oliver Marketing and Custom Plus Distributing and was at one time  employed at Coe & Lawrence Marketing and Pana Pacific Distributors.

Weber launched Sound Distributions after purchasing the car audio inventory of Custom Plus Distributing in September.  Custom Plus was purchased by mega home audio distributor SnapAV this summer in SnapAV’s efforts to expand its home audio business, leaving the 12 volt segment of Custom Plus up for sale. (Another audio/car audio distributor, MRI, was also purchased by SnapAV this summer, and again, its 12 volt inventory sold to a new distributor).

Sound Distributions was launched because  of a shortage of car audio distributors in the Northwest, Weber said.  “I’ve always considered that the market needs a distributor.  We’ve lost a few over the years. There used to be Seattle Electronics and A&L out of Portland.  EDI left 12 volt.  The market is underserved in distribution,” he said.

Custom Plus had been the largest 12 volt distributor in the Northwest, he said.

“We had the warehouse space available and the experience,” he said of the decision to launch Sound Distributors, which retained Custom Plus’ lead 12 volt rep Fred Jensen and also hired a local rep of 25 years Dave Freisen.

Sound Distributors is already serving 100 clients.  It will focus on providing the items that are important to installers such as dash kits and harnesses and other installation parts.  “That’s our major focus, to make sure we have the nuts and bolts for what the retailers need…I always found it bothersome [as a retailer] when a distributor didn’t have the basics of what we needed. That’s the whole purpose for a distributor,” Weber said.

When asked if his dual role as a retailer will hinder Sound Distributors, Weber said, “We have a natural understanding of what the customers expect and want.”  He claimed his experience as a rep prior to opening Foss Audio is also helping the new venture. “I have long term existing relationships with the retailers in the Northwest.  If I didn’t have that, I think they would have looked at me more as a competitor, but combined with the guys I’ve hired, I think it’s mostly a benefit.”

For more information contact [email protected]