Krell Industries has appointed Walt Schneider as president and Todd Eichenbaum as director of engineering on the same day that the company announced plans to unveil its next-generation of products.
Krell, which has been designing and manufacturing high-end audio and video equipment from its base in Connecticut for nearly 30 years, is preparing to unveil its first Blu-ray player as well as additions to the Evolution and S Series product lines at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January.
“Our new Blu-ray player will continue the Krell tradition of defining the ultimate standard for a product category,” said VP of U.S. sales and marketing Bill McKiegan. “A ground-up Krell design, the new player will feature reference level audio and video performance coupled to renowned Krell build quality.”
In his new role as president, Schneider, who has served as Krell’s COO for the past 18 months, will head up a team of veteran Krell engineers and executives. As COO, he coordinated key personnel in all departments. Schneider has more than 50 years of experience in manufacturing operations, including 28 years at Raytheon.
Eichenbaum, as director of engineering and new product development, will head Krell’s engineering team. During his 18-plus years with the company, he has been the lead engineer on more than 50 Krell preamplifiers, power amplifiers, and loudspeakers including all Krell preamplifiers and power amplifiers during the last decade. Other key engineering team members include 22-year Krell veteran Dave Goodman and Jeff Kadin. Goodman has been the lead engineer on all Krell surround processors and digital source products for the last 10 years, as well as numerous analog and digital products during his tenure. As senior software manager, Kadin, who started at Krell in 1997, is the chief architect for all the products’ underlying operational and user-interface software.
Peter Mackay continues as VP of international sales and marketing, and McKiegan continues as VP of U.S. sales and marketing. Both have been with the company for more than 12 years.
“Our engineering team consists of seasoned professionals who rank among the best in the world of high end audio/video products. I look forward to continuing my work with them. In addition I will work more closely with Bill, Peter, and our worldwide distribution network to conceive, design, and develop future generations of Krell products,” Eichenbaum said.
Walt Schneider added, “We have a very talented team. Our sales group understands the constantly evolving marketplace for audio video products as well as anyone in the business and our engineers are the best at delivering the highest performing solutions to our customers.”
