F1CD.ru computer portal was succeeded in associating with representatives of SVEN Company in Russia. Ivan Dedov told us about the last tendencies at the market of speaker systems and shared his plans regarding production of new models. And Ivan Popelskiy explained, why uninterrupted power sources were not able to substitute automatic voltage regulators and said, which devices would do protect home appliances in a country house.

As a preliminary we communicated with Ivan Dedov, Head of Speaker Market Direction of the Russian representation of SVEN Company.

Ivan, tell us, please, what do you orient to when developing new models of speakers? What role in this process is played by market tendencies, and what one is played by established traditions and preferences in the company?

Ivan Dedov: While developing new models we take into account not only the current demands of the sales market but the global tendencies in the field of speaker systems as well. Research work is constantly conducted in SVEN Company, our experts – engineers, marketing specialists, analysts – trace changes of users’ preferences, appearance of new technologies and study the competitive environment. We pay great attention to the regional specific character. We involve specialists from different countries to develop our products – SVEN R&D centers work in Finland, China, Ukraine and CIS states.

Every new model of SVEN Company is a weighted, thorough deliberate decision. Traditionally we pay very great attention to the quality of our products. One of the main principles of our Company is the production of modern, reliable products affordable to the wide range of customers. Within years we gained the great experience – our solutions are balanced, we do not save on the sound quality and the user’s functional, and at the same time we try that prices remained attractive for final buyers.

And what can you say about today's market tendencies? What kind of speaker systems are in the most demand – stereo, 2.1 channel or multichannel?

Multichannel systems were very popular quite recently, but now, according to our assessments, this segment has been saturated, and the demand on them does not practically go up. The situation is stable in the stereo acoustics segment. The segment of 2.1 channel systems develops the most dynamically now, at that, it refers to a greater extent to speaker systems with built-in audio players. Such systems are an independent device, but not merely an accessory for PC. Due to such additional functions, as the built-in tuner, Bluetooth and MP3 player, speaker systems of the new generation turned into the real amusement centers. According to the sound quality and usability, they keep ahead of usual musical centers. We see the good sale dynamics and consider that they have the promising future. Also the demand on the mobile devices went up very actively in recent years – smartphones, iPads, etc. The segment of portable speakers began developing rapidly on the background of these changes.

It is possible to notice that the most part of last models of SVEN stereo systems are double-band. What is reason for not using the third loudspeaker?

Nowadays engineering solutions make it possible to obtain qualitative sounding of a stereo system with the availability of two loudspeakers. The use of the third loudspeaker in a multimedia speaker system in the majority of cases does not provide serious advantages, but at that, this raises the price of the system unreasonably. Affordable three-way stereo systems, which are available at the market, do not differ by high sound quality, but the third loudspeaker plays for the most part the marketing role only. For many years, SVEN Company occupies leading positions at the market of multimedia speaker systems. We succeeded to obtain such results because we always paid great attention to the sound quality and used the most considered and effective solutions in our models. We do not invest into technologies, which raise the price of a system, but which at the same time do not produce an appreciable practical result.

Recently a portable SVEN Impulse vibrospeaker was presented in your assortment. Do you plan to develop this direction in future? Do you have plans to produce considerable vibrospeakers, suitable to place, let us say, in the living room?

SVEN Company was one of pioneers in the field of vibrating speakers. We were the first, who presented such solutions at the Russian market. Unfortunately, the price of those models was quite high, and they were not in great demand, therefore the project had to be curtailed. Now during production of miniature plastic systems we give preference to other technology – the use of a passive emitter helps to obtain deep basses in such devices.

Well, what in general new products of speakers does SVEN prepare in 2014? What direction will you pay the most attention to?

We will pay the most attention to the development of speakers for mobile devices. Such systems, as SVEN SPS-707BL, can be used conveniently with iPads and mobile telephones. Thanks to the built-in Bluetooth module in SVEN SPS-707BL the sound is transmitted from a mobile device to speakers via wireless technology. It is very agreeable, because there is not a necessity to use an iPad or telephone in the direct closeness from speakers, when you want to listen to the music. Moreover, the use of NFC technology does the connection process of devices simple and comprehensible.

New SVEN PS-100BL is equipped with the built-in battery, thanks to which the speaker system can be used outdoors, be taken with you in a journey jointly with an iPad or mobile telephone. The built-in support makes it possible to place the iPad conveniently, and the sound is transmitted via Bluetooth technology.

What about the sales of SVEN speaker systems at the Russian market? What are your plans regarding its future development?

Most participants of the Russian IT market have already felt negative tendencies for a long time – the growth practically stopped in many industries, and even the substantial recession in consumer demand is registered in some industries. A crisis is usually a strength test. It is necessary to have a clear-cut strategy, professional team and well-tested business processes to survive in such conditions. So, for the last year, small and “noname” trademarks of our competitors lost their foothold substantially, products of which are distinguished neither by quality nor by unique technological solutions.

SVEN Company is a leader at the Russian market of multimedia speaker systems and despite everything our commercial results are stable. Our products deserved confidence before users and are in good demand. Of course, we have to work more active now than in happy years, but it is a worthwhile experiment and we face the future with optimism.

Ivan Popelskiy, Head of SVEN-ELECTRO, UPS, automatic voltage regulators Commodity Direction was our second interlocutor.

Ivan, what can you say about the last developments in the field of uninterrupted power supplies? Maybe, some new technologies that help to increase their efficiency have appeared?

Ivan Popelskiy: Taking into consideration the quality of modern power supply networks, their extent in volumes of the country, the problem of IT equipment protection is especially topical. As a result of power supply failures to many devices, users bear large losses due to malfunction of equipment operation or due to the loss of important information. Introduction of UPS helps not only to avoid interruptions in equipment operation, but decrease the number of equipment malfunctions due to the increase of the power supply quality as well.

Taking into account all these problems, the engineering and technical staff of SVEN Company seeks to develop and introduce new technologies, which make it possible to increase the reservation time of UPS and improve reliability of the system operation with peak load conditions. The introduction of the continuous operation function with long-term reservation time, the provision of correct sinusoidal output signal, microprocessor control and intellectual charger make it possible to extend considerably the functional of available UPS. Also with the improvement of operational efficiency indexes of modern UPS, the equipment availability to the final user and reduction of the total cost of ownership within the whole operation life is one of important indexes.

According to your observations, what is in the most demand today – UPS or automatic voltage regulators? Because many modern uninterrupted power supplies have the voltage regulation function and there is opinion that to protect, for example, a personal computer it is quite sufficient. Does this concept conform to the situation at the market?

It is quite difficult and unreasonable to separate these two items, in so far as the assigned tasks and application fields of each of the above mentioned positions can differ considerably. Main tasks that the automatic voltage regulator is able to cope with are the following:

• provision of qualitative power supply to equipment in conditions of unstable or substandard (high or low) voltage in the power supply network;
• protection of equipment and devices against failure during sharp voltage swings, excessively low or high voltage;
• load protection against industrial and atmospheric impulse noises distributable via the power supply network;
• protection of the power supply network against overload and short circuit.

On this basis the use of automatic voltage regulators makes it possible to provide stable operation of used equipment, reduce to a minimum the number of failures due to bad quality of the power supply system, and as a result to increase the operation life of equipment. UPS, besides implementation of the automatic voltage regulator function enables to provide the uninterrupted reserve power supply to connected devices. A possibility to increase a battery group enables to enlarge the reservation time and autonomous power supply based on the load being connected. Besides of that, the use of UPS makes it possible to provide the regular shape of output signal, and it is equally important for operation of certain types of equipment. The availability of a charger enables to provide the operative charging of connected batteries. In this connection, areas and tasks of application of UPS and automatic voltage regulators can differ considerably, and the quality of available power supply systems justify the actuality of the market development of these two commodity groups.

What new products in the category of automatic voltage regulators and UPS are being prepared by SVEN Company in 2014?

In 2014, we have produced several new models of UPS and automatic voltage regulators. In particular, we would like to pay your attention to SVEN AVR PRO LCD wall-mounted automatic voltage regulators. These devices provide the stable power supply to household appliances in the office, private house or apartment. They are designed for connection of equipment with the capacity to 8 kW and have the extended input voltage range – from 140 to 260 V.

Another new product is the line-interactive UPS of SVEN RESERVE HOME series. This series will be interesting to proprietors of country houses. It can operate even with such complicated and exacting equipment, as gas boilers, downhole circulating pumps, etc. UPS of the professional series of SVEN Company will do for complex protection of the whole electrical equipment in the house. They are equipped with the built-in automatic voltage regulator of tension and can be supplied with batteries, which increase the reserve power supply time.