SCN: How long have you been with this company, and what are your responsibilities?
Fred Morgenstern: I have been with Neutrik Americas, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Neutrik Group, for over a dozen years. My team provides technical clarity on our products through all sorts of means—traditional technical support, newsletter articles, blog posts, trainings, and whatever other methods help our customers learn how best to deploy Neutrik’s solutions. We also interface regularly with our Liechtenstein headquarters, engineering teams, and colleagues worldwide on technical issues and new opportunities.
SCN: As an international company, how was Neutrik impacted by supply chain issues?
FM: Ugh! Were there any companies in the world that didn’t suffer from supply chain disruptions? The Neutrik Group certainly did.
Our shipping costs absolutely went through the roof, and that was when we could even book containers. For long stretches of time, we had real difficulties getting products from Neutrik’s international factories to our distribution hub in Charlotte, NC. Our logistics personnel deserve huge credit for the hoops they jumped through to get products into the Americas.
[Executive Q&A: Clarity in Collaboration]
The microchip crisis forced us to discontinue some active products that had been quite popular. That was painful. Material shortages, such as for some of the specialized plastics and additives we use, caused some serious delays as well.
Things are improving. I’d say that we’re 90% back to normal. But our logistics are not yet as smooth as they had been prior to all this disruption.
SCN: One thing I noticed at NAB Show was Neutrik’s extensive covers for various connectors. Why the emphasis on covers?
FM: That’s a great question. The entire AVL industry, not just Neutrik, is moving toward offering more robust solutions for outdoor events. A couple of decades ago, protecting devices against dust and rain mostly consisted of throwing plastic sheeting over equipment. AVL has evolved greatly since then. Active devices are increasingly being built with sophisticated ingress protection. Neutrik is integral to that transformation. In the right circumstances, appropriate covers can go a long way toward ensuring reliability and safety.
SCN: What are some of the most common mistakes when working with optical cables and connectors?
FM: First and foremost, customers need clarity on whether their equipment requires multimode or single-mode fibers and, in the latter case, whether UPC or APC polishing is appropriate. I expect that we’ll continue to discuss this with our clients as long as fiber optics are around.
Second, customers should remember that the installation costs of fiber are so high, and the per-fiber-strand cost is so low, that it is nearly always better to install more fiber strands—and perhaps different types of fiber strands (both multimode and single mode)—in one go than to install only the fiber that’s required today. As video resolutions and data speeds improve, and as we find more ways to leverage the network to provide a richer experience, fiber strand usage keeps increasing.
It’s better, in my opinion, to budget for more fiber strands when installing cable. It’s OK if you don’t use them all in the first years. Neutrik’s solutions make it easy to expand your patch cabling from two fibers (opticalCON DUO, FIBERFOX, or DRAGONFLY) to four fibers (opticalCON QUAD or FIBERFOX) all the way up to 12, 16, 24, or even 48 fibers (opticalCON MTP) as time progresses and your needs expand.
SCN: What are your most popular connectors for the Pro AV industry?
FM: XLRs have always been Neutrik’s number one offering. Customers love our XLRs for their high quality and consistency, quick assembly, long life, numerous innovative features, and premium appearance. For a lot of customers, it’s Neutrik or nothing when it comes to XLRs.
Of course, 1/4-inch plugs and jacks are integral to the musical instrument space; Neutrik is a leader there as well. etherCON and opticalCON have essentially replaced multicore audio snakes at this point, and they’re widely used for signal routing throughout facilities of all kinds, from auditoriums to educational campuses to office complexes to mobile data centers. Those are big sellers for us.
And our AC power portfolio, consisting of powerCON TRUE1 TOP (our premier powerCON line, with IP65 sealing and UV resistance per UL 50E), powerCON blue/grey (which we have recently significantly upgraded with breaking capacity, IEC/UL 60320-1 compliance, and other great features), and powerCON 32 A are a big part of our business. Moving lights, in particular, wouldn’t be the same without these locking connectors.
SCN: USB-C continues to gain support in Pro AV, so is Neutrik planning to expand its USB-C offerings?
FM: Neutrik is looking very closely into USB Type-C. We already offer mediaCON for PCB mounting. mediaCON is a locking USB 3.1 Gen 2 cable-and-connector system using USB Type-C connectors.
When it comes to passive feedthrough adapters like we already offer for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, we are much more cautious. At the data rates typically deployed over USB Type-C, passive couples can decimate performance. We don’t want to offer products that might cause users unexpected problems. We’re still searching for elegant solutions that provide USB Type-C feedthrough connectivity where appropriate, but also help users understand where such connectors are likely not to work.
SCN: What new initiatives are we likely to see from your company?
FM: Neutrik is the innovation leader in the AVL connector space. speakON, powerCON, the XLR / 1/4-inch combo connector, etherCON, the D shape, opticalCON, and so much more have entered the AV industry through the brilliant minds at Neutrik’s Liechtenstein headquarters. We continue to scan the horizon for new opportunities, and we continue introducing dozens of new products every year, like the newly improved XX-series powerCON blue/grey cable connectors, speakON cable connectors, and straight silentPLUG that are all just coming to market now.
SCN: What makes a good connector?
FM: First, and most prosaically, the connector needs to meet a fairly widespread industry need. If there is not sufficient potential demand for it, then economy of scale cannot be reached. We see that with certain highly specialized connectors in fields like underwater or outer space exploration. Only a dozen or so may be sold each year. That drives those connectors’ costs into the thousands of dollars each. That’s a legitimate business, but Neutrik stays away from it. AVL customers would never accept it.
Next, what is the quality of the materials used? For example, it is easy to make a connector’s contacts appear to have gold plating, but is there a sufficient amount of it, alloyed for long durability? If the contacts are silver plated, how well is that silver treated for tarnish resistance over the long run? What is the quality and appropriateness of the base metals? Plastics, such as are used in insulators and some connector bodies, are another concern. Are they made of UL-rated materials? Are those materials virgin? Are they formulated to have the suppleness and environmental resistance to keep working well for years? Neutrik does not advertise it, but many of our materials are proprietary to Neutrik within the AV space. We use lots of special materials developed alongside our suppliers over many years.
Finally, are the connectors consistent from batch to batch and year to year? Neutrik customers appreciate that our connectors mate together perfectly regardless of the year of manufacture. That’s due to our world-class automated assembly and quality control. It’s also due in large part to the quality and consistency of our suppliers, most of whom we have worked with for decades.
The entire AVL industry, not just Neutrik, is moving toward offering more robust solutions for outdoor events.
Neutrik has always had a “do it right” mentality, not a “get rich quick” mentality. If you ever visit Liechtenstein and its surroundings in Switzerland and Western Austria, you’ll find this “do it right” mentality is embedded in the culture. The people there take pride in doing things the best way possible. Almost without exception, if you purchase a product engineered and supervised from that part of the world, you’re going to receive high quality.
By contrast, when we review products from some of the upstart Asian companies making knockoffs of our designs, we typically shake our heads at the idea that anyone with any expertise might consider those even marginally acceptable. They tend to lack every positive feature I’ve just mentioned.
SCN: With so many routing options available, are patch panels still popular?
FM: Neutrik’s professional patch panel sales are declining. I expect that’s true for every manufacturer. The one exception is the lower-end, “prosumer” patch panels used in home studios. Those sales have been very healthy. I expect that’s somewhat of a blip because, during the pandemic lockdown, so many people built up their home studios.
[Executive Q&A: Now Hear This]
I love the idea of automatable patch panels like Flock Audio is making. That to me is an exciting category that suits the recording studio well. It’s too bad that those products are necessarily so expensive due to all of the relays they have. I wish those companies well. I am fairly certain that Neutrik is not going to compete with them. Multifunctional DSP processing rather than discrete processors—whether that processing is within a computer, a mixing console, or an external processor—is the state of the market now.
SCN: How can systems contractors better position themselves to profit from the products you offer?
FM: Knowledge is power. Reach out to Neutrik to have a regional sales manager discuss Neutrik’s product line with you and your team. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about new products. Familiarize yourself on a surface level with Neutrik’s broad product lines—XLRs, BNCs, etherCON, opticalCON, powerCON, and so forth. Then, when you need recommendations on specific products to implement, reach out to Neutrik Americas so our technology team can guide you to the best options. If we don’t have what you need, we’ll refer you to other manufacturers who might. We want to help you find the best solutions for your needs. That’s why I work for Neutrik—because I know we have terrific offerings that can make the connected world a better place and help you as an individual or a company succeed on all levels.
