As far as marketing goes, SB made NO attempt at it.

In fact Rio undertook some marketing. I'd say they spent far more money on marketing the car player than empeg ever did, but on the scale of things that's not saying much. This might have been more down to bad timing than anything - at the time empeg was acquired, Rio were running a brand name awareness campaign. They spent a LOT of money on TV, magazine and internet ads to promote the Rio name. No products whatsoever were featured, including the car player. The wisdom of that campaign is a matter of opinion, and hard to quantify - but I'm sure it didn't do much for Rio Car.

Has anyone seen the HSX-109 at retail yet?

It isn't released to retail yet, although I believe there may be something happening with some specific audio chains. I don't think that's the point of the HSX-109, though. It is a product which starts to link together our related products - a direction which I think is the heart of SB's future.

Maybe when the economy makes a turn for the better SB will reconsider entering the car audio market with a major OEM partner.

We made no secret of the fact that we are seeking OEM opportunities for our latest in-car technology.

Rob