After a period of restructuring and consolidation of its brand offerings in the local
market, well-known audio brand specialists Tadco are back on the road with a
streamlined operation, and are seeing their core brands holding their own – and in
some cases taking off.

Says owner, MD and industry personality Simon Oates, “Our Clear-Com products are
selling extremely well, since we acquired the distribution rights back in 2014. We
offer their intercom solutions, including partyline, digital matrix, wireless
intercoms, and intercom-over-IP conferencing software. It’s a very dependable and
robust product set, and we offer support for the products across all their installation
sectors. Most recently we’ve supplied MGG and Gearhouse Splitbeam locally, and
they’re very happy with the product. Interest in the product suite has been growing
exponentially.’

Tadco still specialises in audio brands, and has long been a local supplier of
Australian-manufactured professional audio brand Quest Engineering. “Quest has
been doing very well for us in installations and events throughout Africa, funnily
enough. We recently supplied their equipment to the Pope’s visit to Uganda, and
supplied a huge event in Malawi. Quest’s MX range of full IP67 weatherproofed
speakers are fantastic. Another brand that’s doing well for us is Coda. Earlier this
year, Virtual Productions in Pretoria bought 24 of Coda’s new AiRays with 12 Nexo
subs to augment their existing kit. Another product line that does well for us is the
Camco Q-Power range. It’s a fantastic amp.’

Oates returns to Tadco’s recent success with the Clear-Com range. “It’s always a
surprise to me that we have so much need to communicate effectively and we don’t
do it well. But the Clear-Com FreeSpeak range of transceivers and antenna splitters
is seriously impressive. Its frequency response goes up to 7K, with easy to wear
lightweight headsets. Up to 15 beltpacks can run off the FreeSpeak stations, so it’s
ideal for use in live event and theatres – it’s such a great product I’m not surprised
it’s doing well. We’ve had a demo system in the country for a few months which is
out so often I hardly see it!’

“We’ve been justified in our decision not to hold stock locally of our high-end audio
brands. We can still get stock of Coda, Quest and Nexo very easily, within days,
and we’re consequently not trying to convince clients to take product from us that
may not exactly fit their requirements, simply because we’re holding stock.
Everything we do now is customised and exactly to the client’s specifications.’