Industry Veteran Retires

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Eben Sheldon

Eben Sheldon, a long time fixture in the Northeast car audio market, retired this past month.

Sheldon was an inside rep for Alpine for 10 years and a sales rep for Directed.  Most recently he served as a manufacturer’s rep for Trent Partners.

Back in 1984, Sheldon started his own shop in VT called Main Street Stereo, which he operated successfully until he sold it and moved to Massachusetts, where he worked for Tweeter Etc.  Shortly after, he served as an independent rep under Rick Sands for Kenwood in Southern New England.

“Not to sound like the ‘old guy’ that I am, but there has been a huge shift in the industry since I started selling car audio back in the late eighties. In those days, anything factory was by definition inferior to aftermarket products. Today, it’s all about making things as good as factory – like it came as original equipment. I believe that is a mistake,” said Sheldon.

“While better installers want to make the aftermarket gear look like it ‘belongs’ in the car, the industry needs to do a better job of highlighting how much better aftermarket gear really is. The ‘proof’ is in how many car manufacturers now partner with aftermarket companies to ‘install’ systems as factory equipment. The gear that is available for dealers to sell & integrate today is better than it has ever been,” he added.

“I want to thank all of the dealers that supported my efforts over the years. I always tried my best to do what was right both the dealer and the manufacturer. It has been a fun ride…”

 

 

 

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3 Comments

  1. So bittersweet! I am so happy for you Eben, but will dearly miss working with you. It was always an absolute pleasure. John and I always looked forward to seeing and chatting with you. We wish the best of luck to you and hope you enjoy playing a lot of golf!

  2. We didn’t work together for long, but it was a pleasure traveling and training dealers with you, Eben.

    Best of luck on whatever comes next for you, and enjoy your retirement!

    -Matthew Palumbo
    AudioControl

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