TribArticle

Wired For Sound Future

July 2, 2003
Section: MONEYSENSE
Page: 1

DAVE SIMANOFF

Memo: Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762.

Audiovisual Company Expanding Services

TAMPA - Eight years ago, Mark Lewis began Southern Sound as a home
business with just two other employees. In less than eight years from now, he'd
like to see his audiovisual and communications systems company post more
than $10 million annually in sales and tackle what he calls "signature"
construction projects across the state.

Getting there will mean doing some things differently, such as expanding into
new markets and reaching new types of customers, but keeping some things
exactly as they are, like doing good work and treating employees as an extended
family.

"We want to take this as a gradual increase" in our business, said Lewis, seated
at a conference table at Southern Sound's headquarters, tucked in a nondescript
business park on Race Track Road on northwest Tampa. "Actually, to be quite
honest, it's growing faster than we anticipated."

Southern Sound had $3.4 million in revenue last year and is on track to get
between $3.9 million and $4.2 million in 2003, Lewis said. The 31-employee
company, which traditionally focuses on institutional projects such as schools,
government facilities and churches, is expanding by pushing into commercial and
residential projects - fast-food restaurants, home theater systems, hotels, nursing
homes and the like. It's also selling programming services like Music Choice and
DirecTV to businesses like bars and restaurants.

Music Choice provides background music for businesses and workplaces
through satellite. It's an alternative to Muzak.

Lewis said some 70 percent of Southern Sound's business now comes from
institutional work, while Music Choice service makes up 10 percent and
communications systems for quick-service restaurants, such as the drive-through
walkie-talkie systems, account for another 10 percent.

Southern Sound is branching out into some tough markets, especially when it
comes to home theaters, said business development director Karl Nickel. Many
retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City now offer theater installation, and
customers also can opt to buy and install their own systems.

"There's a lot of competition in this industry as far as residential is concerned," he
said.

The field might be crowded, but it's also growing. Parks Associates, a Dallas based
research and consulting firm that tracks home technology trends, said
about 27 percent of all U.S. households now have some kind of home theater
system, up from 19 percent five years ago.

The Consumer Electronics Association defines a home theater system as any
setup with a TV that's 25 inches or larger, a DVD player or hi-fi videocassette
recorder, an internal or separate digital receiver, and at least four external
speakers.

Southern Sound is 8 years old, but the Lewis family has been installing
audiovisual and communications systems in the Tampa Bay area since the
1960s. Lewis' father Monty founded Lewis Sound Equipment in 1961, wiring
intercom, PA and TV systems in schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and
Pasco counties. He sold the company in 1980.

Lewis and brother Dean each began working for Lewis Sound when they turned
15, helping out after school and on weekends. Today, the Lewis brothers are
both part owners of Southern Sound, and Monty, now 68 years old, takes an
active role in the company. Lewis said he visits job sites frequently to keep touch
with workers in the field, and he sometimes stops by to treat the entire crew to
lunch. He also won't ask an employee to do something that he and Dean aren't willing to do themselves.

"We won't ask our people to work on Saturday unless we're out there with them,"
he said.

A LOOK AT SOUTHERN SOUND
Headquarters: Tampa
Year founded: 1995
Employees: 31
Revenue (2002): $3.4 million

About the company: Despite the name, Southern Sound deals in more than
audio. It also offers audiovisual and communications systems for offices, homes
and other buildings. Its products range from closed-circuit TV and home theater
systems to data networks.

Notable projects: Southern Sound recently installed a new audio system at Joker
Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers,
and soon will do similar work at for the Philadelphia Phillies new spring training
stadium in Clearwater.

Other News: The Company is opening an office in Orlando. Except for some
recent hotel conference center facilities in Georgia, all of Southern Sound's work
has been done in Florida.