About The Two Walters
How a Lifelong Friendship Led To The 2WA Group
You may very well be aware at this point that Fidelis Distribution and Nexus Audio Technologies have merged to create 2WA Group, an entity offering excellent high performance audio brands, ultimate support, and cutting edge marketing.
However, the back story of how this came about is not only intriguing; it offers further insights as to the commitment of the two founders, Walter(s) Schofield and Swanbon, to high performance audio—while revealing the depth and breadth of scope of their experiences in the industry they truly love.
The 2WA Group Back Story
Walter Swanbon and Walter Schofield (“We briefly considered Two Walts Audio as our company name”) met as teenagers— Schofield working at Tech HiFi, a northeast institution with 72 stores at one point, and Swanbon at Eardrum—a regional specialty operation that carried the best audio gear of the times.
Schofield walked into Eardrum one day, looking for something better than what Tech HiFi sold, and the two Walters quickly forged a solid friendship that has lasted ever since.
Walter Schofield worked in retail for 16 years in Boston and Harvard Square, Massachusetts, and went on to be an early employee at Cambridge SoundWorks with the late, great, Henry Kloss. He then entered the manufacturing sector as the National Sales Manager for CWD, a purpose-designed AV furniture manufacturer based in Chicago and owned by Joe Atkins of Equity International (B&W, Rotel) fame.
At Equity, Walter Schofield learned from audio industry icons including Joe Atkins, John Macintosh, Chris Browder and Scott Rundle.
Schofield moved on to a National Sales Management position at Linn America, then to run Mark Levinson at Harman, with a couple of brief stints building international distribution channels for a couple of companies and eventually, most recently, COO of Krell Industries.
He formed and ran Nexus Audio Technologies shortly thereafter until the advent of 2WA Group with Mr. Swanbon.
A conversation started brewing between the two Walts as to what would happen if they joined forces, with Swanbon being an excellent communicator with reviewers and Dealers—and Schofield overseeing marketing and sales. The pair recognized their chosen industry’s ever-shrinking customer and Dealer base, and the need to bring new blood into their associated businesses through unique, cutting edge practices. Seems the two Walts would complement each other well!
Walter Swanbon has stayed in the retail and direct sales sector for his entire career, starting at Boston College as a campus rep, and then at Boston Stereo—building loudspeakers for pro and home use. That era also found Swanbon engineering recordings with Pat and Mike Metheny, and with Steve Tyler (of Aerosmith), further honing his skills, prior to joining the aforementioned Eardrum—where he became Wholesale & Retail Sales Manager.
In 1983 Swanbon started his own business, Audio Vision—with Malcom Becker and Paul Chambers, in Arlington, MA. Then, from ‘87-‘90 he served as New England Sales Rep for Aragon, Audioquest, Sumo, and Paradigm among other audio brands.
In 1990 Swanbon co-founded Ensemble Music Systems with Marc Mable and Jay Bertrand—their initial Amherst, NH showroom expanding to a five location footprint over the years.
In 2001, Swanbon founded Fidelis Music Systems with Bill Henk in North Hampton, NH, expanding to Salem NH, Derry, NH, then resituating their headquarters in Nashua, NH. Veering into North American distribution some 30 years ago, Swanbon began representing some of the finest, upper echelon brands in the high performance audio world. Swanbon currently operates Fidelis AV, a retail store in Nashua.
And that, as they say, is ‘the rest of the story’—now that the two Walters, Schofield and Swanbon—are firmly at the helm of, and focused on The 2WA Group.