Dealer Profile
First Priority Audio
Pompano Beach, Florida
| President | |
| Bert Herrero | |
| Managing Partner | |
| Joel Hernandez | |
| Key Statistics & Information | |
| Opened | 2001 |
| HARMAN Brands Supported |
Arcam, JBL Synthesis, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel |
The HARMAN Luxury Audio Group is proud to have some of the best high-end consumer electronics partners across the globe. Each month, we have the pleasure of learning a little bit more about one of our dealers or distributors. This time we spoke with the folks at First Priority Audio in Pompano Beach, Florida.
How long have you been in business?
This year we are excited to be celebrating 20 years serving the South Florida market. We are a family owned business run by President Bert Herrero (above, right) and his cousin and Managing Partner, Joel Hernandez (above, left). Our story begins shortly after the tragic events of 9/11, when Bert decided to leave his corporate life and go out on his own, opening his first company, Bert’s World, installing home satellites. Over time, he noticed that the home entertainment industry was evolving to include more custom solutions like private cinemas and home automation. Being intrigued by that new opportunity, his focus and the company’s changed to home technology solutions and First Priority Audio was born. In 2007, as luck would have it, his cousin Joel opened Audio Video Source providing similar solutions to the Miami market. During a fortuitous family gathering, the two started chatting and realized they were doing the exact same thing! Bert served as a guide and mentor to Joel for a few years and then in 2014, they decided to combine forces. Now in 2021, still a family business with over 25 employees, First Priority Audio has become a recognized name in the market with long-standing client relationships, some dating back over a decade.
Thoughts on the importance of training?
First Priority Audio believes strongly in education and training and make it a point not just to foster and promote continuous improvement within First Priority Audio, but to also model it ourselves. For the internal development of our team we are excited to see the evolution of ProSourceU and the benefit that a single industry repository of training can offer the team. It is because of this rollout that we have begun to organize an official development track with competencies and career trajectories outlined and explained.
Personally, Joel is a member of the Education Committee for ProSource and Bert has sat on the Lighting & Shades Committee for two years. Additionally, Joel and our systems designer are CEDIA Certified Outreach Instructors and host "Lunch and Learns" to provide courses and education to our industry partners. As a means of educating our clients, we have begun hosting Facebook Lives bimonthly where we tackle emerging trends and products to provide clarity and non-technical explanations. This content is then shared with clients as specific questions arise and serves as the content to our weekly blogs.
What do you like most about HARMAN Luxury Audio products and which lines do you feature?
Everyone in the industry likely remembers the precise moment when they became thrilled by audio. While already in the industry for a number of years, for Joel, that moment was during a JBL Synthesis demo at a CEDIA Expo. And even though he already has a baseline of what to expect from these demonstrations, he still looks forward to the JBL presentation every year. Given this affinity, it should come as no surprise that JBL Synthesis is our go-to with clients that are looking to invest in creating a home theater and elevate the movie-watching experience. We also rely heavily on HARMAN’s other lines like Lexicon and Arcam to provide fantastic performance for the everyday media room.
More info: FirstPriorityAudio.com