Since FANE was officially re-launched in 2008 under the ownership of the Barnes family, the company reemerged stronger and has reinforced its position in the pro audio market with both a wide range of speaker components for different application segments. Arthur Barnes who was with the company since 1966 (Fane was founded in 1958) and was Managing Director of FANE until 1989, lead the company's expansion as a major supplier of speaker transducers for the audio industry . Arthur Barnes, had created Precision Devices in 2003, and the synergy with the expanded market scope of Fane created an even stronger portfolio with larger manufacturing capacity, which continues to be based in Yorkshire, England and Shenzhen, China, until today.
In 2012, following the retirement of Arthur Barnes, Mark Barnes assumed responsibility for the overall management of both FANE and sister company Precision Devices and both companies continued to grow and consolidated. FANE celebrated its 60th anniversary as a brand in 2018. Today the brand is segmented in three areas of activity. Fane International for the production of pro audio speaker drivers and components, Fane Acoustics for guitar amp speakers, and Fane Pro Audio for complete sound reinforcement systems.
In 2020, like all other pro audio businesses the company faced significantly challenges, as the industry witnessed the sudden suspension of all activities caused by the global pandemic. With almost no production activities, the choice was to refocus on research and use the opportunity to build anew. Despite the many restrictions, the company embraced the opportunity to focus on their R&D and product development.
As Mark Barnes describes, "Fane has been incredibly busy over the past twelve months and more, viewing the period of substantial turmoil within our industry and extensive international closure of entertainment venues and events as an opportunity to refine business strategy and focus on developing a strong and secure future path while remaining committed to our core strengths and areas of expertise.
"The result is the launch of groundbreaking new Fane Pro Audio sound systems including a raft of new product, including product lines which we manufacture in-house in our headquarter facilities in England. The new product, designed, engineered and made in the UK, represents not only the next generation in Fane's product development strategy but also cutting-edge sound reinforcement which will deliver measurable and significant advantages to Fane users worldwide, carrying the official stamp of British, hand-assembled manufacture at a time when an increasingly sophisticated sound industry are looking for superior options."
Officially unveiled at the recent Prolight+Sound exhibition in Guangzhou, China in May 2021, the new Fane Pro Audio range of line-array systems include the Carol Series with the C22 dual 12-inch line-array element, the C20 dual 10-inch line-array element, C58S flyable 18-inch cardioid subwoofer, and C28 - double 18-inch ground stack subwoofer. Fane Pro Audio also introduced the new Argus Series, which includes the Argus 1 dual 12-inch line-array element, Argus 2 dual 10-inch line array, and Argus 2S 18-inch flyable subwoofer.
Carefully designed and engineered using Fane’s latest technologies to deliver optimal, high-performance and cost- effective sound reinforcement solutions, the new Fane Pro Audio models use new optimized drive units from Fane and, in another first for the brand, transducers from its sister company Precision Devices.
Further adding to the expansion of products, Fane Pro Audio also announced the launch of the UK Series consisting of the UK-810 and UK-812, 10-inch and 12-inch speaker systems, optimized to deliver high vocal intelligibility, along with the GK Series, GK-410, GK-412, GK-610 and GK-612, 10-inch and 12-inch professional KTV systems.
"Following on from the success of our comprehensive SV, ST and Storm series, we are drawing on our impressive collective brand heritage and manufacturing expertise of almost 100 years in the industry (between Fane and Precision Devices) to craft the world’s finest range of high-end sound systems, amplifiers and controllers. After spending a century designing and manufacturing the world’s finest loudspeaker drivers for some of the world’s most prestigious names, we feel we have just about the right level of experience and expertise to unleash them in our own range of professional sound systems, featuring custom drivers from the stable of both Fane and our sister-company Precision Devices, synergising the complementary strengths of our brands to produce finished product, which is the optimized combination of transducer and system," explains Fane Managing Director, Mark Barnes.
"2021 marks a historic moment in the history of the Fane brand. While the pro audio market was in turmoil, we took the bold decision to invest in sound system manufacturing in the UK to underline our confidence not only in our in-house expertise to design and manufacture the next generation of loudspeakers but also in the ability of the entertainment sector to recover and bounce back and be receptive to our new product offerings. When we saw so many businesses diversifying away from their core area of expertise and losing focus, we decided to remain committed to our vision and move forward in a direction that not only played to our strengths but would also deliver something of measurable advantage to our existing and future client base. In other words, a year of creating new opportunity for the future rather than one simply of business survival. Consequently, we are excited to share the developments we have been working so hard towards for the last 12 months. We feel assured and optimistic about the future as the industry begins to recover towards a post-pandemic world, opening new territories and bringing Fane Pro Audio to further attention on the global stage. Being British we are, of course, guilty of being a little understated,” Mark Barnes concludes .
Fane is also investing in developing international markets and is planning the opening of new sales and distribution headquarters in the Pan Asia region.
www.faneproaudio.com
