“As the first major acquisition in the nearly 50-year history of our company, we naturally wanted to find a company that would be an excellent strategic fit for QSC,” says Jatan Shah, Chief Operating Officer of QSC. “We recognize the many valuable contributions that USL has made to the cinema industry over the years, and are confident that the integration of the two companies will provide an even more powerful total value proposition for our customers. The two companies are complementary in terms of product offering and how we view our commitment to the customer.”
Barry Ferrell, QSC’s Chief Strategy Officer and leader of the Cinema business unit for the company, agrees. “While there is certainly overlap in our domestic distribution channel, the breadth and depth of the QSC international distribution network will significantly expand the combined QSC/USL global footprint. And while the product catalogs have some areas of overlap, for the most part the catalogs are extremely complementary, allowing QSC to offer an unprecedented and comprehensive range of cinema solutions.”
According to the Costa Mesa, CA, company, “both companies are well-established in the global cinema market. QSC and USL product philosophies are extremely compatible; both emphasize high quality, high value products at a reasonable price, backed by best-in-class service and product support. This is evidenced in the fact that USL has won the highly-coveted International Cinema Technology Association’s (ICTA) “Manufacturer of the Year” award a record six times, and QSC has won it three times. QSC and USL are the only companies in the history of ICTA to win consecutive “back to back” awards.”
“I can think of no better company in the cinema industry to turn over the stewardship of the USL brand than QSC,” says Jack Cashin, USL Founder and Chief Product Visionary. “We are so pleased to finalize this agreement, and look forward to an amazing future together.”
Founded in 1968, QSC has evolved from an audio amplifier manufacturer to a full audio systems supplier for the live sound, systems integration, and cinema industries. QSC is currently the top supplier of power amplifiers for the global cinema industry, and also a leader in signal processing and loudspeakers. Supported by a team of knowledgeable and highly experienced cinema professionals, QSC Cinema provides optimized system solutions for rooms of any size, sound format, and budget.
San Luis Obispo, CA-based USL was founded by Jack Cashin in 1982, and has been one of the leading suppliers of award-winning audio signal processing and audio-visual test and measurement products for the cinema and pro AV industries. Ultra-Stereo began as a small electronic consulting company designing and constructing 35mm projection rooms for film producers and built sound systems for several theaters. In 1984 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented the Company with an Academy Award for best technical achievement in recognition of the company’s products and design work. Again in 1997 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose to recognize Roger Hibbard, USL’s Chief Engineer and James A. Cashin, USL’s founder for work in their field that improves the overall motion picture experience.
USL’s product lines have increased from analog sound track decoders to a wide range of audio-based products, services and calibration instruments. These diverse product lines range from post-production engineering services to Assistive Listening Devices for the hearing impaired to projection system instrumentation. The Ultra*Stereo sound track encoding process was used to record the sound tracks of over three thousand motion picture and video productions. The JSX-1000 processor was the first non-Dolby analog processor to be certified for use in THX approved theaters.
With the addition of its digital signal processor line, the company has developed one of the first fully digital theater decoders on the market. USL also recently developed a complete range of ancillary digital sound products, resulting from an intensive research project.
www.qsc.com | www.uslinc.com
