ICEpower – An Audio Company That Also Does Amplifiers

Europe’s Nordic countries have long been the birthplace for high-quality and innovative audio products, particularly excelling at speakers and amplifiers. Located near Copenhagen, ICEpower has traditionally been known as a purveyor of high-performance Class-D amplifiers and associated switch-mode power supplies. The company continues to provide innovative Class-D solutions today, but its scope is now much broader than that, as this report discloses.

In what is certainly great news for all other OEM amplifier companies, Pascal A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark, which recently had decided to compete directly with its former amplifier clients with the launch of Blaze Audio, is now also going to sell speakers, competing directly with what last clients it still had. To push forward with this strategy, Pascal acquired the former WorxAudio IP from Presonus/Fender and hired its veteran team, led by Hugh Sarvis.

Maxim Integrated Products, unveiled the MAX98396 Class D/G speaker amplifier which the company claims to have the industry's lowest noise and lowest quiescent power consumption, nearly 50-percent lower power than similar amplifiers. The 20V digital input MAX98396 amplifier provides speakers with an inaudible noise floor, enabling placement in near-silent environments and offers 12.7mW of quiescent power to meet power compliance regulations for always-on portable Bluetooth and smart speakers.

Axign B.V. received an equity investment from KBC Focus Fund as the lead investor, together with Innovation Industries and Oost NL. This investment round enables Axign to mass produce and launch the company’s unique range of audio devices worldwide. Additionally, the new funding will support the development and introduction of next-generation devices for active speakers and streaming audio systems.

Ward Maas writes about Danish-sensation Merus Audio, the company founded in 2010 by Hans Hasselby-Andersen and Mikkel Hoyerby, and recently acquired by Infineon Technologies. The article recalls how this Copenhagen-based start-up quickly ascended in the audio industry with its new generation of energy-efficient integrated Class-D amplifier solutions. This article was originally published in audioXpress. September 2018.