The whole audio industry was still trying to understand the perspective and motivations of why a leading amplifier company such as Pascal would completely give up its successful OEM business to go direct to market with its own brand of finished system amplifiers. Now, the Danish company made another surprising announcement, confirming that its young subsidiary Blaze Audio, would now become a full range manufacturer of professional solutions for commercial audio applications, and also start manufacturing and selling speakers.
According to the announcement, which was distributed to US-based media exclusively during the week that Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2023 was taking place in Barcelona, this subsidiary of Pascal confirmed a series of initiatives that "will soon result in the addition of innovative loudspeaker products." As the company details, this surprising decision is based on the notion that "power amplifiers and loudspeakers go hand in hand," and that somehow it makes sense that Blaze Audio should offer complete system solutions, including loudspeakers for "a wide range of sound reinforcement applications."
This is all the more surprising considering that Pascal had managed to build an extremely successful OEM amplifier module business for the global pro audio industry since its Danish founding team achieved a buyout from Camco. That strategy was designed and concluded in 2017, precisely because Camco was a supplier of finished system amplifiers and it had been acquired by L-Acoustics in November 2016. The separation paved the way for Pascal to establish the company as a key independent supplier for many of the world's pro audio companies, particularly those that were and remained essentially loudspeaker manufacturers.
As the saying goes, "don't byte the hand that feeds you," and in that sense, the follow-up announcement to initiate a loudspeaker development effort within Blaze Audio should not come as a surprise. Also unfortunate that the effort would involve a talented team that has long been known for his innovative loudspeaker designs and achievements, but is also known for frequently falling victim of failed acquisitions and unpredictable corporate strategies.
Leading the new development team for Blaze Audio is Hugh Sarvis, a well-known product development engineer whose loudspeaker design efforts have resulted in numerous highly acclaimed products. Sarvis’ experience dates back to the 1970’s, during which he provided sound services to artists such as Wynonna Judd, the band Alabama, and Waylon Jennings. Having accumulated a wealth of experience during this period, he consolidated his focus on loudspeaker design, with the first product — the Max Series — appearing in 1986 under the Woodworx name. For the next several years, Sarvis’ loudspeaker designs assumed integral roles in Super Bowl 1994 in Atlanta, GA, Super Bowl 1995 in Miami, FL, along with the 1995 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
In 2001, Sarvis officially debuted WorxAudio Technologies, which was widely recognized for its V8 line array, the UltraMax Series, along with the X-Series line array system, which employed the first 160-degree horizontal dispersion pattern in the world. As the Founder/CEO of WorxAudio Technologies, Sarvis also expanded the company’s presence by developing products for the commercial installation market. In 2014, Sarvis sold his company to PreSonus Audio Electronics of Baton Rouge, LA, and remained as Managing Director of the company’s Loudspeaker division, where he designed an assortment of PreSonus studio monitors, the ULT series, the Air series, and the CDL series.
Then, Fender acquired PreSonus in November 2021.
Now as Director of the Loudspeaker Division at Blaze Audio, Hugh Sarvis has yet another opportunity to take loudspeaker development to the next level. "Product development can frequently take a substantial amount of time. In this regard, Blaze Audio has yet another advantage. We recently purchased the intellectual property of WorxAudio from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation — the owner of PreSonus — and plan to continue building some of those key products," Sarvis reveals. "I’ve worked on wide pattern control for many years and several WorxAudio products have this feature set so, going forward, we plan to continue with this design concept. That gives us a leg up on what would otherwise be a long development."
The new Blaze Audio speaker subsidiary will be headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, where WorxAudio was always based. "Loudspeakers and amplifiers go hand in hand," he adds. "We currently offer rack mount amplifier and control solutions and, in the coming months, passive and self-powered loudspeaker options will be available. All our amplifier offerings offer high-end DSP featuring FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters along with an assortment of IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) and other filter sets. We also plan to offer updates to our DSP on a regular basis."
Sarvis is equally enthusiastic about the design facilities Blaze Audio has provided, "I am fortunate to have a complete Klippel system for loudspeaker measuring, diagnostics, and control in our laboratory. We have a laser to analyze both loudspeakers and transducer components. Equally notable, our NFS (Near Field Scanner) has been an amazing tool for analyzing a complete loudspeaker system’s directivity and frequency response over 360 degrees. I can extrapolate data anechoically over any distance. This has been an invaluable design tool. We also have a 3D printer, along with a CNC router for complete product prototyping. This is a state-of-the-art design facility and I have every intention of developing innovative loudspeaker solutions."
In addition to Hugh Sarvis, the Blaze Audio loudspeaker development team also includes Norvin Roessing, who oversees Mechanical Design and Eric Welch, who serves as the loudspeaker division’s Product Manager. "In addition to the skills and experience both Norvin and Eric bring," Sarvis details, "I was very fortunate to have worked with Don Keele, one of the developers of constant directivity horn design. Together, we developed constant beamwidth devices by amplitude shading using the CBT technologies from the US Navy papers. Together, this team has a wealth of experience in loudspeaker development, and I look forward to leveraging this talent to develop the next generation of products. We have a lot to look forward to and I firmly believe our customers will be the ultimate winners — so stay tuned!"
Blaze Audio did its formal entry into the professional audio market throughout North America in May 2022, with its PowerZone Connect series of fully matrixed, DSP loaded network power amplifier products. Blaze Audio’s North American operations are spearheaded by Kevin Wilkin, who serves as the company’s Executive Sales Director for North America. According to Pascal, Blaze Audio will draw upon the vast resources of its parent company, on a mission "to create commercial simplicity through product flexibility at competitive pricing," through "efficient operations and by innovative product designs that enable fewer products to cover more fixed install applications."
www.blaze-audio.com
www.pascal-audio.com
