New OEM Driver Company: BlieSMa

BlieSMa, located in Blieskastel, Germany, was founded January 16, 2018 by Stas Malikov. Prior to starting BlieSMa, Malikov worked at Ultrasound Technologies, at Morel as a QC manager and a transducer engineer, and at Accuton as a production engineer for the last 8 years. The first product released by BlieSMa is the T34A, a 34 mm tweeter. Available since May 2018, the T34A is a metal aluminum/magnesium alloy dome tweeter.

The third annual Loudspeaker Sourcing Show was again held in Guangzhou, China, which is about an hour by ferry from Hong Kong. The show was hosted by Philip Richardson, owner of Trueanalog Strictly OEM, and his wife Mandy Tseng of ZengBen. The couple created the Loudspeaker Sourcing Show to connect qualified and vetted loudspeaker component, driver, and system manufacturers directly with loudspeaker engineers, purchasing heads, and brands. This is a focused engineering/purchasing event where the attendees meet directly with manufacturers for details and costing at the show.

As anticipated back in October 2017, B&C Speakers SpA confirmed that the acquisition of Eighteen Sound was completed on Monday December 11, 2017. The acquisition of 100% of Eighteen Sound from the Landi Renzo Group represents a formidable expansion of B&C's business, entering new loudspeaker market segments, and creating a powerful portfolio of products for all types of speaker applications, all from its existing and newly-acquired Italy-based operations.

Norwegian speaker designer and manufacturer SEAS Fabrikker is gearing up its new generation drivers, resulting from an extensive R&D effort. Since the company premiered its new full range drive unit in Guangzhou in December 2016, audio designers have been anxiously waiting for news about availability. audioXpress has met the SEAS team at High End Munich 2017 and got the confirmation that the company is now accepting orders for the new H1794-08 FEA18RCZ.

MISCO announced that the company has completed its acquisition of the Oaktron division of Mitek. Oaktron will relocate from Monroe, Wisconsin to Minneapolis and will operate as a wholly owned division of MISCO. Oaktron Senior Development and Manufacturing engineer, Nick Leiendecker will continue with MISCO-Oaktron under the new ownership. Nick’s 30 years of experience and dedication to Oaktron will provide continuity of product support and manufacturing for MISCO-Oaktron’s customers and products.

This year’s Loudspeaker Sourcing Show provides a platform for forum talks and presentations from industry leaders and exhibiting companies. The first announced speaker is Michail Barabasz of Lorantz Audio Services. Well regarded as one of the best speaker designers in our industry, Barabasz will be speaking about his 40 years of experience in high-end loudspeaker design in Australia.

In audioXpress July 2016 we published a complete Factory Tour report on Sinar Baja Electric — the birthplace of speaker driver brand SB Acoustics — where we reveal the usually hidden perspective of speaker manufacturing, from design concept to finished products. There’s an exaggerated notion that everything is made in China these days, but the story of this Indonesian company with its own dedicated design team in Denmark, serves to show how truly global the industry really is. Read the complete article now available online.

Beyma introduced several new products this year at the Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt. Additions to the company’s catalogue include new compression drivers in neodymium and ferrite versions, low frequency speakers with new optimized pressed steel frame designs for very diverse applications and a new high quality pleated diaphragm tweeter. The new shallow mid frequency range was another highlight at Beyma’s booth in Frankfurt.

The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook lists speaker-related companies and their products and services and provides a comprehensive guide throughout the year for your loudspeaker needs. If you’re curious about where the industry is headed in 2015 and beyond, the sourcebook also contains several interesting and informative articles.

Following the expansion of sales efforts in Asia and North America, Eighteen Sound announced a strategic agreement to control the worldwide sales of Ciare products. Both Eighteen Sound and Ciare have manufacturing facilities and offices in Italy and their product ranges are highly complimentary.