Optimal Audio Appoints Al McKinna as Head of Product

Recently launched British company Optimal Audio, extending the business in commercial audio for holding company Focusrite plc (Focusrite, Martin Audio, ADAM Audio, Novation and Ampify Music), announced the appointment of Al McKinna as Head of Product. McKinna was Director of Product Management for Live Sound at Avid. Optimal Audio also announced the appointment of Raf Willems, formerly with Apart/Biamp as the new Head of Sales and Channel Marketing EMEA.

In a joint statement, Focusrite Group and Sequential LLC announced that British holding company Focusrite plc has acquired Sequential LLC, the respected American synthesizer manufacturer led by legendary electronic instrument designer and Grammy winner Dave Smith. A surprising development given that it was only in 2015 that Dave Smith regained the rights to the Sequential name from Yamaha, allowing Dave Smith Instruments to be rebranded as Sequential in 2018.

British holding company Focusrite plc, which does business as Focusrite, Focusrite Pro, Martin Audio, ADAM Audio, Novation and Ampify Music brands, unveiled a new seventh brand, Optimal Audio. The strategy, according to Focusrite plc, is to offer a complete portfolio of advanced commercial audio products, designed for a fully connected and remotely controlled systems approach, with ease of installation in mind.

Short after the surprising announcement of the sale of the company to its High Wycombe neighbor Focusrite Audio Engineering, Martin Audio had another busy start to the year with the introduction of another five products targeting commercial installation, now joining the company's ADORN series. Martin Audio introduced five new in-ceiling and pendant loudspeakers together with many other recently introduced products at ISE 2020.

Focusrite Pro showed its full range of Dante-enabled Audio-over-IP interfaces in a dedicated booth during NAMM 2020, where dedicated solutions specialists were on hand to answer any networking questions. For this edition of the Anaheim show, Focusrite announced three new products in the ISA range that bring the classic Focusrite sound to Dante Audio-over-IP networks: The ISA 828 MkII Eight-Channel Mic Preamp, and the ISA ADN2 and ADN8 A/D cards.

Another year, another new owner for Martin Audio, which is about to break the record for the most sold, bought and bought-out pro audio company ever. This time, in another example of the Good 'Ol Boy Network in action, Focusrite plc., which comprises the Focusrite, ADAM Audio, Novation and Ampify Music brands, announced the acquisition of Martin Audio Ltd and associated companies.