MISCO Celebrates 75 Years of Speaker Manufacturing and Audio Innovation

MISCO Speaker Company is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Founded in 1949 as Minneapolis Speaker Company (MISCO) by World War II veteran, Cliff Digre and his wife, Bernice, MISCO has remained a family owned business, now helmed by the founders’ son, Dan Digre, who has driven the company forward through decades of technological advancements and market expansion. MISCO stands as a US-based, pioneering force in the audio industry, manufacturing speakers and audio systems for OEM customers across the globe.

In audioXpress January 2024, Martin Turesson explains how Thin-ply Carbon Diaphragm (TPCD) technology can be applied also to headphones, and Claus Futtrup writes about Loudspeaker Bass Reflex Alignments. Paul Marchese discusses Composite Amplifiers, Roger Tall explains how a research effort allowed ClarityCap to understand the impact of resonances in capacitors. Our own Jan Didden interviews Robert Munnig Schmidt, while audio expert Ethan Winer explores audible consequences of jitter in digital audio conversion.

MISCO Speakers has confirmed its inaugural participation at InfoComm 2023, one of the premier trade shows for the professional audiovisual industry. The USA-based audio solutions manufacturer will present its renewed and much expanded portfolio of OEM/ODM speaker solutions, including from its Oaktron by MISCO catalog, Bold North Audio premium audio transducers, outdoor Soundscape speakers, and a complete range of MISCO amplifier modules and system solutions.

Loudspeaker manufacturer MISCO hired industry veteran Cobi Stein as Vice President of Marketing for its branded and custom OEM divisions, including their Oaktron, Bold North Audio, Red Line, and ToneSpeak brands. Stein served as Director of Marketing and Artist Relations for Eminence Speaker for nine years, and also served to manage sales and distribution during his tenure.

MISCO announced that loudspeaker industry veteran Anthony Lucas has joined as senior transducer and applications engineer. In his new role, he will develop and design new products for MISCO’s guitar speaker brand, ToneSpeak and for its OEM and pro-audio customers. Lucas, with more than 25 years of industry experience, has designed hundreds of different models of guitar and bass guitar speakers and cultivated relationships with vendors, amplifier companies and musicians worldwide.

In the best tradition of the Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook (LIS), the 2021 edition contains company listings and so much more. In this edition, readers will find several must-read articles from some of the finest industry leaders, interviews with audio professionals on trending industry topics, and our annual industry reports about the state of the industry. Visit the LIS website for the listings and gotomylis.com for the full online edition!

In this article, Vance Dickason characterizes the Bold North Audio BWX-6502 Midbass, which comes from a series of exciting new drivers designed and manufactured in the US by MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company). The BWX-6502 is built on the same platform with a similar XBL2 "dual-gap" motor design structure to the BWX-6501 model but with a cone assembly consisting of an Abaca fiber (paper) cone and a 60mm (2.4") diameter Abaca fiber dust cap, with compliance provided by a wide high excursion NBR surround, and a 3.5" diameter flat cotton spider (damper). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2021.

With a Klippel optimized abaca fiber cone and rubber surround, the newest Bold North Audio 8" subwoofer, the BWF-8001, delivers heavy duty power and robust sound for two-way systems, tower speakers, or high-end home theaters. This latest design from MISCO, the St. Paul, MN-headquartered company, is an 8" (203 mm) stamped frame subwoofer, rated for 150 Watts program power and totally designed and assembled in the US. Another valuable option in the Bold North Audio range for speaker designers.

For this edition of Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the new BDT-2901 High-End Silk Dome Tweeter, from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line. This is a high performance 29mm soft dome tweeter, designed to meet requests for a precision tweeter with a low crossover point, ideal for use in a two-way system paired with a 6.5” or 8” woofer. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2020.

This Test Bench characterizes the very recent BWX-6501 Midbass driver from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line. MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Co.) is the oldest OEM driver manufacturer in the US, founded in 1949, and Bold North Audio is its new brand, launched in 2019. The Bold North lineup was recently expanded to include two new 6.5” XBL2 motor woofers. These new models, all designed and manufactured in MISCO’s own facility in St. Paul, Minnesota, feature dual inside-outside copper shorting rings in the motor to greatly reduce distortion. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2020.