As reported by Jason Knott in the US on our sister site Ce Pro, the big news from the Beale Street Audio brand is that it has been purchased by Vanco International, a direct manufacturer and distributor of branded AV products and accessories for half a century in the US.

Vanco has made its name in the US most recently with its Evolution HDMI splitters and extenders and its Pulse Audio line of amps and clearly felt a Speaker brand was the next logical step.

This is the latest twist in what has been an eventful history of the brand since it was introduced in 2014. At launch, Beale Street Audio made much of its Sonic Vortex technology, arguing that its products were not simply new speakers, but a new speaker technology that would redefine how all other loudspeakers are judged.

Speaking at the time, Jim Murray, founder of the company, who was an integrator before beginning Beale Street, said: “Architectural speakers that do not utilise enclosures inherently have issues, which is not a knock on the actual product. There are real world situations in play such as poor bass response, sound playing into the next room, dirt and dust getting into the speaker and no two speakers sounding the same since ceiling/wall cavities vary. Our integrated enclosure with Sonic Vortex solves these issues and adds to the overall performance as well.”

Sonic Vortex is literally a twist on a traditional ported enclosed design and owes much of its performance curve due to transmission line technology being built into the back box to deliver significantly more bass. This is achieved due to the main port of the enclosure being broken down into multiple sections called ‘fins’ that are tuned to spec. The fins compress and move air at a high rate of speed without port noise and also add to cabinet rigidity. The speakers were also designed to deliver a flatter frequency response and offer a 6 to 9db boost in the mid-lower bass ranges compared to sealed models.

The brand’s main offering includes in-walls, in-ceilings, LCRs and subwoofers, including an in-ceiling sub.

The technology was a considerable hit receiving many positive reviews and achieving significant distribution around the globe, soon after launch. However, legal issues slowed the brand’s progress with a planned ISE appearance in 2016 running into trouble and hindering the company’s ability to showcase the brand’s technology fully. Beale Street also took the unusual step of buying the main distributor for the brand in Europe, the Netherlands based BMB Fulmer BV in 2015.

Speaking to Ce Pro in the US, Mark Corbin, Vanco’s vice president of distribution markets, says: “Vanco is committed to providing products of the highest quality and reliability that are designed with AV integrators in mind, Beale Street and Sonic Vortex fit right in with our mould.

“We are now able to offer a truly unique speaker line that elevates performance to our distribution partners. It is unlike any architectural speaker in the market.”

Vanco owns the tooling and will be using the same factory to produce the speakers. Vanco will also be keeping the brand name, sensible choice, as far as brand names go, it’s a good one and does sum up well where the brand is coming from. Despite the sometimes rocky legal road the name has gone through, it would be a mistake to lose the awareness it has built to this point.

At time of writing, BMB remains the main distribution portal for the brand in Europe and in the UK distributor karma av confirmed to Ce Pro this morning that as far as the company is aware its business as usual with fans of the brand able to place their orders as normal.

Of course you never know with distribution, things can be ‘fluid’ however the smart money would be on nothing changing at this stage. Vanco is a US based company, with little in the way of boots on the ground in Europe or the UK, so it would make sense to keep the status quo. Technically with its purchase of Beale Street, it owns BMB anyway and karma has been doing a good job in the UK with many of the company’s customers enjoying the different take on the audio market  the brand brings. More news if and when we get it.

Vanco will be exhibiting at CEDIA Expo in the US, September 7-9, in San Diego.