feature
eight self-contained projection units (each with two Kodak Carousel
projectors) and synchronised to a sound track. This successful display
led to a call from the German Kodak Company, and Electrosonic was
commissioned to do a 20 screen 40 projector in-the-round show.
The histories of large corporations often follow similar trajectories: a
small dedicated group of pioneers create new products and change the
rules of the game. Such is their success that bigger players buy into the
company, and bring investment and corporate management structures
to roll out the essence of their offerings on a larger scale. The history of
Electrosonic is no different. One photograph that stands out in Bob’s
book is of the bearded and bespectacled Electrosonic engineer, Simon
Beer, furiously working on a 35mm film projector. The caption tells us
he is in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Electrosonic was commissioned to
do a massive multi-media show for a new museum there. It was an
ongoing project which began in 1976, but soon after it was completed
in 1979 the Ayatollah Khomeini, who swept to power in the revolution,
shut it down.
Founder: Denis Naisbitt
other product lines, and Electrosonic ceased manufacturing products,
and so the business relationship ended, but friendships have endured.
The business models for the two companies have also diverged.
Electrosonic focusses on systems integration, while Electrosonic SA
supports dealers in their systems integration work.
One of the major turns in the Electrosonic story took place in 1986 when
the Finnish lighting company, Helvar, became a minority shareholder
of Electrosonic. Helvar’s stake grew over the years, and in 1991 the
two companies merged to become Helvar Electrosonic. In 1998 they
were separated as distinct businesses, with Helvar taking charge of all
Electrosonic’s lighting operations, and Electrosonic focussing on AV
systems products and services.
By 2008 Electrosonic faced a decision around the products part of its
business. Apart from manufacturing and selling products, it also offered
services in the form of engineered solutions. But dwindling product
sales forced management to make a call on this side of its business.
Electrosonic was by now a potent force in systems integration, and
Founder: Michael Ray
Founder: Robert Simpson
The Electrosonic headquarters are no longer in the UK, but in Burbank,
California – and thereby hangs a tale. From the start Electrosonic plied
its trade across the world, building client bases and signing distribution
agreements in distant lands. In the early 1970s a Minneapolis based
firm called Empire Photosound became Electrosonic’s USA distributor.
After a buy-out of Photosound, Electrosonic took on Photosound’s
hardware division (Photosound Systems), and began operating in the
US as Electrosonic Systems Inc. The rising popularity of theme parks
in the USA was a boon for Electrosonic Systems, who worked on
SeaWorld and Disney’s EPCOT. As demand for audio-visual systems
in the entertainment industry rose, it was decided to move closer to
the action, and so Electrosonic Leisure systems opened in Burbank
California in 1991.
other systems integrators did not want to buy from a competitor.
So, in 2008, the manufacturing part of Electrosonic was sold to Extron
Electronics.
In his conclusion to the book Bob splits the past 50 years into two
eras: the slide age and the video age. Videowalls arrived in 1987,
and Electrosonic upped its manufacturing facilities of PROCUBE
videowalls. Jan Smuts International A