FEATURES: COMPANY PROFILE
Made in China
The five buildings that comprise SAE’s home
Caroline Moss
Sold under the SAE Audio brand,
the best seller has been the V Series,
a compact double 8-inch line array
that sold into the domestic market
before moving into Latin America
and then Europe. The combination
of compact size, good SPL and
sound characteristics, combined with
affordability, has established the V
Series both in the indoor installations
market and with smaller rental
companies. SAE then released an
upgraded, active version of the same
line array, the VP Series. Featuring
an improved sound quality and being
far more convenient for small touring
and rental applications, this soon
took over the market share of the
passive version. It continues to sell
well, and was recently used for New
Years Eve celebrations in various
locations across Melbourne.
SAE’s first factory and
headquarters in 1998
Growing up - the second home
of SAE
SAE AUDIO HAS BEEN IN BUSINESS
for almost two decades, making it
one of the longest-established pro
audio manufacturers in China. The
company was founded in 1998 by Bill
Lee, who is certain of his life’s major
passion: music. ‘I’ve been listening
to music since I was very young,
learning how to play guitar and to DJ,’
he says. ‘This love of music was my
vision of the future.’
After leaving university, Mr Lee
became a DJ, working in large
nightclubs across China and in his
native town of Foshan. However after
several years had passed, he decided
the time was right to nd a ‘proper’
job. ‘I decided to do something that
had a relationship with audio, so I
checked all the companies in our
city and joined one that distributed
JBL in China. So I progressed from
the music industry into the audio
industry, and started to learn about it.’
After 10 years of working for a
variety of leading brands including
JBL, Bose, EAW and QSC, Mr Lee
had formed a lot of his own opinions
about audio equipment, and decided
the time was right to start his own
company. ‘I wanted to make good
solutions, which offered great sound
quality and also really good cost
effectiveness, compared to many of
the brands I was familiar with,’ he
says. ‘My aim was to produce low
cost, high quality audio products
which were proudly manufactured in
China.’ And so SAE, or Science Art
The modern home of SAE
Electronics, was born.
Mr Lee joined forces with an
electronics engineer and set about
designing his rst product, an
ampli er, putting the nished result
into production. This proved to be a
success because only a short run of
around 60 units was manufactured,
selling out immediately. ‘I knew so
many key people in the industry,
so all the ampli ers sold direct, to
rental companies and installation
SAE Audio VP active line array
used for Melbourne’s New Year’s
Eve city-wide party
companies,’ he says. ‘This rst
model, the Soundstandard EX1200,
is still in production today, we are on
the sixth generation.’
Then came SAE’s rst big break,
manufacturing amps that were
purchased by the Meyer Sound
distributor in China for use with the
brand’s passive speakers. ‘I had a
good relationship with the Meyer
Sound distributor in China, as well
as with the Martin Audio distributor,
so we made ampli ers for these two
companies,’ he recalls. ‘It was a good
114 PRO AUDIO ASIA July–August 2014
start for me and helped me grow
quickly, making some money that I
could reinvest in my factory.’
Today SAE is on its third factory,
having outgrown the rst two, and
has the leading market share of
ampli ers in China. The company
manufactures three ampli er brands,
the Soundstandard range of entry
level toroidal transformer power
amps, Famousound, which is mainly
focused on high end toroidal models,
and the Lexon Pro range of SMPS
(switch-mode power supply) amps,
from entry level to high end.
The company moved into its current
premises in 2007, giving it plenty
of room for future expansion and
increased production. The purposebuilt, 30,000 sq-m premises consists
of ve buildings: two workshops, a
warehouse, an of ce block and an
accommodation wing for employees.
SAE also retains a metal factory at
its former premises, where all the
ampli er chassis and mechanical
works are manufactured.
Around ve years ago, Mr Lee
decided the time was right to enter
the loudspeaker market. ‘I saw that
this was where the future lay as the
market moved towards self-powe &V@