ProAudio Review - September 2008 - (Page 44)

QSC:Behind the Scenes QSC Continued From Page 43 sidered absorbing other companies. “When we decided to enter the speaker business in the late Nineties,” recalls John Andrews, “we worked quite diligently for a couple of years to acquire a speaker company that would be a good fit with QSC. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a transaction done that made sense, so we went ahead and built a speaker company from scratch. It’s taken longer than we thought, but I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished. “In terms of being absorbed by a larger company, we’ve had discussions over the years, but nothing ever made sense there either. For many years we’ve been in a very strong financial position, so we never really needed a financial sponsor to support our growth plans. There are other strategic benefits the right acquirer could bring to QSC — and vice-versa — that would make sense to our customers, our employees and the Final Inspection Of A owners; consequently, there definitely Network Monitor could be advantages to being part of a larger organization. “But there have also been some pretty significant advantages we’ve been able to erect because of our independence. Because we own the company, we don’t have outside shareholders or a parent company or a private-equity manager demanding that we meet their minimum ROI expectations, or forcing us to run on a quarter-to-quarter mentality. This freedom has allowed us to invest in capabilities that have had really poor returns in the early going, but developed into assets that are now fundamental competitive advantages for QSC.” “We’re focused on building a unique brand,” Barry Andrews emphasizes. “The founding partners always had a very long-term view. Investing for a five- to 10-year horizon is not uncommon for us. Most financially driven companies just don’t understand what it takes from a long-term investment standpoint. Consequently, we find ourselves in a fairly unique position: well capitalized, well managed, a strong brand and distribution channel and a rapidly growing technology portfolio, all under a single organization that has a culture of excellence and service deeply embedded in it.” In terms of looking back over four decades of unqualified success, Quilter has few regrets. “In the early Nineties, we made a conscious decision to expand beyond power amplifiers. Over time this became a commitment to be a systems provider, which has been a fundamentally sound decision that has CM16a Amplifier fueled our growth. With hindsight, knowing that we were entering highly competitive product categories, we should have been more realistic about the required up-front investments. Nonetheless, we persevered, learned from our mistakes, made the requisite investments in due course, and gained the experience we needed to advance the art in these areas as much as we have in our original core product.” Mel Lambert has been intimately involved with production and broadcast industries on both sides of the Atlantic for more years than he cares to remember. QSC Milestones 1968 Pat Quilter meets Barry Andrews when the latter’s motorcycle breaks down in an industrial park in Costa Mesa, CA. Seventies Company that Quilter and Andrews forge incorporates as QSC Audio Products, Inc. Barry’s brother John Andrews joins to handle finances. 1977 Company makes trade show debut at Winter NAMM, begins to establish industry niche as a power-amp manufacturer. Eighties Series Three amplifier introduced with convection cooling, step-linear output circuitry and removable channel modules. Company also quietly builds up the cinema side of business. 1988 Debut of EX Series introduces the industry to QSC’s “open architecture” design philosophy. 1993 Property in Costa Mesa is purchased as site for new state-of-the-art 55,000 square foot facility capable of manufacturing over 500 units per day. 1994 PowerLight Series amplifiers are released; QSControl debuts around this time. 1998 Ground broken for a new 81,000 square foot addition adjacent to existing building. RAVE (Routing Audio Via Ethernet) debuts. 2001 ACE Series loudspeakers introduced. 2002 AcousticDesign Series debuts. 2004 WideLine Series introduced. 2004 DCS Series introduced. 2005 Installation Line Array (ILA) makes industry debut; new 42,000square-foot facility is opened to house growing loudspeaker division, which includes the WideLine Series. 2008 Company celebrates 40th Anniversary. 44 | ProAudio Review | September 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.dwfearn.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - September 2008 Contents Publisher’s Page: It's A Hard Drive World Broadcast News and New Products Lawo mc256 Digital Production Console Studio News and New Products Earthworks PM40 Piano Mic System Onkyo Professional PR-SC885 HDMI 1.3a Surround Sound Processor Developments and Trends: Instrument Microphones Benchmark Media DAC1 Pre Focal Twin6 Be Studio Reference Monitors Cascade FAT HEAD II Blumlein Package Studio Projects CS5 Microphone M-Audio Pulsar II Small-Diaphragm Condenser Live News and New Products JBL MRX512M Live Monitor QSC: Behind The Scenes Contracting News and New Products Primacoustic Broadway Professional Acoustic Solutions Buyer's Guide: Contracting Amplifiers/Mixers Buyer's Guide: Contracting Speakers Single Slice: pc muñoz "Chatter & Buzz"

ProAudio Review - September 2008

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