Austrian Audio is an Austrian company specializing in the

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

and

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

microphones A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

and

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...

for professional users (

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

and studio technology). Founded in July 2017, the company's establishment was prompted by the closure of the

AKG Acoustics AKG Acoustics (originally Akustische und Kino-Geräte Gesellschaft m.b.H., ) is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Austria. It is a part of Harman Internati ...

offices in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. In 2025 the company has been acquired by DPA Microphones.

History

Background

Austrian Audio's origins can be traced to the closure of

' operations in

. Founded in Vienna in 1947 by physicists Rudolf Görike and Ernst Pless, AKG Acoustics initially supplied technical equipment for cinemas, including

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

s, film projectors, and

light meter A light meter (or illuminometer) is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, an exposure meter is a light meter coupled to either a Digital data, digital or analog calculator which displays the correct shutter speed and f-nu ...

s. The business slowly expanded and AKG started selling car horns, door intercoms,

carbon microphone The carbon microphone, also known as carbon button microphone, button microphone, or carbon transmitter, is a type of microphone, a transducer that converts sound to an electrical audio signal. It consists of two metal plates separated by granu ...

capsules for telephones, headsets and cushion speakers. While AKG Acoustics initially manufactured its products in Austria, in response to cost considerations, production of

high-end audio High-end audio is a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audiophiles on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. The term can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of th ...

products was later moved to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, while other products were manufactured in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 1993, AKG Acoustics was acquired by Harman International Industries for the symbolic value of one

Schilling Schilling may refer to: * Schilling (unit), an historical unit of measurement * Schilling (coin), the historical European coin ** Shilling, currency historically used in Europe and currently used in the East African Community ** Austrian schilling ...

. In late 2016, Harman was acquired by the Korean

Samsung Group Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous affiliated businesses, most of which operate unde ...

. Following this acquisition, it was announced that the AKG locations in Austria, especially the factory in

Liesing Liesing () is the 23rd district of Vienna. It is on the southwest edge of Vienna, Austria. It was formed after Austria's ''Anschluss'' with Germany, when Vienna expanded from 21 districts to 26. Fifteen Lower Austrian districts, especially the o ...

with about 130 employees, would be completely closed and relocated by mid-2017. Some employees were offered the opportunity to relocate to other countries' facilities, such as

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Essentially, AKG Acoustics has since only existed as a brand within the Harman division of the Samsung Group. Product development is now handled by Harman facilities in Eastern Europe.

New enterprise

In July 2017, following the complete closure of AKG's site in Austria, Austrian Audio was founded by a core team of 22 former AKG employees from the fields of management,

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

, testing and

measurement Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared to ...

mechanical design Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, ma ...

, wireless technology, as well as

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

and

firmware In computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, h ...

WWW

*https://austrian.audio/

References

{{reflist Music equipment manufacturers Austrian brands Microphone manufacturers Headphones manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of Austria Manufacturing companies based in Vienna Electronics companies established in 2017