A 35-Year Journey

It’s difficult to believe that back in the 1960’s audiences were prepared to go to see an artist but hardly hear them due to inadequate sound systems.  Their passion, however, for this new generation of music was such that the audience numbers swelled way beyond the capability of the columns or basic re-entrant horns that were frequently the only available speaker systems. 

It was during this period that David Martin began his quest for seriously loud speakers.  In order to achieve this he designed the most efficient speaker systems of the time, based around horn developments.  His bass bins became the standard cabinet for most of the major supergroups of the ’70s including Supertramp, Pink Floyd, The Who and Dire Straits, to name but a few.  David was driven by a passion for high quality sound for the entire audience and a will to ensure that the customers were well supported.

Today, Martin Audio is still driven by that same passion.  Our team is always looking to push the boundaries — a mixture of evolution and revolution — and we will never be content making ‘me too’ products.

Thirty-five years ago Martin Audio only had distribution in one or two countries.  Today, we have our own operation in North America and consistently growing business in nearly 50 markets around the world. 

Back then we were limited to touring systems.  Today we have touring, commercial, stadia, theatre and music installation products as well as a range of cinema models.  We have some new initiatives that we expect to release over the next year and these, yet again, will demonstrate that our team have a passion for being at the forefront of technology and are not content to be followers.

I knew David back in the early days and we continued a relationship right up until his untimely death.  I think he’d be quite proud of how the company has progressed and the team that we’ve built over the last 15 years.  Some of his early customers are still with us today and it feels like the Martin Audio Team, our distributors and customers are all one big family.  We all share the same passion for quality results and having happy end users.

I am privileged to be leading this great team and want to take this opportunity to thank not only all the staff at Martin Audio but also our distributors, dealers, contractors, consultants and customers who form part of our family. 

Every morning when I enter our facility I pass the bronze bust of David Martin in our entrance lobby and never fail to think that his initial passion is what started this whole business 35 years ago.

David Bissett-Powell