Elac

For other uses, see ELAC (disambiguation).
ELAC Electroacustic
Company typeGmbH
IndustryElectronics
Founded1926
Headquarters
Kiel
,
Germany
ProductsStudio monitors, Loudspeakers, Loudspeaker Drivers Subwoofers
Websitewww.elac.com
ELAC MM-cartridge
ELAC 310 with JET-tweeter

ELAC is a German loudspeaker manufacturer. It was founded in 1926 as "Electroacustic GmbH".

During World War II, it built electroacoustic devices for the Kriegsmarine and other nautical applications, and the company reached a peak of 5,000 staff.[1]

After the war, the company transitioned to mainly producing consumer goods, initially building sewing machines and later transitioning into consumer electronics, though it maintained its nautical division.[1][2][3] It also distributed goods from foreign firms such as Sony, Fisher Electronics, and Nakamichi within Germany.[4]

In 1978, the firm filed for bankruptcy and the nautical division was sold to the American firm Honeywell and renamed to 'Honeywell-ELAC'. The nautical side of the business would be sold again to L3 Technologies in 1998, Wärtsilä in 2015, and Cohort PLC in 2019.[3][5]

In 2016, ELAC acquired the American audio company Audio Alchemy.[6]

  1. ^ a b "ELAC – Klang lebt – ELAC history". ftp.elac.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  2. ^ "HIGH Fidelity". www.highfidelity.pl.
  3. ^ a b "Wärtsilä verkauft Kieler Elac Nautik". KN - Kieler Nachrichten.
  4. ^ "ELAC: A Scandinavian Visits a German Speaker Company". Soundstage! Scandinavia.
  5. ^ "Wärtsilä übernimmt L-3 Elac Nautik". KN - Kieler Nachrichten. Archived from the original on 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  6. ^ Staff. "ELAC to Acquire Audio Alchemy". Technology Integrator. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2017.