Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Merak Speakers Who Knew

KenC is correct.

Axiom had a contract with Radio Shack Canada to build the Merak line for sale in Canadian Radio Shack stores for some years. The Merak brand name goes back a long time to a Canadian manufacturer that went out of business in the early 1980s, if memory serves. I think that's when Ian picked up the brand name.

The Merak speakers that Axiom built were not nearly as neutral or refined as Axiom's upmarket line, but were very good value for the money. Sort of like the Sound Dynamics line that Audio Products International produced (the parent of Mirage, Energy, and one other I can't recall.

Regards,
Alan

Athena?

Right, Adrian; API made both Athena and Sound Dynamics speakers.

I once had a huge pair of Sound Dynamics speakers that I bought at a pawn shop. I believe they were part of the "white van" series!

Probably not the same speakers, but I swear that was the brand name.

Alan, I think Ian Paisley was part of API for a while.

BBIBH, Yes, Ian Paisley was vice-president of engineering of API for many years. He assumed that title when API's owner, Howard Heiber, acquired Paisley Loudspeakers.
I was referring to Ian Colquhoun when I was discussing Merak.

Alan

Hi Alan,

no sorry, I was referring to your comment "...and one other I can't recall", and that Paisley may be the name you forgot.

Just confusion, Mike (not all that unusual at my age, ha!) Athena was the brand I was trying to think of. I think Adrian got it. And Sonic Fox may well have bought those Sound Dynamics speakers because API at one time had a big network of US and Canadian brick and mortar retailers. Now that I think of it, I think API added another short-lived brand called SPL.

Cheers,
Alan

Sound Dynamics speakers...
Alan, my brother used to have a pair, in the 80s, a model with a 15 inch woofer. I can't remember the rest of the details (not all that unusual at my age, ha!) ;-).

i listened to one album with them and found the SQ good enough to give nice staging and realism, after i'd moved the speakers a bit around for better imaging.

my brother loved them because "they can play very loud", he said.

It seems from time to time, API comes up in the conversation with their various speaker brands that they developed over the years and I suppose this is somewhat off topic but Alan, I always wondered why API decided to sell out in the first place?