- PARK CITY, UT--DWV Entertainment, a newly created entertainment company from audio industry veterans David Wiener and Robin Sibucao, has acquired Sun Valley, CA-based Aphex Systems, the audio-processing and professional audio technology company. Aphex will now join DW Collection, a luxury consumer product brand, as the second company underneath DWV Entertainment's umbrella of entertainment-focused brands.
- Founded in Massachusetts by Marvin Caesar and Curt Knoppel, Aphex Systems came on the scene in 1975 with is first product, the Aural Exciter. Now, the product range includes more than two dozen current devices. Aphex products are seen in myriad applications from recording and broadcast studios to touring productions.
- DW Collection, a luxury high performance audio and entertainment equipment manufacturer, has already incorporated Aphex technology into several of its products, including the Art.Studio tri-amplified speaker system and the Art.Station iPod dock and the Art.Suono and Art.Solista wireless music transmission systems. Other DW Collection products include the exclusive Ferrari-licensed Art.Engine and Art.Opera speaker systems.
- “From our Aphex motto of ‘Making Your World Sound Better’ to DW Collection’s motto of ‘Respect The Music,’ it’s pretty clear our companies have complimentary goals,” said DWV Entertainment’s president and CEO David Wiener. “Professional users are already familiar with Aphex technologies and swear by them. Consumers and serious music lovers have come to appreciate the hand-assembled quality and outstanding engineering of DW Collection products. Once consumers experience the incredible impact that Aphex technology has on sound, they are amazed that they ever listened to their music without it. Given this consistent reaction, we plan to expand our Aphex offerings with products and licensable technologies. At the same time, we'll bring our culture of creativity and innovation to Aphex and create even more excitement and customer awareness.”
- Aphex engineers originally developed their audio enhancement technology for the professional recording industry. Constant innovation and technology development has allowed early adopters like James Taylor, Paul McCartney and Fleetwood Mac—as well today’s leading artists and sound engineers—to improve the fidelity of both multi-track recordings and concerts. Unlike equalizers and conventional “enhancement” circuits, Aphex improves the audio signal with dynamic analysis and impact by analyzing and restoring musical harmonics in real time and providing a remarkable sense of spaciousness and clarity. The circuit is switchable, so those listening to uncompressed or high fidelity tracks can turn it off if they wish. “We find, however, that once they hear it, users are not inclined to switch it off,” Wiener quipped.
- Wiener and Sibucao plan to create a third company under the DWV Entertainment umbrella, as yet unnamed, to bring the combined engineering and aural excellence and expertise to more value-priced electronic products.
- Integrating Aphex into DWV Entertainment comes at an auspicious—some say critical—time in the recording and playback industry for both consumers and professionals. The creeping compression and loss of dynamic range of music has made music sound flat, unnecessarily loud, annoying, and quite simply exhausting. “There is simply no other enhancement technology as powerful as Aphex and just as importantly, it’s a time proven technology we’re bringing to the consumer audio world for the first time. With our licensed technology going into guitars and other instruments, the music cycle is now complete: From the artists’ instruments, to the recording process, to live and DJ performances, and now your home! That’s where we want to see our Aphex technology and products: everywhere,” Wiener concluded.
- DWV Entertainment will showcase the APHEX line at InfoComm, (Booth C7928) in Las Vegas, NV June 9-11.
