Behringer Companies To Cut Staff

Through the years Behringer has developed from a small company that copied successful products then pioneered making them China, to a powerhouse global brand.

In fact, the company has grown into a holding company known as MUSIC, that controls not only Behringer, but well-respected brands like Midas, Klark Teknik, Turbosound and the TC Group (which itself controlled TC Electronic, Tannoy, Lab Gruppen and Lake).

The company has grown so powerful that it even has what amounts to its own manufacturing city in China.

One of the problem with so called “roll-ups” of companies is that as much of the work as possible is consolidated under one roof, and as a result, sooner or later, redundant staff is let go, and that’s exactly what’s about to happen now.

The first to feel the burn is Tannoy, where 70 staff members at its manufacturing plant in Scotland (which had been there for 35 years) and its office in Cambridge will be eliminated. That great English imprint will now be made in Zhongshan, China instead. Will the product suffer? Maybe, or maybe not, but it’s bound to be different from what it was.

Hardcore Tannoy fans already long for the days of the long out of production SRM series (arguably some of the finest mix rooms speakers ever made), so they might not be phase by the plan. Current fans of the product may feel otherwise though.

MUSIC is now one of the largest, if not the largest, conglomerates in the musical instrument/audio business, for better or worse. On one hand, the prices of its products (even the high end products by Midas) are very reasonable considering the performance. On the other, there’s a group of talented craftsman that will soon be looking for work while Chinese robots take their places.

Here’s a video that shows Behringer City in China.