 |
| Industry | Audio Electronics and Amplifiers |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979, Kungsbacka, Sweden |
| Founder | Kenneth Andersson, Dan Bävholm |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Music Tribe |
| Website | labgruppen.com |
Lab Gruppen (stylized as Lab.Gruppen) is a Swedish sound equipment company, based in Kungsbacka, Sweden, dedicated to building mainly public address power amplifiers. Lab Gruppen is part of the Music Tribe group of brands. As of 2007 the company had 130 employees.
Kenneth Andersson and Dan Bävholm founded Lab.gruppen in 1979. They first met as schoolboys when they shared an interest in electronics.
Andersson and Bävholm's first project was a hand-made mixing console. It was used as part of the Front of House equipment for a concert by Eartha Kitt. They created other mixers and a series of guitar heads and combos. Their intermittent manufacture of mixers and guitar amplifiers continued through the formal establishment of Lab.gruppen in 1979. The company was located inside a local hi-fi store, where the duo serviced consumer equipment for additional income. It was here that the company's first professional audio power amplifier was created.
Between the LAB 4000 and fP Series 6400, Lab.gruppen engineers continued to advance and refine their products. The LAB Series was overhauled and augmented and subsequently became the fP range. fP designs were upgraded to meet the stringent new EMC standards in Europe, and adoption of UL safety standards allowed them to be sold in the United States. Standardization of internal components between models increased manufacturing efficiency to keep pricing competitive in all new markets.
In the late 1990s, the founders brought in new ownership and a managing director. In July 2000, Lab.gruppen was acquired by the TGI Group of the United Kingdom, and a few months later Tomas Lilja was chosen as managing director. In early 2002, the TGI Group was acquired by TC Group of Denmark, the current corporate owner. In 2004, the company moved to its new location at Faktorvägen. Both Andersson and Bävholm remained with the company following the acquisitions.
In 1998, Lab.gruppen engineers undertook the long-term development of a new amplifier platform. The complete range would have four bridgeable amplifier channels and an integrated monitoring and control network. The basic technology of both the power supply and output stages was taken from the proven fP range, but with significant upgrades to reduce the number of components required. Designated the C Series and targeted at the installation market, the first amplifiers of this design were shipped in the summer of 2005. This was followed up by the release of FP+ in 2006 and PLM Series in 2007.
The PLM Series was the first Lake processor with integrated amplification and it as it was embraced by the market Lab.gruppen acquired the exclusive rights to the Lake brand and the Lake processing for professional applications in touring and fixed installations late 2008.
The E Series was the first amplifier range with more than 200 W per channel that got the Energy Star approval when it was launched in 2011. More amplifiers with Energy Star were added with the LUCIA models in 2013.
In 2014, Lab.gruppen launched D Series for installations with audio over the network and PLM+, a successor to PLM Series.
In 2015, Lab.gruppen and the other brands of TC Group were acquired by Music Group.
In 2016, Lab.gruppen expanded the E and LUCIA product lines so that there are now 15 models with Energy Star.
The Powered Loudspeaker Manager system integrates the functions of crossover, delay, equalization, limiting, audio networking, and power amplification. It combines signal processing from Lake and power amplification from Lab.gruppen.
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TC Group is a Danish multinational corporation specializing in audio related products for musicians, installers, producers, engineers, broadcasters, audio consultants and contractors. Its individual brands include Lab.gruppen, Lake, Tannoy, TC-Applied Technologies, TC Electronic and TC-Helicon. Overall, the company organizes itself around four market verticals: Musician, Install & Tour, Broadcast & Production, and Residential.
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