Cabasse is a French audio manufacturer founded by Georges Cabasse (1928-2019) in 1950. It is mainly known for its home

loudspeakers A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an Acoustical engineering#Electroacoustics, electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often ...

but has also produced

professional audio Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mus ...

speakers for studio recording or sound reinforcement in theatres and power amplifiers. The company is now part of a larger group called Veom Group.

Important dates

* 1950 : Foundation. * 1952 : First 2-way

coaxial speakers A coaxial loudspeaker is a loudspeaker system in which the individual driver units radiate sound from the same point or axis. Two general types exist: one is a compact design using two or three speaker drivers, usually in car audio, and the other ...

for

Cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

movie theatres like

Le Grand Rex Le Grand Rex is a Parisian cinema and concert venue. Location and access It is located at , boulevard Poissonnière in the 2nd arrondissement, on the grands boulevards. Its facades and roofs, as well as its hall and its decor have been li ...

in Paris. * 1958 : First active loudspeakers systems with valve amplifiers and filters. * 1965 : Underwater loudspeakers for the French Navy. * 1974 : Dome tweeters and midranges, servo-controlled active Hi-Fi and monitor loudspeakers (used by

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety of ...

). * 1983 :

Honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

dome membranes for Hi-Fi and

Public Address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

systems, from 7" to 22". * 1984 : Carbo high-efficiency units for the 4 way clusters fitting the 12-channel system at the

Omnimax IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

theatre

La Géode La Géode is a mirror-finished geodesic dome that holds an Omnimax theatre in Parc de la Villette at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. The nearest Paris Métro st ...

'' in

Parc de la Villette The Parc de la Villette is the third-largest park in Paris, in area, located at the northeastern edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. The park houses one of the largest concentrations of cultural venues in Paris, including the Cité de ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. * 1985 : Duocell membranes based on an exclusive processing of Rohacell foam. * 1992 : The SCS principle (Spatially Coherent System) launched with the Atlantis reference system (4 channel and 5 speakers : 2 woofers and a 3 way coaxial speaker called TC21 that goes from 200 Hz to 20 kHz). * 1998 : Fitting of the

Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier ''Charles de Gaulle'' is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship, commissioned in 2001, is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the Unit ...

with specific 117 dB

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without ...

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

systems. * 2002 : The TC22 reference 3 way coaxial unit, that goes from 80 Hz to 20 kHz. * 2006 : ''La Sphere'', a 4 way coaxial unit is launched. * 2006 : Cabasse is bought by

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Europe and was led by Kazuhiro Otsubo, president of the Canon factory in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. * 2014 : Start up group Awox buys Cabasse from

. * 2020 : Awox sold Awox Lighting and created changed the group name from AwoX Group to Cabasse Group. * 2022 : Cabasse Group change its name to Veom Group.

Notable products and technologies

Cabasse is one of the oldest loudspeakers manufacturer in France, and is known for its involvement in research, its high standard of quality, and the names of their products that used to be related to sea (especially boat names like clipper, sampan, ketch, sloop...) In the eighties their reputation came from their professional active speakers (often used by recording studios) and the

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic Beeswax, wax cells built by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. beekeeping, Beekee ...

membranes that allowed high power with low distortion. These membranes were used by the very small ''Galiote'' (home hi-fi) and the huge ''Saturn'', a subwoofer for theatres, fitted with a 22 inches unit. They also used to perform astounding comparisons between live sound and speakers sound and therefore focused their goals on high dynamics (for real sound pressure levels), high

and low distortion levels. In 1986

was inaugurated, and it remains the only 12-channel

in the world. For special low frequency effects, 4 giant subwoofers (100 cubic feet for 2000 lb) fitted with 2 x 22 inches honeycomb membranes complement this 12.6 system. In the nineties, Cabasse started to work on

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...

units in order to reduce directivity through spherical wavefront. This is their ''Spatially Coherent System'' principle. It was implemented through the TC21, a 3-way coaxial unit whose

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

goes from 200 Hz to 20 kHz with a 30° off-axis response very close to the on-axis response. At the beginning of 2006 they unveiled a

high-end In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

4-way unit and presented the theoric approach in a paper at the

Audio Engineering Society The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a professional body for engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products ...

. This system, released in 2007, is called La Sphère and consists of two spheric coaxial speakers, a filter and four power amplifiers. In November 2016 Stream BAR, a high-resolution home theater sound bar was launched. October 2017 saw the launch of a new high-end floorstanding speaker known as Murano Alto. This particular speaker is assembled in the brand's workshops in Plouzané (NW France in Brittany). SWELL, Cabasse's first nomadic Bluetooth high-fidelity speaker was also released in October 2017. The Pearl: October 2018 saw the release of The Pearl - a high-resolution active connected speaker with an integrated and patented automatic room correction system (It won the coveted Diapason d'or award in 2020). The Pearl Akoya was launched in October 2019. It won the Diapason d'or award in 2021 as well as Stereonet's Applause Award in the same year. This second high-resolution active connected speaker with an integrated room correction system is a more compact version than The Pearl. The Pearl Sub, the first 2.1 active connected subwoofer was introduced into the market in 2020. It brings maximum dynamics, with deep bass, optimized sound for each of its speakers (DEAP technology), room correction and high resolution streaming. It has been optimized for iO/iO2/iO3, Riga/Riga2 and Baltic 4/Baltic 5 speakers. The 'GEN2' sound optimization was released in February 2021 and made available to owners of The Pearl Collection via the Cabasse StreamControl app. This sound optimization further enhances the acoustics of the two high-resolution active connected speakers The Pearl and The Pearl AKoya. Throughout the years, the company has developed and renewed its traditional and lifestyle Hi-fi product lines with Surf, Jersey, Antigua, Murano, Eole 4. Voice control for all of Cabasse's Wi-Fi streaming products has been available since 2018 through the Cabasse Assistant via Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa compatibility was introduced in 2019.

References

{{reflist

External links

Cabasse Official Website

Wikicabasse : Fan Based Cabasse Archives (in French)

AES paper (october 2005) : theory and advantages of a 3 ways co-axial loudspeaker

AES paper (may 2006) : directivity control of a 3 ways co-axial loudspeaker thanks to a
Loudspeaker manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of France Manufacturing companies established in 1950 French companies established in 1950 French brands