Audio Pro readers with elephantine memories will remember the Cheshire-based Ohm company from long ago – back in the 1970s, in fact, when its distinctive products were closely associated with the MI sector of the business. Though Ohm never went away (far from it, it turns out), the company seems to have hidden its light under a bushel in recent years, busily developing a thriving export business in 15 countries and moving into the pro end of audio with a comprehensive range of vertically integrated products – yet not seeking a great deal of publicity back home.

Recent months have seen a change of direction, at least in a marketing sense, explains sales manager, Clive Kinton, with a new advertising campaign designed to raise awareness of just how large a company Ohm has become and a range of products and expertise that might surprise some.

“The company came from the MI side of the business and today has moved into installation and live sound rental, with about 80 per cent of our business in the former,” he says.  

This is a traditionally more robust area and Kinton reveals how he is finding the recent climate in installation.  

“It does seem that whatever happens in the economy, people seem to go out and spend money. I’ve just had some customers from Finland over for the weekend to look at some club installations we’ve done and everywhere we've taken them has been packed – there seems to be no recession in club land. That said, club owners have never been very keen on spending money – particularly on sound systems. One of the biggest issues we have in the audio industry is epitomised by one guy we’re in discussion with at the moment. He’s spent £1.4 million on his club, wants to open it in a few weeks, he still hasn’t made his mind up about sound and is moaning that he hasn’t got any money left. Out of that £1.4 million, he’s worried about £20,000 on sound.”

Besides operating in a relatively healthy sector, another factor helping Ohm ride out the rough times is its thriving export business. “It has certainly been the mainstay of our activities over the past few years,” he says. “The company is based in Cheshire, but we have a factory in Poland, which we’ve had for about 15 years and Poland is a good market for us as well, with a growing economy. Some of the nightclubs they are putting together in Poland now are really very nice and we’re lucky that we are established in that market.

“We also have a factory in China and they also look after our sales in the region, which has been another developing market. They’re keen on Europe-made products and we are finding some excellent business in hotels. For example, in one they have 120 rooms, each with a karaoke set up and a pro-quality audio system that we’ve supplied – the sort of system that would sell here for a couple of thousand pounds each.

“Another area we’re doing a lot of business is in India, where they are spending lots of money on big hotels and they don’t think of stinting on the sound systems.”

Ohm, it turns out, is also tremendously busy in Korea – another export market where it has become a significant supplier, notably in the country’s huge house of worship sector.
To supply these growing demands, Ohm now offers a wide range of products, designed in the UK by a team led by company founder, Jo Olenski. They range from an installation ceiling speaker to a stadium speaker, with amplifiers and all the associated products in between.

“We’ve got something that will cover every application from ceiling speakers in a wedding room, through churches, schools, bars, pubs, nightclubs, sports stadiums - really anywhere there’s sound, we’ve got a product to suit. We don’t specialise in anything in particular, for example we don't say we do swimming pool speakers, but we do have speakers that can be used in swimming pools and we know what needs to be done to get them to work properly. And all our users are served by our dealer network or by the rental company involved in a particular project.”

Ohm has an impressive client list, too, including such prestigious venues as the Vienna State Opera House, The National Gallery in London, Moscow Airport and the largest dance club in Northwest England – the 5,000-capacity Blackpool Syndicate.

Though Ohm does offer line arrays (indeed, they are quite frequently included in its club systems), the company’s main live rental sound system at present is a ground stack, Kinton says. “That’s our TRS system and the main market for that is live sound festivals. Big act touring tends to go for line array, of course, and we’ve not been in that market, though we will be launching some line array systems at the Frankfurt show, later this year – a double ten-inch and a single 12-inch.”

The existing speakers in the TRS line vary from the dual 12-inch TRS-212 to the TRS 118H, along with a range of subs. Cabinets in the series are made from 18mm birch plywood, finished in eco friendly anthracite paint. High SPLs have made the speakers ideal for club installations, as well as FOH and monitor applications.

“It’s a very funny market, the line array business. Once a big touring company has bought its line array, that’s it – they’re not going to buy another and there are companies who have virtually given stuff away to get into the market. We’re not into that, but we’ve got a customer base that is already using our equipment, who have said to us that if we had a line array, they’d use it, so that’s what we are going to offer.”  

Not only does Ohm have a range that embraces most audio  applications, but it is unusual in the way it sources supply – it makes everything itself.  “About 90 per cent of what we sell, we make ourselves,” he says. “We make all the wooden boxes, we make the drivers, for example, and all the professional products are cast basket drivers, even down to our six-inch speakers. Little things make the difference and enable you to keep control over the manufacturing quality, which is so important.”

If that comes as a surprise, so does the actual size of the company. Ohm currently employs about 100 people worldwide, Kinton reveals. “In the UK there’s about 20 of us and, in fact, we’ve just added two people in the UK factory, which is good at a time when so many are laying people off. We did it because we need the extra people because we do so much ourselves.

“One of the nice things about working this way is that we can have an idea and turn it into a product and be testing it virtually the next morning – it gives us great flexibility and the ability to offer our customers a lot of adaptability. For example, if they suddenly find they’ve got to fly three speakers in the middle of nowhere, we can make a frame for them to do that and we’ve made a lot of fixing frames and flying frames that enable people to do unusual things – we’re that flexible, because we have the metal working, the welding capability and the machinery to do it.

“It’s important to remember there is still business out there,” Kinton says. “It’s quieter than it was, of course, but people are still doing things and export is still good to Northern Europe and also to Eastern Europe, like Slovakia, where every little town seems to be getting its own club.”

Ohm might have been playing down its success in the UK market in recent years, but one thing seems sure – they have certainly been making a heck of a lot of noise overseas.
www.ohm.co.uk