Zapco Gets New Master Distributor

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Zapco, a pioneering amplifier company in the early days of car audio and on the competition circuit, has reappointed Atrend, maker of speaker enclosures, as its master distributor.

Atrend will handle all Zapco operations except manufacturing.  Atrend was previously the master distributor for Zapco from 2014 to 2018.

Zapco was one of the original car audio companies, launching in 1974 with one of the first high fidelity car amplifiers. It became a fixture in the car audio competition scene for decades. It is now focusing much of its efforts on Digital Signal Processing (DSP) in both amplifiers and as standalone processors.

Zapco’s distribution in the US has shifted several times.  After Atrend was the distributor, Aurigin took over that role in 2018, Aurigin being a sister company to Hybrid Audio.  Then Zapco took the brand back and distributed it under its own wing through parent APEX’s ARPA America.

Going forward Atrend Vice President Ernie Hundal will head up US distribution for Zapco and its sister brand ESB Audio, a high end Italian speaker company.

Zapco and ESB parent APEX is based in Italy and founded by Enzo Biasella

Biasella told CEoutlook via George Jenkins, sales and marketing expert for APEX (and long time International sales executive for brands including JL Audio, Kicker and Bose) that while the audio industry has made many advancements in perfecting audio quality, the DSP field is still young.  And where there may only be a small percentage of room left to improve car audio there is much room for growth and improvement for DSP.

“The real improvement is going to be in the field of DSP.  It will help you improve the performance of the product itself, and the shortcomings of the particular installation in the car,” he said.

ESB Audio is a 50- year old brand that  is more widely recognized in Europe.  It won an EISA award last year for its 8000 series.    The ESB brand will also be announcing a new high speaker shortly that will “redefine the standard of audiophile,” said Jenkins

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1 Comment

  1. I don’t have enough fingers to count all the lines that Atrend has failed at being the master distributor. Maybe if the previous Zapco sales manager had looked outside of his small bubble of friends and acquaintences they might have had some success with this legacy brand.

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