The assets and intellectual property of Pacific Research & Engineering (PR&E) have been sold by GatesAir to one of the most prolific designers and manufacturers of professional broadcast audio equipment.
For an undisclosed amount, PR&E is being picked up by Wheatstone Corporation.
The purchase includes audio consoles, the networking system, the furniture lines, all designs, trademarks, engineering files and tooling, effectively restoring the PR&E console brand under the Wheatstone umbrella.
PR&E is a console manufacturer that has been in business since the 1970s. It has more than $80 million in products and services sold globally.
“We have a respect for the PR&E brand that goes way back,” says Wheatstone CEO Gary Snow. “They were considered the Mercedes Benz of consoles at one time, and today, the name PR&E still stands for quality. Our intention is to not only restore the PR&E brand, but to grow it and give existing as well as new customers the mobility to easily transition to IP networking.”
New Bern, N.C.-based Wheatstone manufactures a complete line of broadcast studio products that includes Audioarts Engineering and VoxPro brand names, as well as Wheatstone IP audio networking, control surfaces, talent stations, audio processing for FM, AM and streaming, software applications, and other products developed and designed specifically for broadcast.
It also owns the Auditronics and Audion Labs suite of products.
