About Us

AtlasIED

Atlas Sound and Innovative Electronic Designs (IED) have been providing communication solutions to the world collectively for over 120 years. Atlas Sound and IED have been sister companies since 2009, operating independently but with combined oversight at the executive management level. In 2015 Atlas Sound and IED have combined their sales, marketing, and support teams to better serve their combined customers and the various market segments they serve.

Atlas Sound

Atlas Sound has been a leader in commercial sound for over 80 years serving numerous markets including hospitality, industrial, government, transportation, education, healthcare, corporate, retail, entertainment, house of worship, live music, and recreation. This long-standing tradition, which was built by manufacturing high quality PA speakers and microphone stands,  has paved the way for new and exciting technologies that have revolutionized the commercial audio/video industry. Atlas Sound today is a global communications technology company with a focus on application-based solutions that offer easy installation, a variety of aesthetic options, and intuitive operation. 

The company can be traced back to the very origin of the commercial sound industry. During the late 1920’s, the Warren Harding political campaign demonstrated the need for better sound reproduction than the traditional megaphone as crowds grew larger. Additionally, the talking movie era took advantage of the advent of electronics and amplifiers to introduce electro-dynamic loudspeakers used in theaters.

Soon after, in 1934, Brooklyn based Atlas Sound became one of the first to combine the horn shape of the megaphone with electro acoustics to create outdoor public address, or PA loudspeakers. These PA systems solved the sound problems identified at public gatherings. As the years progressed, so did the requirements for specialized loudspeaker products. 

Atlas Sound's original specialization was outdoor PA loudspeakers, however, the company's founders, Bob Reinhardt and Carl Blumenthal, took great interest in mechanical devices and tooling. Recognizing that there was business potential in manufacturing microphone stands, they began designing and metalworking. Over 80 years later, Atlas Sound still offers the most extensive line of microphone stands and accessories catering to the music industry, the educational market, and broadcast/television networks throughout the world. Famous musicians and television shows have chosen Atlas Sound mic stands including Whitney Houston, The Beatles, and The Tonight Show to name a few.

When the electronic siren was invented, Atlas Sound combined the siren with its loudspeakers to create new products for service announcements and community warning. These products went on to become the standard for community warning systems surrounding nuclear power plants, water power stations, and a multitude of other industrial facilities. Atlas Sound was acquired by the American Trading and Production Corporation (ATAPCO) in 1961. Two years later, the Division - having outgrown its small, two-story building in Brooklyn, New York - moved to a modern 110,000 square foot facility in Parsippany, New Jersey. A second manufacturing facility was opened in the early 1980's in Ennis, Texas, to better serve its customers in the Western States. 

In 1956, the privately owned, St. Louis-based lighting fixture manufacturer, Hahn Electric Company, selected a young engineer named Norman Friedman, whose expertise was proven in transducers, to lead a new division focused on lighting equipment with integrated electroacoustic products. Friedman recognized the need for improved loudspeaker aesthetics and the company soon began using church chandelier housings as loudspeaker enclosures, and hence, the name Soundolier was introduced. Soundolier then grew to be recognized as the leading manufacturer of commercial loudspeakers and accessories for the commercial sound market. Soundolier further improved the aesthetics of the industry's products by introducing: decorator-style loudspeakers mounted in track-light fixtures; factory-assembled packages, which included pre-mounted loudspeakers, transformers, baffles, mounting rails, and a variety of unique spun aluminum and weatherproof housings. When the "open office" architectural design trend became popular, Soundolier developed sound masking loudspeakers to assure an efficient ambient environment for the individual worker. Soundolier united with ATAPCO in 1983 and continued to develop commercial loudspeakers and accessories while focusing attention on expanding the development and production of cabinets and rack-mounted electronics.

In the mid-1980's, management merged the two companies, under the name Atlas-Soundolier. The brands Soundolier and Atlas Sound continued to be used to refer to the companies' residential/ commercial speakers and professional audio microphone stand business segments.

In mid-1999, Mitek Corporation, a leading manufacturer of high performance audio products serving the car, home, and professional audio markets, purchased Atlas-Soundolier. In May 2000, Mitek changed the name of the company to Atlas Sound, reflecting its focus on a single brand-building effort. It is nearly a truism that wherever people assemble or wherever sound equipment is used for communications, you can find Atlas Sound products. All major airports, mass transit systems, freight terminals, and shipping docks require loudspeakers to operate. Hotels, hospitals, high-rise office buildings, educational, recreational and gaming facilities depend on signaling devices to alert their occupants in an emergency. Sports arenas need audible announcement systems to satisfy the fans, and religious services can only be as meaningful as the transmission of the message.

The Ennis, Texas location still serves as Atlas Sound’s main manufacturing facility but since being purchased by Mitek Corporation, Atlas Sound’s Corporate Headquarters is in Phoenix, Arizona with additional facilities in Monroe, Wisconsin and Louisville, Kentucky. 

Atlas Sound’s roots in manufacturing are still alive and well with over 1,000,000 sq. feet of manufacturing space. And while Atlas still manufactures in the USA, those facilities look much different now than they did in the past. Atlas Sound is no longer just about PA speakers and microphone stands. Now, Atlas designs, engineers, and manufactures a wide variety of products with the most advanced technology used in commercial audio including versatile line arrays systems with integrated DSP, voice over IP (VoIP) solutions, sophisticated sound masking systems, mass notification and evacuation systems, versatile and scalable power amplifier mainframes, BlueBridge^® Digital Signal Processing solutions, and more.

The company is true to its roots with a wide variety of speakers including it’s famous line of Strategy Series II FAP loudspeakers and other solutions to accommodate any aesthetic, building or safety code, or budget requirement. Atlas Sound’s offering of equipment racks and cabinets is 100% manufactured in Ennis, TX using state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to maximize efficiency, reduce waste, and ensure a high quality product.

Atlas Sound today is much more than just a speaker company. It’s a communications technology company that enables audio to be used as a solution for so much more than just public announcements and music. Fully scalable and redundant Mass Notification and Evacuation Communication (MNEC) systems, life safety, speech privacy and HIPPA regulations, scalable multi-campus communication systems, and improving the classroom learning environment are just some of the needs Atlas Sound has been able to meet with its audio products. 

All of these advances in technology and product solutions are paired with industry-leading support and customer service. Design assistance prior to the sale, integrator tools to properly select the type of speaker, quantity of speakers, and placement of speakers depending on the specifications of the room, a .PDF spec binder creator making it easy to prepare product specifications for jobs, and the Atlas Sound mobile showroom trailer that travels the country visiting integrators and consultants demonstrating the quality of the products are just a few of the ways Atlas Sound supports its products before, during, and after the sale.

As you can see, what started as a manufacturer of PA loudspeakers and mic stands has evolved into a global communications company that is at the forefront of advancements in audio and communications technology. With so much audio integrating with the IT world now, the analog Atlas Sound of years past has evolved into a multitude of digital product solutions the original founders of Atlas Sound could have never imagined.

Innovative Electronic Designs

For over 30 thirty years IED has been supplying cutting edge communication solutions to industries around the world. Innovative Electronic Designs (IED) invented the computer-controlled announcement control system. Every other manufacturer has been following our lead.  For more than 30 years, IED has developed new and unique ways to get the message to occupants in every size building and over large-scale areas when time-critical announcements had to get through. AtlasIED's Announcement Control Systems are used in Emergency Communication Systems and Mass Notification Systems where announcements must be delivered clearly and concisely. Billions of people hear important messages over AtlasIED systems annually. We are committed to providing the very best communications solutions for any market.  So, when seconds count to get the critical message out to building or area occupants, you can count on an AtlasIED GLOBALCOM ControlKom® system to deliver. Located in the original building where the company was founded in Louisville, KY: IED has been an innovator that has led and inspired the entire industry.  Below are a few of the IED "firsts" that have defined our history of excellence and forward thinking engineering. 

Announcement Control System (ACS)
In 1982, Charlotte was the site for the first ever computer controlled voice paging system. This was a great advancement in a time before Apple IIe computers were even released. The system was a simple 24 zones and was capable of zoned announcements and basic messaging, which at its time was revolutionary in public paging systems. Today IED installs can manage an infinite number of zones and include graphical paging stations, sophisticated messaging and integrated visual paging – a capability that STILL leads the industry by a wide margin.

Universal Digital Audio Processing System (UDAPS)
In 1990, before Britney Spears was even a Mousketeer, IED did an install at the Disney Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. This was the first sound system entirely based on Digital System Processing, or DSP. IED was leading the charge into the digital evolution with DSP, which has now become the common method of signal processing and routing, because of its ability to provide flexible configurations and accurate response. In 2006 IED continued the innovation with the first networked DSP power amplifier system in the Titan distribution series.

Flight Announcement System (FAS)
Also in 1990, Washington Dulles Airport became the first ever airport to utilize an automated flight announcement system. This IED advancement allowed pre-recorded messages to be broadcast with up to date preboarding, general boarding, and baggage claim information. This increased announcement accuracy and efficiency and freed up staff for more customer assistance. FAS is now standard in most airports and only IED has patented automated gate announcements that are fully integrated with visual paging and gate information displays.

Courtesy Announcement System (CAS)
Dulles progressed again in 1997 when they installed the first courtesy announcement system. By adding courtesy paging - live, recorded, text-to-speech, and pre-built templates - IED has created a pioneering multi-tiered announcement management system with a simplified, web-enabled user interface. Today, sophisticated courtesy announcement systems are multi-lingual, logged and archived, and incorporate auditory and visual announcements.