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I think its common knowledge by now that RF bought MBQ and was then sold to Maxxsonics which led to the MBQ name being downgraded in terms of a leader in sound quality for various reasons. personally, I think speaker that was mfg'd in Germany regardless of who owned them is/was still good quality until they moved production to china where build quality went downhill imo.
MBQ is no longer a name that people associate with SQ (unless its pre-Maxxsonics era gear), I hope to show some history as to what happened to MBQ and to some extent, what happened to car audio in general. I know some will already know or have direct experience, I'm just trying to enlighten those who have an interest.
Here's a translated article that very briefly touches on what happened. Source material is in the picture. Also, it's a review for a set of tower speakers made by GermanMaestro if you care to look at the product specs.
http://www.german-maestro.de/downloads/test_reports/stereoplay_9_09_linea_s_en.pdf
Second piece of information is from head-fi.org. Peter Grooff, headphones product mgr at MBQ from 04-08, provides his recollection of events from that timeframe.
For those who don't know, MBHO (MBHO GmbH Mikrofonbau Haun - handmade microphones) is the company owned by the legendary Herbert Haun (one of the first engineers at the original "MB", founded in 1962). Herbert Haun came from beyerdynamic... MBHO still produces and engineers the MB microphones, including the original Jecklin Disc.[\quote]
excerpt from an Aug 2005 press release:
MBQ is no longer a name that people associate with SQ (unless its pre-Maxxsonics era gear), I hope to show some history as to what happened to MBQ and to some extent, what happened to car audio in general. I know some will already know or have direct experience, I'm just trying to enlighten those who have an interest.
Here's a translated article that very briefly touches on what happened. Source material is in the picture. Also, it's a review for a set of tower speakers made by GermanMaestro if you care to look at the product specs.
http://www.german-maestro.de/downloads/test_reports/stereoplay_9_09_linea_s_en.pdf
Second piece of information is from head-fi.org. Peter Grooff, headphones product mgr at MBQ from 04-08, provides his recollection of events from that timeframe.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/german-maestro-really-mb-quart.409886/page-2Hi Y'all,
to put some things as straight as possible as the former Product & Sales Manager Headphones and Headsets at MB Quart (Jan 2004 - Mai 2008), this is what happened (I'm still working on a proper history on Wikipedia): in 2000 Rockford Fosgate bought MB Quart...mid September 2004, they literally left MB Quart for bankruptcy overnight. Mid September 2005, after one year in receivership, Maxxsonics USA, Inc. acquired MB Quart and established Maxxsonics GmbH. After 2 years (again mid September, meanwhile 2007), Maxxsonics GmbH was apparently bankrupted (I'm still checking on this, but it's hard to get exact info) and Maxxsonics took engineering and production to China. This ment, for the original MB Quart crew that they lost the brand name "MB Quart". Since October 2007, the brand name MB Quart is used for products made in China only, no NEW German Made products were developed under name MB Quart anymore... The future of the original MB Quart crew (including myself) was unsure month after month. After I accepted the Product Manager Headphones/Headsets/Headzone ProAudio job at beyerdynamic, the rest of the crew (approx. 30 employes were left over) joined forces, together with a German investor and purchased the assets of the German trustee. In May 2008 the original crew of MB Quart continued to produce, develop and engineer high quality German made products under the new name "German-Maestro Badenia" (G-MB).
It's strange....for a long time nobody really opened up and told the real story, at least the real story including all of the rumours etc.
For those who don't know, MBHO (MBHO GmbH Mikrofonbau Haun - handmade microphones) is the company owned by the legendary Herbert Haun (one of the first engineers at the original "MB", founded in 1962). Herbert Haun came from beyerdynamic... MBHO still produces and engineers the MB microphones, including the original Jecklin Disc.[\quote]
excerpt from an Aug 2005 press release:
Due to continued losses at Rockford's MB Quart GmbH subsidiary in Germany, Rockford will discontinue the German operations of its subsidiary MB Quart GmbH. After considering several options, Rockford has decided to place MB Quart GmbH into receivership under German law. This action will eliminate approximately $750 thousand in operating loss per quarter and is expected to have a minimal cash impact. Rockford will continue to own and develop the MB Quart brand in North America. This will result in a reserve against its investment in the MB Quart German operations in the third quarter.