Parent Company PML of Paradigm, MartinLogan Buys GoldenEar From Audioquest

Will engineering-focused leadership unlock GoldenEar's full potential post-AudioQuest?

Five years ago, GoldenEar Technology founder Sandy Gross announced his well-earned retirement from the audio business, alongside the bombshell revelation that he had sold his respected loudspeaker manufacturing firm to The Quest Group, parent company to Audioquest. Now GoldenEar has changed hands yet again, this time finding a home with PML Sound International, the parent company of Paradigm, Anthem, and MartinLogan. Effective January 1, 2025, GoldenEar will operate under its new identity as GoldenEar Studio Inc. According to PML, GoldenEar will continue its legacy of delivering premium audio experiences while benefiting from PML’s expertise in innovation, engineering, and manufacturing. Fans of GoldenEar should take comfort in the fact that PML has promised to ensure “continuity in product quality and innovation” while boosting the company’s reach and capabilities within the global audio market. GoldenEar is known for products that easily traverse the sometimes sizable gap between audiophile purity and home theater power.

The transition will take place during a temporary pause in GoldenEar’s business operations, from January 1 to January 31. During this period, GoldenEar will neither process nor fulfill new orders, though customers can rest assured that their existing warranties and service support will be honored, according to PML, whose business operations will reportedly remain unaffected. The integration should be complete by February 3, at which time GoldenEar’s business is expected to be once again fully operational.

Acquiring GoldenEar Studio Inc. is an important step for PML as we continue to build our portfolio of premium audio brands. This acquisition helps us strengthen our commitment to quality audio experiences and offers an opportunity to expand our global reach. We’re looking forward to welcoming GoldenEar’s talented team and loyal customers, and we remain dedicated to maintaining the high standards and innovative spirit that define the GoldenEar brand.

— Badar Qureshi, President of PML Sound International

When The Quest Group acquired GoldenEar, we did so because we felt a strong kinship with the brand — a shared passion for delivering outstanding performance and exceptional value, making beautiful sound more readily available to audio/video enthusiasts around the world.  This proved true in ways we couldn’t have imagined at the time. Perhaps most notably, the wonderful T66 floorstanders garnered raves from a diverse group of trusted publications — The Audiophiliac, CEPro, Darko.Audio, Digital Trends, HiFi News, Sound & Vision, Stereophile, and Twittering Machines, among many others — and were recently named The Absolute Sound’s Mid-Priced Loudspeaker of 2025. Under our stewardship, GoldenEar products have been introduced to new markets and met with enthusiasm. We’ve made subtle but meaningful refinements to key aspects of the brand’s design while honoring its esteemed history. We launched exciting new products that made their ways into the hearts and homes of enthusiasts around the world. While we expect to watch with admiration as PML delivers on the promise of GoldenEar Studio, AudioQuest remains as focused as ever on our key competencies — nurturing strong relationships, providing exceptional service and support, and developing the world’s greatest cables, power products, and audio/video accessories.

— The Quest Group

What We Think

GoldenEar seemed to enjoy both commercial and critical success under the auspices of The Quest Group, but during those 5 years, the T66 tower speaker was the only addition to the company’s core product line of audiophile loudspeakers. (During that time, GoldenEar did also introduce two new compact subwoofers, as well as new in-wall speaker offerings, which are quite popular with the home theater crowd.) At CEDIA 2024, GoldenEar teased a scaled-down tower speaker called the T44. We still expect that model to launch in 2025, but PML may have other plans. Either way, we think the brand has found a more fitting home in PML. Paradigm and MartinLogan are both engineering-driven companies with a laser focus on loudspeakers. GoldenEar also boasts a strong engineering foundation — the company’s anechoic chamber is reportedly a carbon copy of the one at Canada’s famed National Research Council. By comparison, The Quest Group was certainly stepping outside of its comfort zone in taking on a loudspeaker manufacturer. Although Audioquest has had great success with previous product category expansions — AQ’s Dragonfly DACs and Niagara power conditioners remain popular — the company’s foray into over-ear headphones in the mid 2010s didn’t fare as well. Audioholics president Gene DellaSala has never been shy in expressing his view that Audioquest’s expensive cables include technologies that are no better than snake oil, so he’s pleased to see GoldenEar find a new home with a no-nonsense firm like PML.

A loudspeaker company should be run by a group with expertise in designing and manufacturing loudspeakers, not a company selling exotic cables with questionable marketing claims. I'm very pleased to see the acquisition of GoldenEar by a very research and engineering driven firm like PML and look forward to seeing how their products evolve in the future as a result of this acquisition.

— Gene DellaSala, President of Audioholics

Future Product Speculation for Goldenear

As a fan of GoldenEar’s speakers, I am excited to see what PML achieves with its focus on “expanding (GoldenEar’s) reach and introducing exciting new products.” It seems very likely that the next generation of GoldenEar’s tower speakers, most of which include powered woofers, will incorporate PML’s excellent ARC room-correction technology. Ditto for GoldenEar’s impressive subwoofers, which so far have not offered any kind of automatic room correction. Both of these product lines already use powerful DSP in their designs, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for PML to enhance them with the addition of ARC. That alone would be a compelling feather in the cap of GoldenEar’s current portfolio. Beyond that, I’d love to see an updated or enlarged version of GoldenEar’s beloved BRX bookshelf speaker, and new versions of the company’s center-channel speakers that finally ditch the “cloth sock” look in favor of something both more stylish and more durable. (The cloth socks that adorned all of GoldenEar’s early designs were certainly economical, but they’re hardly attractive. And if you have cats? Fuhgeddaboudit.) I’d also love to see an active streaming GoldenEar speaker — something like the KEF LS50 or LS60 Wireless models — with Anthem electronics and ARC Genesis room correction. The aforementioned BRX actually began life as an active streaming speaker before GoldenEar pulled the plug (pun intended) and made it a passive design. Finally, I hope that GoldenEar’s products are allowed to maintain their sonic identity under PML’s ownership. The brand’s signature folded-ribbon tweeter does not sound the same as the structurally similar AMT tweeters used in some of MartinLogan’s speakers, and I think that’s a good thing. Each has a character that might appeal to different listeners. That said, there is no doubt that GoldenEar will benefit from PML’s engineering resources and its unimpeachable reputation within the audio industry. 

What do you hope to see from the reborn GoldenEar Studio brand in 2025 and beyond? Share your thoughts in the related forum thread below.