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 History of Orinda Acoustics

My venture into audio business began in 2004 when I formed Sunny Cable Technology (abbreviated as SCT) in Orinda, California, USA. Initially, SCT manufactured hand-made cables for the high-end audio and home theater markets. In the first of SCT’s CES shows in 2005, everybody was amazed by the realism, dramatic, and life-like sound in both the stereo and the home theater room. Gary Reber, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Wide Screen Review, was so impressed that he decided to use all our cables in his reference system at the magazine’s headquarters in Southern California. For a new company, things looked very promising.


From 2005 to 2006 I was busy refining and hand-crafting my cables. SCT’s first AC power conditioner, "The Box", was launched in 2005. At the time SCT only manufactured cables; all the electronics and speakers used at the shows were either borrowed or purchased from other manufacturers. I was using modified Cerwin Vega speaker in 2005 and 2006. The reception we received from audiophiles on these makeshift speakers was really positive. I still remember every word of the conversion between me and the overseas purchasing manager of a Japanese audio company during our first Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in 2006. He remarked that the 4” Cerwin Vega midrange driver in my speaker is the best that he has ever heard: a significant compliment indeed.


In 2007 I finally had the time to design speakers of my own. After much experimentation and sleepless nights, my first speaker was exhibited at the 2007 CES. It was a gigantic 3-Way horn-loaded system—450 kg (992 lbs) in weight ,192 cm (76 inches) tall—equipped with a 42 cm (16.5") horn and a 46 cm (18") woofer. With the supportive advice of audiophile friends, we named the model "The Majestic". Smaller 2-way and 3-way designs were also released in the following months.

In 2008 I left SCT and created Orinda Acoustics in Taiwan a year later. My first new speaker was a re-designed 10”3-Way which was exhibited at the 2009 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. After that I went into retirement in Taiwan, stopped manufacturing, but continued to refine my cables and speakers.

In early 2016, out of boredom with retirement life, I decided to go back into the audio business. The first product was a brand new 12” 3-Way speaker using a proprietary twin horn design which took me nearly 10 years to develop. The speakers were shipped to New York to be exhibited at the New York High-End Show in November, but was unable to clear customs early enough and missed the show! An improved version was exhibited at the 2017 Capital Audiofest in Washington, DC. In the same year I revealed my flagship design at the NY High-End Show: a brand new 16"3-Way speaker featuring the famous TAD 1601a woofer, a refined horn coupled to a beryllium diaphragm compression driver and a new magnesium diaphragm super tweeter. During the 2019 NY High-End Show I introduced the 8" 2-Way N. It has a new compact cabinet specially designed for the smaller apartments inside large cities.

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The desire to create new designs never ends. Next year I am going to release the first active speaker-8"2-Way, which I have been working on its design and construction for over a year. Everything has been completed except for the fine tuning procedures.

 

I entered into the high end audio business out of my love for music. My aim from day one was to produce transparent products. Most audiophiles have forgotten that an audio system is reproducing the electric signals coming out from the microphone, which might be movie sound effect, speech, or music. In order to achieve a faithful reproduction, a piece of audio equipment should not add, or subtract anything from the signal. If the recorded music is good quality, the reproduced sound is life-like and pleasing. The reverse is true for a bad recording. Musicality is a privilege reserved only for the performer, not the recording and reproducing equipment which are just machines.