Loewe Acquires French Speaker Brand Cabasse to Expand High-End Audio

Loewe Technology, known for making high-end, style-driven TVs, has acquired the venerable French loudspeaker manufacturer Cabasse. Loewe says that this is a strategic move intended to help the German brand “become the go-to benchmark in luxury electronics.” Both companies are known for distinctive European style, and Cabasse brings cutting-edge audio engineering and acoustic performance to the table. Loewe only recently announced plans to bring its line of costly luxury TVs to the North American market, and now the company appears to be aiming to beef up its audio chops in order to develop a whole ecosystem of premium AV electronics. Meanwhile, Cabasse will continue to operate independently, according to Loewe.

Cabasse was founded in 1950 by Georges Cabasse and his wife Elisabeth, in the Brittany region of northwest France. The company has been a pioneer in the development of advanced audio technologies throughout the decades, and has designed many unique technologies. Cabasse is perhaps best known for its innovative active speakers and coaxial speaker designs built into futuristic-looking spherical cabinets. (There must be something in the water over there; the French speaker manufacturer Elipson is also known for its spherical designs.) Although not currently as well-known on this side of the pond as brands like Focal and Triangle, Cabasse is one of France’s most respected names in the field of acoustic engineering, renowned for combining craftsmanship and scientific rigor in the pursuit of new solutions and groundbreaking products. In 1952, Georges Cabasse created the Diphone, a 36cm coaxial speaker, for the Grand Rex Cinema in Paris, which was the first theater in the country to offer movies in Cinemascope.  Six years later, he built the first speaker with multiple amplifiers integrated into the design, and constructed one of the largest anechoic chambers in the world for the company’s new facility near Brest. Cabasse reportedly designed the world’s first 3-way active speakers in 1974. The first Cabasse product that I personally remember hearing about was the iconic La Sphère loudspeaker, which made a splash at CES 2006.

It was also in 2006 that the company, which had been privately owned by the Cabasse family until that time, changed hands for the first time. The company was acquired by Canon, and then sold on to the French group AwoX in 2014, for €4.5 million. AwoX was known for wireless lighting and smart home technology. The group planned to pivot into high-end, made-in-France wireless audio with the purchase of Cabasse, which AwoX hoped to convert into a lifestyle/luxury brand similar to Bang & Olufsen. In 2018, Cabasse launched its Pearl collection of wireless, active speakers. But despite their reportedly good build quality and performance, these products failed to gain the kind of international mass-market appeal that Cabasse had hoped for, perhaps due to stiff competition from Devialet. Founded in Paris in 2007, Devialet found lightning in a bottle with its Devialet Phantom line of active lifestyle speakers. The Phantom took the luxury audio market by storm when it first launched in 2015. By the time Cabasse’s Pearl collection arrived on the scene in 2018, Devialet already had a strong foothold in the luxury audio space, and the Pearl speakers may have come across as me-too products — especially given the undeniable aesthetic similarities between the Pearls and the Phantoms.

After struggling for a number of years, Cabasse entered court-ordered receivership in March 2026 (this is similar to filing for bankruptcy in the US). According to Audio Xpress, Loewe was then able to purchase the company for just €400,000. That seems like a remarkably low sum given the Cabasse’s pedigree — it would only buy you about three pairs of the company’s current flagship LA SPHERE EVO active speakers. The good news is that 24 of Cabasse’s 27 employees are reportedly being kept on under Loewe’s ownership. This suggests that Cabasse really will be able to continue developing the technologies and products that have allowed the company to survive for over 75 years so far, and that Loewe isn’t merely attempting to loot and plunder patents and intellectual property.

With roots dating back over a century, Loewe has its own impressive heritage in design and engineering. According to a press release announcing the acquisition, both Loewe and Cabasse will maintain their individual brand identities, and both can expect growth and innovation to materialize through the alliance of the two companies. Cabasse will maintain engineering autonomy and its own innovation roadmap, and will stay at its current Brest headquarters, where it will continue its research, development, and production activities. Loewe will provide an infusion of talent, infrastructure, and product development, alongside its international sales platform and marketing capabilities. Expanding Cabasse’s international influence is reportedly a main objective of the partnership. Doing so should result in sustainable growth and profitability. Meanwhile, Loewe will benefit from Cabasse's proprietary technology portfolio, including advanced loudspeaker designs, digital signal processing solutions, and a number of patents. Access to these resources should allow Loewe to develop a new generation of the company’s high-end AV products, including “fully integrated luxury home cinema ecosystems and multi-room solutions,” according to the press release. In particular, Cabasse’s advanced customization and proprietary acoustic calibration systems could allow a new generation of Loewe-branded wireless and connected audio products to perform at a higher level than would otherwise be possible.

Cabasse represents the essence of acoustic excellence. By bringing their exceptional expertise into the Loewe world, we are taking our audio capabilities to a whole new level.

— Aslan Khabliev, CEO of Loewe Technology

Joining Loewe marks a new chapter in our history. We will continue to innovate from Brest, true to our heritage, while benefiting from a powerful international platform to accelerate our development. The Cabasse x Loewe alliance is not just a transaction; it marks the birth of a high-end audio-video group. Ambitious. International. Legitimate.

— Arnaud Hendoux, Deputy CEO of Cabasse

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