3 Audio Brands You Might Not Realize Are Owned By Bose

Bose Corporation is one of the most renowned audio manufacturing companies in the world, credited with pioneering modern noise-cancelling headphone technology. While Bose ranks among the best major headphone brands and best Bluetooth speaker brands, the company also owns some high-end audio brands.

In November 2024, the Bose Corporation acquired the McIntosh Group, the parent company of several high-performance and luxury audio brands that manufacture high-end amplifiers, speakers, turntables, and more. In a press release announcing the acquisition, Bose stated that the purchase would "significantly" expand its portfolio and allow the company to "infuse its industry-leading audio research and technology into the high-performance and luxury space while it continues to build on its premium solutions" — as well as new opportunities in the automotive sector.

Following the acquisition (which is estimated to have cost around $225 million), Bose is now the owner of McIntosh's three premium audio brands: Sonus Faber, McIntosh Laboratory, and Sumiko Phono Cartridges. Below, we break down more on each brand and some of their key products.

Founded in 1983, Sonus Faber is an Italian manufacturer of premium audio equipment, offering handcrafted high-end sound systems and wired and wireless speakers. The company's product range is broken into bespoke collections — each offering its own artistic design and technical capabilities — with the products on offer including bookshelf speakers, floor-standing speakers, subwoofers, center channels, and weatherproof outdoor speakers.

But unlike Bose's own range, these aren't aimed at the average consumer, with the company's website listing one of its lowest-priced products as the £460 (roughly $613) Transmitter subwoofer, and its most expensive as a pair of Aida floor-standing speakers priced at £120,000 (roughly $160,000). What's more, Sonus Faber offers a service that allows buyers to customize their purchase, including their material and color, and custom installations for multi-room and home cinema setups, which likely cost even more.

However, it's not just home speakers that Sonus Faber specializes in. The company is currently the official technical partner for Lamborghini's Revuelto and Temerario cars, providing their sound systems, and has collaborated with Wally Yachts to create the first CI-FI (custom installation high fidelity) system designed for a yacht. The company has also previously teamed up with luxury Italian car brands Pagani and Maserati for their in-car sound systems.

Founded in 1949, New York-based McIntosh Laboratory is an American audio manufacturer. The company is known for designing and producing high-end home audio equipment and sound systems, including turntables, speakers, tuners, CD players, receivers, AV processors, and most notably, amplifiers, which come with the brand's distinctive blue meter. McIntosh amplifiers were used at Woodstock in 1969 and helped power The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound live performances in 1974, which featured a gigantic sound reinforcement system that consisted of over 600 speakers, including 48 McIntosh MC2300 amplifiers.

Like Sonus Faber's products, McIntosh Laboratory's range isn't aimed at the average consumer. Its premium products come with premium price tags. For example, the McIntosh XRT2.1K Floor Standing Loudspeaker costs $80,000 and is only sold by authorized dealers. In addition, McIntosh is also involved in designing and producing luxury automotive and marine audio systems, teaming up with Sonus Faber for the aforementioned Wally collaboration and creating the entertainment system for a range of Jeep vehicles, including the Jeep Wagoneer Series III.

Sumiko is a renowned manufacturer that has been designing and producing phono cartridges (also known as magnetic cartridges or pickups) for almost 40 years, with each cartridge hand-crafted at Excel Sound in Yokohama, Japan. Phono cartridges (also called turntable cartridges) are used to play phonograph and vinyl records on turntables — the cartridge is the bit that has the stylus or tip on it that makes contact with the record's grooves.

Sumiko offers both moving magnet and moving coil phono cartridges, with experts considering the latter to offer more detailed sound, which is reflected in its price tag. As such, Sumiko's Oyster series range, which includes the Moonstone and Wellfleet, is generally considered its entry range, as it's the brand's most affordable, with prices between roughly $100 and $800. While this range features primarily moving magnet cartridges, it also includes the brand's Blue Point moving coil cartridge collection, which is considered its most recognizable.

Sumiko also offers a premium Reference series range of moving coil cartridges, which come with a premium price tag to match. These cartridges, which include the Starling and Songbird models, cost between $1,000 and $2,000+ each.