International Audio Group is a Chinese conglomerate that that manufactures home hi-fi & AV products under the Audiolab, Castle, Mission, Quad and Wharfedale brands, makes professional audio products including PA and DJ products under the Wharfedale Pro, Quad Industrial and Wharfedale Systems brands, lightning products and DJ oriented audio products under the COEF, FAL and Apogee Lighting brand names in addition to manufacturing musical instrument amplifiers under the Albion Amplification label.
The company did from 2006 to 2010 or thereabouts also sell monitors and other pro-audio products under the Mission Pro brand but have retired it and those products are now sold under the Wharfedale Pro name.
In addition IAG manufactures musical instrument amplification and hi-fi/AV products as an both as an OEM and as a subcontractor, amongst their more notable subcontractor deals is the manufacture of VOX products for Korg and the worldwide manufacture and distribution (excluding USA) of Surgex products. The company also owns the rights to brands such as Leak and Airedale but appears not to be using them in the West at the moment, these brands are used by the company in the Japanese market and possibly in some other parts of Asia.
The company was originally founded by brothers Bernard and Michael Chang in the 1980's as an importer of professional audio products and was then called Sanecore, but after it started manufacturing its own products they renamed the company IAG. They made a splash however in 1997 when they bought the Wharfedale, Leak and Quad brands from Verity Group PLC have in the last couple of decade acquired a large number of well-known western audio and lighting manufacturers and brands, in particular from the UK and Italy and moved all of the manufacturing to China. They have however, unlike much of their western counterparts BTW, kept some of the original R&D setups for each of the company they bought in the countries of origin rather than operate the brands as purely sticker operations.
The company bought the TAG McLaren company in early 2005 but that did not include the rights to the name so older TAG products where re-introduced using the Audiolab brand, the Huntingdon office of IAG does however handle the servicing of older TAG products. Bought the assets of bankrupt Symphonix in June 2005 and bought the rights to the Mission brand from NXT in the same month and the rights to Castle Acoustics brands and designs a year or so later.
The company bought Luxman in 2010, however unlike the other acquisitions by IAG the Luxman company was not out of business when it was bought and is run somewhat independently, hence listed here on its own. IAG also has a side-line in manufacturing high end yachts.
All IAG products are distributed in Belarus by Medium and in Belgium by Belram excluding Mission that is handled in Belgium and Luxembourg by Audio Marketing Services. In Croatia Apogee Lighting, Audiolab, COEF, FAL, Quad and Wharfedale are handled by Provox, in the Czech RepublicRP Audio handles Quad and Wharfedale (bothe Pro and CE) while Finale Audio does Audiolab. Denmark: Quad is handled by PS Audio Scandinavia while Hi-Fi Freaks handle Hi-Fi Freaks. Finland: Audiolab and Warfedale are distributed by Gamiron Oy Audelec while Quad is handled by Concept HiFi. France: Mission is handled by Audio Marketing Services while Wharfedale Pro products are distributed in France by Algam. Germany: Quad hi-fi products are distributed by Quad Musikwidergabe. Greece: Mission is handled by Apopsis Sound while Wharfedale and Quad hi-fi products are distributed by Philippos Nakas S.A. Holland: Mission is distributed by by TES Audio. Hungary: Castle is handled by Penna Poor while Horn Distribution carries Wharfedale home audio products. Iceland: Quad is handled by Rafgrein. Italy: Quad Industrial is handled by Grisby Music, while Mission and Quad hi-fi products are handled by Audio 4 & C. In Latvia most IAG brands are handled by DVD Navigators, while in PolandAudio System handle Mission and Horn Distribution does Audiolab and Wharfedale. In Romania most IAG brands are distributed by Lotus Telecom except Quad that is handled by Hi-Fi Expert and Mission that is done by DVD Planet. In Sweden most hi-fi brands are handled by Ljudtema. In Switzerland Audiolab, Quad and Wharfedale are distributed by Horn Distribution, while Wharfedale Pro products are handled by Sacher Music.
Distribution in Asia & the Pacific:
Wharfedale Systems/Professional are distributed in Australia by Central Musical Instruments, Quad is distributed in Malaysia FAL is handled by Acoustic & Lighting System. New Zealand by Denco Audio while Wharfedale Processional is handled by South Pacific Music, in Papua New Guinea Wharfdale pro is handled by Keynote Music Houses, in the Phillipines Mission is distributed by Designer's Collection Marketing. Taiwan: Quad is handled by Shin Pao. Thailand: Home Hi-Fi Co handles Wharfedale Pro and Mission products, while Asadang Audio Centre handles Wharfedale and Audiolab and Everest World does QUAD.
Distribution in the Americas & the Caribbean:
North America:Denon handles the NA distribution of Mission while Planet of Sound Hifi handles Audiolab. USA only: Quad is distributed in the USA by Taiga. Canada only:Planet of Sound Hifi handles the distribution of Castle in Canada while Liberty Trading handles Quad hi-fi products. Mexico only: Wharfedale pro is distributed by Distribuidora Gonher.
Distribution in Africa & the Middle East:
The Coef, Wharfedale, FAL and Quad Industrial product lines are distributed in Turkey by Ertekin Electronic.
