Beam Echo Ltd.
Parion House, Witham, Essex.

Brands: Avantic, Glyndebourne

A small manufacturer of cinema projectors (hence the name) that branched into the manufacture of amplifiers and other audio gear in the early 50's under their own Avantic brand name.

In 1953, Witham businessman Henry Rahman bought a bankrupt cine-projector and projector amplifier manufacturer called Danson. The company was renamed Beam-Echo.

Production of Danson cine-projectors continued but at the same time an audio amplifier was quickly developed and in 1953 a contract was won to build amplifiers for BAL-AMi jukeboxes built by Balfour Engineering Company in Ilford, Essex.  BAL-AMi jukeboxes were derivatives of the  American AMI Incorporated, jukebox company.

In the mid-1950s Beam-Echo branched into domestic Hi-Fi production under the brand name Avantic including loudspeaker enclosures, a radio tuner, and several other items of HiFi related equipment.

The DL7-35, 20-watt Monoblock amplifier which sold for £55 a pair was their most notable product.

In 1958, Thorn Electrical Industries acquired Beam-Echo in order to get hold of one of Beam-Echo's brand name 'Glyndebourne' and then closed the factory down around 1961/2. Production of BAL-AMi jukeboxes amplifiers also ceased in 1962.

In 1994 an attempt was made by Stuart Perry to resurrect the Beam-Echo DL7-35 amplifier but the venture failed in 1998.