Arbane Groupe has appointed Fidato as exclusive distributor for APG Audio and Active Audio across India, with Fidato taking responsibility for distribution, channel development, sales, service and market expansion for both brands.
Fidato is a value-added distributor of professional audiovisual solutions in India, with a portfolio of A/V products and technologies to end-customers, systems integrators, resellers and channel partners across the country. The company positions itself on a partner-first approach, technical expertise and long-term relationships rather than simple product supply, backed by responsive pre-sales, technical and post-sales support.
For Fidato, the appeal is in the engineering behind the two brands and in how differently they cover the market. APG Audio has a long heritage in professional sound reinforcement and is known for natural sound, acoustic performance and its loudspeaker technologies, giving Fidato solutions for live sound, events, auditoria, theatres and fixed installations. Active Audio brings expertise in architectural and installed sound, particularly where speech intelligibility, controlled directivity and performance in acoustically challenging environments are the deciding factors.
‘What attracted us to APG Audio and Active Audio was the combination of strong acoustic engineering, product quality and the complementary nature of the two brands,’ says Fidato MD, Naveen Sharma. ‘Together, they allow us to address a wide spectrum of the Indian professional audio market with solutions that are technically strong, reliable and relevant to the evolving needs of our customers and partners.’
The brands also extend what Fidato can offer to a network it already has in place. The company works with systems integrators, A/V consultants, resellers and project partners, many on projects where professional audio forms a significant part of a wider A/V solution. Adding APG Audio and Active Audio lets Fidato engage those existing partners on a broader range of opportunities while opening up new project categories and specialist audio partners beyond its current business.
Initial focus will fall on four areas. In corporate and conferencing applications, the requirement is clear speech intelligibility, uniform coverage and audio quality that integrates into modern meeting and collaboration environments. Entertainment and hospitality venues, including bars, pubs, clubs, discotheques and lounges, call for something different again. They need high-impact sound, consistent coverage and reliability, all delivered in a way that still works with the architecture and aesthetics of the room. The fourth is acoustically challenging venues, where reverberation, complex geometry or difficult coverage requirements demand an engineered approach rather than an off-the-shelf one.
‘Our strategy will be application-led rather than product-led,’ says Sharma. ‘This is why we believe it is the right time to introduce APG Audio and Active Audio more strongly into the Indian market. Both brands bring a very strong French engineering heritage and a solution-oriented approach to acoustics. They give us technologies that can address real challenges in Indian projects rather than simply adding another loudspeaker option to an already crowded market. Our role will be to make their technology accessible, understood and well supported in India.’
Arbane Groupe was formed from the merger of two French loudspeaker manufacturers. APG has designed and built high-power loudspeakers for the live performance and events markets since 1978, while Active Audio has developed solutions for reproducing the spoken word with high intelligibility since 2002. Active Audio took a majority stake in APG in 2016. The two companies pooled their manufacturing and research and development operations in Nantes, and they merged formally in 2020 to create Arbane Groupe.
For Fidato, the agreement represents a step beyond adding two names to a portfolio: ‘Partnering with Arbane Groupe represents an important milestone for Fidato,’ says Sharma. ‘This agreement is not simply about bringing APG Audio and Active Audio to India. It is about bringing proven technologies, strong engineering and new possibilities to our customers and partners. For our customers, this partnership ultimately means greater choice, better-engineered solutions, and the confidence of having strong local support behind world-class audio technology.’