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OC Companies Show Off New Wares at NAMM Show

The fusion of music and technology was heard loud and clear at the recently concluded National Association of Music Merchants trade show.

The largest annual show at the Anaheim Convention Center now surpasses 813,000 square feet of exhibit halls and 96,000 attendees.

OC sent about 20 companies to the event—which drew 1,700 exhibitors—from big players such as Yamaha Corp., the Buena Park-based instruments and audiovisual products maker, to small machine and tooling shops like Merlin5 in Fullerton.

Audiofly USA Inc., the Laguna Hills-based selling arm of Australian parent Audiofly, exhibited a new line of headphones for professional musicians to use on stage or in the studio “to help them get a clearer sound of what they’re playing or what the band is playing,” said founder Dave Thompson.

Neunaber Technology LLC in Santa Ana showcased its latest guitar pedal, the ExP controller, which allows users to load as many as four sound effects with two presets for easy manipulation during play.

Founder Brian Neunaber launched the company about five years ago, linking his love of guitar playing with an electrical engineering background at St. Louis Music and QSC Audio Products LLC in Costa Mesa.

“We’ve just been expanding the product line since then,” said Neunaber, who designed the QSC speakers used at his booth on the showroom floor.

QSC, which got its start in OC 45 years ago, showed off loudspeakers, cases, amplifiers and a new lower-priced E series line of speakers.

“NAMM is all about pro production retail,” said QSC exhibitor Dale Sandberg. “We’re here to grow our dealer base with the right dealers.”

PMC-Sierra Buy Closes

Microsemi Corp. in Aliso Viejo closed its $2.5 billion takeover of PMC-Sierra Inc. less than two months after receiving a definitive agreement from the Sunnyvale chipmaker.

Microsemi Chief Executive Jim Peterson, who’s known to get deals done on Wall Street, talked up a quick closing as a selling point throughout the weekslong battle with rival bidder Skyworks Solutions Inc. in Woburn, Mass.

Microsemi executives also emphasized the transaction was subject only to U.S. regulatory approvals and didn’t need a nod from China, unlike Skyworks’ proposal, since the combined company’s sales in the world’s most populous country failed to reach the threshold to trigger a regulatory approval process.

Microsemi said its priciest deal to date will produce annual cost savings of $100 million, $75 million of that in the quarter after the deal closes.

Few top PMC executives are likely to join Microsemi, given the company’s history in rolling up companies. Expect PMC’s 85,000-square-foot headquarters in Sunnyvale, which houses its U.S. design, engineering, sales, marketing and administration personnel, to shed numerous jobs and consolidate with Microsemi’s sizeable operations in Northern California.

PMC entered the year with 1,442 global employees.

China Connection

Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd., China’s largest commercial real estate developer and movie theater chain operator, is set to buy Legendary Pictures LLC for $3.5 billion.

The Burbank movie studio is working with execs at Blizzard Entertainment Inc. in Irvine on a full-length movie adaptation of its franchise video game hit.

“Warcraft” will hit movie theaters in June. Universal Pictures is the distributor.

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