Alon is now Nola...

The backward spelling of the old name is what the national distributor mentioned. They have changed cabinet makers.

Brian Walsh

Nola is also Alon spelled backward. Wonder which explanation applies?

Nola was the baby lioness in the movie Lion King who was responsible to bring back Simba (the future king) and take charge. That's what has happended here, they have come back and taken the charge.

I'm also happy to see that the Marchisotto's maintained control of their new company. Though I've never interacted with them I am an incredibly happy owner of a pair of the old style Alon Lotus'. A great speaker from a company that obviously knows what it's doing, so as they say "what's in a name?". I wish them nothing but success going forward.

Hi Brad, thanks for the info. Your post is a direct quote from the new "Nola" website, where I also found this:

"After a separation from Acarian's partners in 2004, Carl and Marilyn formed Accent Speaker Technology Ltd. and created the Nóla product line. Today, the company manufactures a complete line of loudspeakers - ranging from $600 mini-monitors to the $126,000 Grand Reference System - along with custom cabling designed to enhance the performance of any loudspeaker."

Based on my review of the website, it appears Carl and Marilyn have split from their former partners (investors?), and are now in sole control of a new company called Accent Speaker Technology Ltd., aka Nola. Since the website is similar, the products the same, and the former website automatically directs to the new Nola site, I am led to believe they retained design, manufacturing, and product rights to the full (former) Alon lineup.

In my view, this is a good thing since I have had nothing but positive interactions with Carl and Marilyn, who in my experience are very concerned with their products and their customers. Based on the quality of the products, and the commitment shown over the years by the owners, I would expect nothing less than a complete success. Best wishes Carl and Marilyn!

BTW, interesting that Nola is Alon backwards. I would like to hear the story on that one!