Early Days
Since 1996, Radial Engineering has been creating professional, problem-solving audio products designed to remove the barriers between conception and creation wherever music is made. As the music and audio industries evolve, Radials has continued to expand its wide range of purpose-built solutions to ensure the sound creators envision is exactly what their audiences hear.
Founded in Vancouver, BC, by musician and entrepreneur Peter Janis, Radial has always focused on designing innovative devices to help musicians, engineers, and audio professionals surmount the challenges they faced daily on stage and in the studio.
The first, the JDI, was designed to address widespread frustration with low-quality DIs by providing a direct box that faithfully delivered a source’s signal and could withstand the rigors of the road. Built like a tank and equipped with Jensen Transformers, the passive JDI met those demands and then some.
Following the JDI’s introduction in 1996, exports to the US soon followed. The JDI was widely adopted as the industry-standard direct box, establishing Radial as a pro audio company that engaged customers directly to maximize the efficacy of its products in real-world performance settings.
The success of the JDI set the stage for the development of an extensive roster of products for the studio, stage, and any setting requiring pristine audio.
Growth & Expansion
Acoustic Solutions
In 2000, Radial branched out, launching its sister company, Primacoustic, and applying the same solution-oriented approach to helping music creators improve the sound of the spaces where they worked.
Following the release of its first product line, Broadway high-performance glass-wool panels, the company soon expanded to include an install division and continued to add to its offerings with a variety of highly flexible, increasingly customizable acoustic treatments and systems. Among them: the EcoScapes line of sustainably sourced PET treatments: TelaScapes Fabric Track System, GridWay, a highly effective, design-forward ceiling tile solution, and, in the early 2020s, the fully customizable Archadia line.
ReAmp & Jensen
Over time, Radial also deepened its ability to serve the music and audio industries via strategic acquisitions and new products that appealed as much to the average working musician as to high-profile acts like Rush, U2, and many others. Acquiring and expanding the ToneBone brand of effect pedals in 2001, introducing the J48 Active Direct Box in 2002, and, in 2004, releasing the first of their ProSeries DIs, a line of economical direct boxes equipped with a custom-made transformer the company developed in-house.
In 2011, Radial acquired Reamp technology from producer/engineer John Cuniberti, reaffirming the company’s reputation as a leading innovator and go-to provider of game-changing gear that offered unparalleled flexibility in the studio and on stage. In 2013, Radial secured the “Reamp” trademark from the USPTO, leading to the development of a line of groundbreaking products including the Reamp Station, Reamp HP, EXTC-Stereo, and others.
In every case, with every new product, no effort was spared, or opportunity missed, to ensure the class-leading clarity and detailed sound reproduction users expected. Ultimately leading Radial to acquire one of its biggest suppliers, Jensen Transformers, the manufacturer of the high-quality transformers that played such a critical role in the success of the JDI, in 2014. Shortly thereafter, Radial invested in new machinery to increase production for Jensen’s OEM division and ensure a steady and reliable supply of Jensen Transformers for both existing and future Radial products.
Radial continued to add new products to its roster throughout the 2010s to meet the evolving needs of users with tools tailored to modern stage and ever-evolving studio applications. Expanding its existing lines and introducing source-specific direct boxes, switchers, and preamps; line isolators and audio transport technology featuring Cat5 connectivity; Dante- and Bluetooth-enabled devices; and a wide range of other solutions.
A New Era
Recognizing the need to forge a path forward that would provide the company with the resources to further increase its reach and respond effectively to the increasing pace of technological advances, Janis sold Radial to Regimen Equity Partners in 2018.
Under its new ownership, Radial has continued to thrive: expanding its U.S. operations in 2019 with a new warehouse facility in Loveland, Colorado, and, in 2021, relocating to a larger facility in Port Coquitlam.
As the music and audio industries have evolved, Radial has evolved with them: adding new engineering and design resources and expanding its product lines to include splitters, interfaces, monitor controllers, isolators, audio over Cat5, power conditioners, instrument preamps, switchers, and more. Products that have graced the stages and studios of many of music’s biggest acts, past and present, including The Rolling Stones, Sting, U2, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, ACDC, Maroon 5, Jelly Roll, Jason Aldean, and Metallica, to name a few.
In 2026, Radial kicked off the celebration of its 30th Anniversary with TTYM30 (True To Your Music 30). An initiative rooted in a legacy of innovation and invention, but firmly focused on the future in support of our customers, past and present, as well as the next generation of artists and engineers as they shape the next generation of sound.