IBEX 365 News
Banshee Marine Audio’s VA1: Redefining Safety with Acoustic Excellence
2024 IBEX Innovation Award Interview with Banshee Marine Audio
Safety is always at the forefront of boaters’ concerns and each year Safety Equipment is a fascinating and highly competitive IBEX Innovation Awards category. The judges love to see a safety product that makes one say out loud, “I’d love to have that product on my boat!”
In our conversation with Banshee Marine Audio’s President Dan Soeters, Soeters emphasized that he put his team through the wringer during the design and development of the Banshee VA1. Banshee wanted to “get it right on every detail,” he said, and come up with a product that was categorically the best in both form and function.
“Acoustic Engineering is an art form and every time I would tweak an angle on the grille design, everything needed to be re-simulated and re-engineered to ensure that we built the best-sounding product we possibly could.”
What problem was the Banshee VA1 designed to solve?
While boating is a thrilling and fulfilling pastime, it is not without its dangers. Effective communication is critical to safe and enjoyable boating and while VHF radios have come a long way, we haven’t seen much innovation on the extension speaker side of the equation. Most VHF radios only have a 1-2 Watt internal speaker which provides insufficient loudness in this noisy environment – especially to those of us whose hearing isn’t quite what it once was! Additional sounds that are not an intended part of the communication can also muddy the waters, so to speak, so we wanted to see if we could do something about both of those problems at once.
Could you describe the innovation and advances found in the Banshee VA1?
While building in a 10W internal amplifier into the speaker certainly helps increase the loudness of the speaker significantly, the core innovation was the addition of a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip and its calibration. This allows us to make several refinements to the signal received, with the primary one being the removal of non-human voice range frequencies. Our policy is to not release a product unless we have reevaluated every single aspect of the design to ensure that anything we build is the best in its category. With that in mind, we also hired one of the world’s best Electro-Acoustic Engineers to work alongside our industrial design team to simulate and eventually build the optimum enclosure and grille design for performance (it just happened to look great, too!). Aligning this with the DSP programming gives the VA1 the ideal performance characteristics for its purpose. We were also thinking of the needs of our distribution channel and end users. We didn’t want people getting the product home and realizing they needed a flush mount kit or a bracket or some other item to purchase and we didn’t want our outlets to have to stock more than just the two SKUs (the VA1 comes in Black or White). With that in mind, we developed a very innovative bracket design that can be used in either Helm Mount or Overhead Mount, or can be removed completely for flush mounting. This had not been done before in this space.
Who is the target market for the Banshee VA1?
Any vessel with a VHF radio that has speaker output (which is most VHFs on the market) in which the user wishes for louder, clearer communication. This could be due to the VHF having a low internal output, or the vessel being subject to loud wind, water or engine noise, competitive fishing vessels where timely communication is critical, or for Captains that are a little hard of hearing.
Who is currently using Banshee VA1?
We have only recently completed production of the VA1 and we have restricted sales until December 2024 while we establish inventory in all global markets. While designing the unit we imagined it to be primarily an aftermarket solution, however, several major OEMs are electing to install the product at manufacture.
What feedback have you received?
The feedback to date has been exceptional. The product performed as per our simulations in final pre-production testing. Somehow, some information on the development had leaked prior to our launch at IBEX and our online inquiry form had blown up with inquiries before we even announced it. Acoustic performance is of course the driving factor, but response to the aesthetic and the innovative mounting options has also been a highlight for many users, and distribution and retailers are excited about minimizing accessory SKUs. The biggest surprise to us has been the excitement from boat manufacturers that wish to offer the unit included or at least as an option on new boat purchases. Adding the product during vessel design helps a great deal with laying out the all-important helm space.
What kind of boats is Banshee VA1 being used on?
While it is suited to any vessel with a VHF speaker on board, the performance is best suited to open helm locations. Fly bridges and open vessels such as center consoles generally have the biggest challenges due to the loudness of the outside environment.
How has it changed the boatbuilding process?
While the bracket mounting solutions are popular in the aftermarket due to the ease of installation, flush mounting always looks sharper on that critically important helm space. We were lucky to have had the support of several OEMs during development ensuring we met key requirements such as a 1 and ¼ inch mounting depth for overhead flush mounting, lengthy fly leads for making easier electrical connection,s and an aesthetic that would be flexible enough to be on boat helms ranging from a family day boat to a sports fisher, through to a super yacht. For boat builders, it offers two options – including it as a standard offering for a point of differentiation at the sale yard or as a saleable upgrade option that is an easy “tick” for the buyer and additional profit generation for the OEM.
Which builders/installers are using the Banshee VA1?
While we have a policy of not disclosing which OEMs we work with in support of their own promotional and release activities, I can say you will see the product on some of the most prestigious vessels built in the United States, Europe, and Australia in 2025! Marine electricians are probably the channel most excited about this product. It is a relatively low-cost solution to a very common problem, for their customers. It is such a convenient upsell when working on a vessel that many will be carrying inventory of the product in their vehicles to show to their existing customers who may not have been aware that there is a very cost-effective way to improve their boating experience. Solving a frustration for their valued clients while adding an additional service and product to the invoice is just good business.
What obstacles arose during the R&D process?
Oh, where do I start! This one was very challenging. The biggest challenge for the team on this project was undoubtedly dealing with my nit-picking on every detail. There are several VHF Extension speakers on the market, including two from our parent company Poly-Planar. I did not want to release a product into that market unless it was categorically the best in both form and function. This meant completely starting from scratch – there is not a component, design, or manufacturing tool on this project that was re-used from previous projects. Acoustic Engineering is an art form and every time I would tweak an angle on the grille design everything needed to be re-simulated and re-engineered to ensure that we built the best-sounding product we possibly could.
What plans are in place for the future of Banshee VA1?
The response to the VA1 has been far greater than we could have imagined. Our immediate needs are to increase production and improve our distribution networks in countries outside of the U.S. to manage the demand. Ensuring that boat owners know that it’s out there and getting inventory to them is a big part of my day right now. As far as further development goes, we are going to limit it to just custom iterations of the product for ODM and OEM needs, otherwise we are putting it to bed for now. Banshee Marine Audio has an epic product development roadmap and some incredible innovations on the way, so engineering time is pretty well booked out for the foreseeable future. If you think the VA1 is cool – wait until you see what’s coming!
What impact do you see Banshee VA1 having on the boating industry?
As marine industry professionals, we need to do everything in our power to continually improve the boating experience. While a VHF extension speaker may be a very small component in that experience, not hearing clear communication is a significant frustration for boaters. We just want to do our small part so that, along with our contemporary companies who are also doing amazing things, we support the growth of our industry.
What plans do you have for the future of this design?
Along with the other product released at IBEX – the Banshee Marine Audio LSUG Speaker Array – we have developed a new look and feel for audio on boats. We are breaking out of the 6-spoke circle speaker cage and, while it is throwing challenges our way, it has also triggered some very exciting developments. We are working very hard to transfer what we learned on these projects into bigger things to come.
Theresa Nicholson is an award-winning journalist who’s covered the marine industry for 25 years. She is the former senior editor of Cruising World, a judge for Newport for New Products, and a judge for the IBEX 2024 Innovation Awards program. She’s covered past IBEX shows for Soundings Trade Only, Practical Sailor, and Cruising World. Nicholson lived aboard her 31-foot ketch for 11 years and sailed from Miami to Malaysia. Her work currently focuses on weather, marine safety, risk analysis, and high latitude sailing.
