Four years without our captain
July 17, 2026
Dear Partner,
Today marks four years since we unexpectedly lost Henk on a beautiful sunny Sunday while he was enjoying his favourite pastime: boating.As we do every year, we are taking a moment today to reflect on this in our own way.
At the same time, we want to associate this date with something positive. That is why we are proud to announce a new addition to the NewHank product range today: the Brick4.4. We look forward to telling you more about it later in this newsletter.
We close Interstate Audio on July 17th every year, leaving it up to everyone to decide how to spend the day. Due to the early start of the school holidays, we have rescheduled our team outing to late August. As a result, we will also be closed on August 28th.
New: Brick4.4
Today, we are proud to introduce the latest addition to the NewHank lineup: the Brick4.4, a solid building block for professional audio installations.
Some of you may already have caught a glimpse of it at ISE, where we secretly showed a prototype to a select group of visitors. At the time, we expected to have the product ready within three months. Unfortunately, things did not quite go as planned. A final challenge regarding the availability of the correct type of potentiometer forced us to postpone the launch by another three months.
The Brick4.4 was developed to offer a compact and affordable Mic/Line-to-Dante converter without compromising the quality standards NewHank is known for.
What can you expect?
- 4 microphone/line inputs to Dante (up to 96 kHz)
- 4 Dante channels to analogue line level (+18 dBu)
- Compact size: just 250 × 115 × 22 mm
- Microphone preamps with 42 dB gain, adjustable in 3 dB steps via onboard potentiometers
- 48V phantom power, individually switchable per channel
- Powered via PoE or USB-C
- Includes mounting brackets for easy installation
- Euroblock connectors with strain relief for a neat and reliable installation
And perhaps the best news of all: we expect to have the Brick4.4 in stock next month and are launching it at a sensational recommended retail price of just €399 excl. VAT.
* Unfortunately, we were unable to include the correct connectors with the first production batch. A limited number of units with the final connectors is available for projects where the Brick4.4 will be installed directly in a fixed installation. Evaluation units will be supplied with standard Euroblock connectors without strain relief. The final connectors will be shipped to customers as soon as they become available.
The past year
How quickly the past year has flown by!
Following Sonance’s acquisition of Blaze Audio, our portfolio instantly expanded with an impressive range of professional audio products. It has become a valuable addition to our Sonance and iPort portfolio and has already helped us complete a number of exciting projects.
In January we introduced the new ACX Pluto DSP series at CUE. During ISE, the new ION amplifiers followed shortly afterwards, taking the ACX platform another major step forward.
We also saw the NewHank Drivemate FX get off to an excellent start, while pallets of Aerobix XL2 units were shipped throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, containers full of ProDJuser flight cases kept arriving, including the latest models for Allen & Heath and AlphaTheta.
On top of all that, we welcomed little Johnny into the Interstate family.
Unfortunately, we also said goodbye to our colleague Esteban. Since May, his responsibilities have been shared across the rest of the team. Fortunately, Esmé has now fully returned after her maternity leave, giving us all a little more breathing space again.
As you can see, it’s been another busy year, and we’re not planning on slowing down anytime soon..
The future
We have plenty to look forward to in the coming year.
First of all, we hope to finally launch our new website together with its customer portal. To be fair, the project turned out to be much more extensive than we initially anticipated. A significant amount of custom development was required to ensure that every visitor sees exactly the information relevant to them. But we are almost there.
We have also made it our goal to visit you more often. We realise that not everyone is fully aware of everything we now have to offer. And just as importantly: we simply enjoy sitting down with you, catching up and discussing new opportunities. If you cannot wait for us to call, feel free to reach out yourself!
Behind the scenes, we are keeping busy as well. At NewHank, we are working on several new Dante solutions. The current DI22/DO22 series will receive a successor, and the success of the Brick platform has certainly inspired us to develop even more. We will undoubtedly tell you more about these developments in future newsletters.
ACX also continues to evolve rapidly. The ACX Console software keeps gaining new functionality, and we expect to start shipping the first ION amplifiers very soon. Many of these improvements are the direct result of your feedback. We truly appreciate that, so please keep sharing your ideas and suggestions with us.
Sonance Professional is currently one of our fastest-growing brands. Significant investments are being made in new professional audio products. In the coming months, we expect a new series of amplifiers, while the loudspeaker portfolio continues to expand for applications in restaurants, cafés, hotels, retail environments and many other commercial spaces.
We would therefore like to use this newsletter to highlight a few of these exciting developments:
PowerZone Connect Pro
The new PowerZone Connect Pro DSP amplifiers have recently been added to our Sonance Professional product range.
This new series has been specifically developed for commercial multi-zone audio installations using 70V and 100V systems. Thanks to its advanced DSP functionality and flexible zone configuration, these amplifiers are perfectly suited for restaurants, cafés, hotels, shops and many other commercial applications.
The range consists of twelve models, available in both Dante and non-Dante versions, with either 2 or 4 output channels. Depending on the model, output power ranges from 300 watts all the way up to 4000 watts.
Another major advantage is the pricing. The PowerZone Connect Pro series offers significantly more attractive pricing than the existing PowerZone Connect range and is exclusively available through Interstate Audio.
Pricing is available on request.
More information:: here
High Performance Series
The Sonance Professional loudspeaker portfolio has also grown considerably. The High Performance Series is now available across the in-ceiling, surface-mount and pendant loudspeaker ranges.
These new models have been designed for commercial environments where higher performance is required. Think restaurants, cafés, hotels, shops and other locations where higher sound pressure levels and excellent speech intelligibility are essential.
Thanks to their robust UL94V-0 polypropylene enclosure and IPX4 rating, the loudspeakers are suitable for both indoor and sheltered outdoor applications. The combination of an 8-inch aluminium woofer and a neodymium compression driver delivers high output with controlled dispersion. The in-ceiling models even achieve a maximum output of 117 dB SPL.Naturally, all models are fully compatible with 70V/100V distributed audio systems.
The following models are now available in both black and white:
- PS P85T
- PS C85RT
- PS C85RTBF
- PS C85BB
- PS S85T
Pricing is available on request.
More information: here
Sonance System Calculator
A great audio system starts with a great design. To make that process much easier, Sonance has introduced the Sonance System Calculator: a free online design tool that requires no account or software installation.
Simply enter the room dimensions, choose the application—for example background music, paging or foreground music—and the calculator takes care of the rest. Based on official Sonance specifications and AVIXA guidelines, it automatically recommends the most suitable loudspeakers, calculates the optimal speaker placement, determines transformer tap settings and even recommends the required amplifier configuration.
Larger projects are fully supported as well. For multi-zone installations, the calculator generates a complete report including:
- 2D floor plan with loudspeaker positions
- SPL heat map showing coverage
- Cross-sectional installation drawing
- Amplifier rack configuration
- Complete Bill of Materials (BOM) with recommended Sonance products
A design that would normally require hours of manual calculations can now be completed in just a few minutes.
The Sonance System Calculator is completely free to use and provides installers, consultants and system integrators with a valuable tool for creating reliable system designs quickly and efficiently.
Try the Sonance System Calculator yourself: Sonance System Calculator
Well… it turns out we had quite a lot to share!
Thank you once again for your trust, your partnership and, just as importantly, another year of business as usual.
We look forward to another year of successful projects, exciting new products and, above all, seeing many of you again soon.
See you soon!
Warm regards,
Esmé, Patrick, Machiel, Picas and Hylke