Morel

Morel was founded in 1975 by Meir Mordechai, who wanted to create a loudspeaker able to reproduce music as naturally as possible. The name comes from 'Mordechai Electro-acoustics'. According to the founder himself, he had been tinkering with speakers since he was a boy: at 11 he tried to improve a speaker by replacing its cone with one he made from wood veneer. A company profile says he started the business partly because importing speaker components was too expensive in the 1970s, and the factory is in Ness Ziona, Israel.

The first Morel-branded product was a 9-inch mid-bass driver, with a 3-inch voice coil, a composite paper cone and a single ferrite magnet; a dual-magnet system came later and greatly improved performance. Over time the company developed large external voice coils (EVC), with the magnet inside the coil, dual and hybrid magnets and the Ti series, with a titanium former. Every product is assembled by hand and goes through seven quality tests, and design, research and manufacturing stay in-house.

Today Morel works in four areas: hi-fi speakers, such as the Sopran and Avyra lines, car audio, individual drivers and custom installation products, such as the Soundwall and Breez in-wall lines. Its drivers are sold in more than 55 countries. Oren Mordechai, the founder's son, took over the running of the company and leads the development of new products, and Morel set up a factory in India in partnership with the Supreme Group.