Company History

Founded in the back room of the original Long & McQuade Music store in downtown Toronto in 1963, co-founder Peter Traynor, a repairman at the time, developed a bass guitar amplifier dubbed the "Traynor Dyna-Bass" as a rugged and reliable alternative to amps currently available at the time. The Dyna-Bass amp was specifically designed and built to withstand the rigors of rentals and the road. Shortly thereafter, he and Jack Long officially started Yorkville Sound, and by the end of 1963 Yorkville was making P/A column speakers as well as bass amps and cabinets. After incorporating in 1965, Yorkville Sound expanded its sales into the USA and soon after added a guitar amplifier (the YGA-1) and a powered P/A mixer (the YVM-1) to the line. Throughout the 1960's Yorkville continued to grow and become a serious force in North America for P/A and instrument amplification products.

In 1972 Yorkville expanded distribution into Europe with representation in the UK and Sweden. Growth continued in various phases through the 1970's and early 1980's, when the Yorkville design lab had an influx of new blood. In 1986, Yorkville introduced élite speaker cabinets and AudioPro mixing consoles which proved to be incredibly successful, pumping new life into the company. Since 1986 Yorkville has become even stronger. The addition of the AudioPro amplifier series in 1987, the continued growth and refinement of the élite series speaker systems, the addition of the TX-Series concert loudspeakers in 1996, and new up-to-date versions of the AudioPro powered mixers helped bring Yorkville to its present day prominence.

In 1999, Yorkville Sound purchased Applied Research and Technology (ART), based in Rochester New York and continues the development, manufacture and distribution of products under that brand.

The re-introduction of Traynor all-tube guitar and bass amps was witnessed in Spring 2000, beginning with the Custom Valve40 and expanding exponentially over the next decade. Most recently new releases include the Traynor DarkHorse and IronHorse heads and cabinets, the reissue of the highly sought after hand wired Traynor YGM3 guitar amp, and most recently the introduction of the Traynor YBA300 300-watt all tube bass head.

Always ones to push the boundaries of modern loudspeaker technology, we introduced the Unity™ loudspeaker horn and cabinets in late 2003 as part of a two year joint development project with renowned loudspeaker designer Tom Danley. This marked a significant leap forward in horn technology, arguably the first major advancement in horn development in the last 60 years.

In 2009, Yorkville Sound introduced their flagship touring and line array brand, VTC ProAudio utilizing their patented Synergy™, Paraline™ and tapped horn subwoofer designs. Manufactured with precision to a rigorous quality control standard at the Pickering facility, Canadian made VTC ProAudio products are beginning to gain a solid reputation for design innovation and outstanding performance in the highly competitive Line Array category.

Yorkville Sound is still a privately owned, wholly Canadian Company with its corporate head office and manufacturing facility in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Toronto. Currently employing over 220 people, Yorkville designs and manufactures all of its North American built products at the 150,000 square foot Pickering facility. We also maintain offices in the USA with a sales and distribution center in Niagara Falls New York and additional engineering office for ART based in Rochester New York.

We manufacture a full line of professional PA products including mixers, amplifiers, active and passive loudspeaker cabinets and lighting in Canada, at the Pickering facility. Yorkville Sound also designs and manufactures a complete line of Canadian made tube and solid state instrument amplifiers under the Traynor brand for Canada, the US and export markets.

Over the years Yorkville has also launched a complete line of microphones, headphones and accessories available domestically and for export under the Apex Electronics brand, and has established a full catalog of instrument cases and bags, cables, stands and accessories.

If you are interested in finding out more about Yorkville's history there is a very detailed document written by Yorkville's Mike Holman that you can get by clicking here. It is quite an interesting read.