+ 2003-2006

Clark Blumenstein's interest in speaker design and manufacturing first took root as a fascination with the physics and cultural relevance of the variety of loudspeakers produced throughout history. This fascination germinated alongside the pursuit of a music history degree at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Summer jobs and side work were an apprenticeship for three years at the world-famous high-end speaker company Cain & Cain Audio as well as working behind the scenes in the symphony hall on campus. At Cain & Cain Audio, Clark studied under master cabinet maker and prolific single driver speaker designer Terry Cain. After Terry's untimely passing from Lou Gehrig’s disease, he worked along side Terry's other apprentice. After they chose to leave the business, he studied under Terry's widow, landscape artist Leslie Williams Cain, herself a retired Art Professor at Whitman College, until her passing. Leslie weighed in on the aesthetics of both Cain & Cain as well as Blumenstein Audio designs over the years. She was the first person to point me to study George Nakashima, for instance.

Present day Cain & Cain Audio - Clark is the official point of contact for advice, maintenance, upgrades, and repairs of Cain & Cain speakers. Let's keep these priceless works of art singing!

+ 2006

Blumenstein Ultra Fi initially started out of a small home-based workshop as Clark's top secret experimental laboratory for new Cain & Cain designs with a primary focus on the research and development of small high-fidelity single driver speakers like the Cain & Cain Noogies and Spud 2.1 system. The initial results were good. With Terry's approval, Clark began shipping his own creations to a small but growing number of enthusiastic clients around the globe.

+ 2009

After building the business for a few years in Walla Walla, WA, Clark took a summer-long apprenticeship with Feastrex in Nirasaki, Japan. He studied under and ultimately assisted master driver makers Teramoto-san and Akiyama-san. Clark learned the intricate hand-making process of using handmade washi paper, Alnico, Field Coil, and Permendur Field Coil magnetic circuits to make original design fullrange drivers entirely from scratch.

+ 2010

Clark resettled in Walla Walla making speaker cabinets for Fostex, Feastrex, and Pioneer Full Range drivers and subwoofers. He first focused on iteratively refining compact wide-band full range single drivers supported by either a subwoofer or a super tweeter. In short, he built many, many experimental and short run custom and commercial boxes! His quest eventually became to miniaturize the emotive performance of larger and more expensive single driver designs from Cain & Cain Audio and Feastrex into more affordable, accessible realms in terms of overall product design and value engineering, even though the speakers would still be entirely handmade. Of the many speaker models made during this time, the Orca became the favorite of the Blumenstein community of clientele. Making the ideal passive subwoofer system to support the Orca fullrange speakers was the main challenge overcome in research and development during this time. Additionally, the design requirements of minimizing enclosure size and maximizing durability, non-toxicity, and sustainability came into full focus during this period.

+ 2011-2020

Clark then migrated to Seattle where, taking inspiration from the capacious waters of Puget Sound, he expanded production capacity and gradually expended the lineup of offerings.

+2020-Present Day

Clark moved production to a rural live / work factory in Tennessee. Taking inspiration from all four seasons of the timeless Appalachian mountain range, refines all aspects of design and production quality daily.

2025, Abby II released, Quartz DMS technology, Infrasonic and Barnacle series of car audio inspired subwoofers released.