The original Acron audio speakers company was founded in Bad Vilbel, Germany in 1975 by Franz Petrik, a former Braun employee and engineer who had played a major role in loudspeaker development at Braun. During the early 1980s, Acron gained legendary reputation in the hi-fi community for building reasonably priced speakers (250-800 DM) that regularly won audio magazine tests. Their cult miniboxes with solid aluminum cabinets in the 100, 200, and 300 series became particularly famous. However, legal troubles arose when Franz Petrik was sued by his former employer Braun AG over speaker concepts he had developed while at Braun, leading to financial difficulties. The original Acron company was deleted from commercial records on September 16, 2002, and has been defunct since then. Products also suffered from deteriorating foam surrounds over time. The name 'Acron' now appears in other electronics companies like Acron Electronic (Turkey), but these are unrelated to the original German audio speaker manufacturer.