ALR Jordan was originally founded in 1984 as ART in Essen, Germany by Thomas Klaus and Klaus Gruber. In 1989, Karl-Heinz Fink joined the company and the name was changed to ALR. The 'Jordan' part refers to legendary British speaker designer Ted Jordan, known for his full-range metal-cone drive units. The company specialized in high-end loudspeakers using metal cone technology. ALR Jordan went bankrupt in 2000, was revived as 'ALR Acoustics' which bought the brand name from the bankruptcy estate, but was ultimately liquidated and deleted from the commercial register in January 2013. Karl-Heinz Fink, described as 'the doyen of European speaker design,' was the key figure behind the company's technical achievements.