It all started in 1976 with a maintenance service for ribbon microphones, leading in 1998 to the manufacture of all components of the RCA44 models. It was at this time that the first microphone under the AEA brand was born.

AEA is today a Californian family business. It was founded in 1964 by Wes and his colleague Bob Gerbracht. Since then, AEA has set the goal of manufacturing professional tools for flawless recording results.

It was when the General Electric group bought RCA in 1976 to close their own microphone manufacturing division that AEA began the maintenance service for these legendary ribbon microphones and Wes learned much of his expertise in this field. To this day, AEA has continued manufacturing microphones in the tradition of the RCA models. All models are handmade and made in the USA.