MIDDLETON — The economy may be sagging, but musicians need to sing, preachers need to preach and TV stations need to create and broadcast programs.

What they all need is professional audio, video and lighting equipment, and Full Compass Systems is there to provide it.

Business has stayed so strong for Full Compass — with 160 employees and close to $100 million in annual revenue — that the 31-year-old, family-owned company is building new quarters with twice the current space. And while some companies leave Madison and head for the suburbs, Full Compass is doing the opposite, moving from 8001 Terrace Ave. in Middleton to Madison.

"It's been a pleasure working here since 1995," said president Susan Lipp. "We're moving into Madison because that's where the land was."

Full Compass will own 15 acres in the Silicon Prairie Industrial Park, at 9710 Silicon Prairie Parkway, along Mineral Point Road about 1.5 miles west of the Beltline.

"We couldn't find 15 acres in Middleton that was affordable," said chief executive Jonathan Lipp.

Construction started in June on the $13 million, 140,000-square-foot building, which is expected to be completed next spring. It will include an 80,000-square-foot warehouse, big enough to hold the 50,000 items the company stocks, representing about 800 brands of equipment ranging from musical instruments to sound mixing boards to camcorders.

Full Compass carries 88 brands of microphones alone, from the ever-popular Shure — made by another family-owned company in Chicago — to Violet microphones, made in Latvia by a company started by a surgeon who hand-tooled many of the parts. Still partially hand-tooled, Violet mics sell for up to $7,000 apiece.

In addition to sales and administrative offices, a showroom, warehouse and rental department, the new building will include two studios, a museum, and a cafeteria with an on-site chef.

One studio will be used for demonstrations and staff training, including podcasts and presentations for Full Compass' Web site. "People go online and want to find out about a microphone, for example. When a manufacturer's representative comes in, he will be interviewed and talk about his mic," Susan Lipp said.

A second studio, at 4,000 square feet, will be equipped with theatrical lights and be available for video production or charity events.

Susan and Jonathan Lipp — a husband-and-wife team so complementary they share an office filled with artwork and family photos, with a red neon set of lips perched high on one wall — are probably as passionate about their charity work as they are about their business. That includes organizing the Circus of Chefs Gala in June that raised $191,000 for Circus World Museum in Baraboo, and serving on the boards of numerous local nonprofit groups.

The new building also will feature a technology museum, open to the public, with relics that Jonathan has collected over the years, such as a 1906 Edison phonograph that plays music recorded onto cylinders, a 1925 RCA Radiola, and wire audio recorders from the 1940s. "We'll be able to bring in children so they can learn what the history of sound was," Susan Lipp said.

Full Compass sells, rents and repairs equipment and has seen sales nearly double over the past five years, from $53.4 million in 2003 to an anticipated $97 million in 2008.

The company has survived several recessions and downturns, learning a few tricks along the way.

"Where most of our competitors respond by reducing inventory, laying off staff, reducing advertising expenditures and going into hibernation, we see that as an opportunity to do just the opposite," Jonathan Lipp said. "If the market is down 5 percent, it means the other 95 percent is buying."

Key customers are from the music and entertainment industries, radio and TV, schools and government, as well as businesses that install home theaters. Houses of worship have become a major revenue source, Susan Lipp said.

Full Compass, one of Wisconsin's largest female-owned businesses (Susan owns 53 percent), has spawned three other companies. Intelix, owned by son Steve Cohan and spun off in 1999, makes electronic systems that route audio and video for organizations and businesses.

Full Discount Wholesale is Full Compass' wholesale division and Full Discount Wholesale Worldwide carries several brands of equipment specially designed for Full Compass and sold worldwide.

The Lipps have no grand plan for the next five years but relish the growing space the new location will provide.

"To have a business that has grown so huge — it's amazing to me," Susan Lipp said. "Our life is all about taking risks."

FULL COMPASS SYSTEMS

Address: 8001 Terrace Ave., Middleton, with a new building under construction at 9710 Silicon Prairie Parkway, Madison

Founded: 1977

Type of business: Distributor of professional audio, video and lighting products

Owners: Susan and Jonathan Lipp and their son, Steve Cohan

Employees: 160

Annual revenue: $97 million projected for 2008