CELEBRATING THE 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY DANISH 100 years 1915 − 2015

THE HISTORY OF THE DANISH INVENTION AND INDUSTRY FOREWORD

Hearing is often considered as one of the most important of the traditional five human senses that allows us to communicate, understand, and navigate the world. The invention of the loudspeaker by the Dane Peter Laurits Jensen and Edwin S. Pridham in 1915 was groundbreaking. This enabled humans to communicate and experience sound from a distance, and further sparked the development of the 20th century’s most important technology products such as radios, , and public address systems. 100 years later, the loudspeaker is still a ubiquitous element of sound reproduction systems and used in almost all sound technology products.

Denmark was an early adapter of this new technology with the start-up of many companies as well as the introduction of university programs to support the technological development and constant flow of talented people. The present book covers important inventions, contributions, and amusing anecdotes from the 100 years of loudspeaker history, and not least, the flourishing of the Danish loudspeaker industry.

Understanding the history is essential in order to prepare for the future, but it also helps us to form a strong identity. It is a fact that the Danish sound sector has been, and still is, very healthy and has a strong identity and excellent reputation worldwide. In a way, the anniversary of the loudspeaker is also the anniversary for everyone who works hard every day to keep-on transforming the sector and maintaining competitiveness. This is of course not an easy task. The fact that we live in the digital age, where data is one of the core assets, also have consequences for the sound sector: The loudspeaker has become a commodity and should be integrated in smart and unique products and services ready for the digital economy and customizable to individual user’s needs. I believe that has the positions of strength to take up that challenge in a multi-disciplinary collaboration.

In 100 years from now, the loudspeaker will surely be radically different. However, I am convinced that there is still a need for people to perceive and interact with sound from all over the universe. It is my hope that the Danish sound sector is taking part in fulfilling this need.

Enjoy the reading!

Jan Larsen Director of the Danish Sound Innovation Network

2 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary CONTENT

The history Danish loudspeaker companys — —

The Invention of the loudspeaker Artcoustics Cornered Audio Podspeakers 4 — 13 32 — 37 60 — 65 70 — 95

The history of the loudspeaker from 1915 Audio Technology DALI PointSource Acoustics 14 — 29 38 — 41 66 — 71 96 — 101

Audiovector Dynaudio Quali-Fi 42 — 47 72 — 77 102 — 107

Bang & Olufsen Jabra Scan-Speak 48 — 53 78 — 83 108 — 113

Clint Libratone System Audio 54 — 59 87 — 89 114 — 119

Danish loudspeakers 100 years —

Editor Editorial Photos Published by DELTA Henriette S. Høyrup Thank you to Audiovector, Danish Sound Innovation Venlighedsvej 4 Nanna Bastved Bang & Olufsen, DALI, DELTA, Network, DTU Compute 2970 Hørsholm Søren Vase Legarth Scan-Speak and SEAS for Richard Petersens Plads Denmark providing image material for Building 324 madebydelta.com Contribution the history and cover. 2800 Lyngby Birger Schneider Denmark Claus Futtrup Phone +45 4525 3411 danishsound.org

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 3 THE HISTORY OF The Invention of the loudspeaker

By Birger Schneider —

4 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Peter Laurits Jensen, the charismatic inventor who changed the world of sound 100 years ago – and our lives today.

During the first two decades of the engineers, and neither earned a degree L. Jensen, the later to-be-inventor of the twentieth century, the world saw major but operated through practical engineering loudspeaker, arrived on January 1, 1903. breakthroughs in communication tech- experience. Valdemar Poulsen, son of an nologies, spearheaded by not least two assessor in the Danish High Court, had Learning shop culture Danish inventors, Valdemar Poulsen and despite an early interest in science failed Peter Laurits Jensen. In late 1903 Valdemar the entrance examination in mathematics at engineering Poulsen (1869-1941) together with his the Danish College of Advanced Technology — assistant Peder Oluf Pedersen (1874-1941) (now Danish Technical University). After Inspiring years at the Valdemar Poulsen had invented the ‘Arc Generator’, also trying a university education in medicine, Laboratory known as ‘Arc ’, the solution but lacking interest in the topic, he finally From 1903 until 1907 Peter Jensen served that facilitated wireless transmission of chose to become an apprentice as mechan- as an apprentice at the Poulsen Laboratory, telegraphy, and later on radio transmission ics at the Frichs train factories in , and was subsequently employed as a well- of voice and music. Denmark. paid assistant until he entered his service as A few years later in 1915, Peter Laurits Later on he worked as a laboratory wireless operator in the Danish Navy in 1909 Jensen (1886-1961), a student of Valdemar manager at the from March until October. Poulsen, invented the electronically Company where he in 1898 invented the The salary was poor during the early amplified sound through his discovery, ‘telegraphone’, the world’s first magnetic period, 9 Danish Kroner per week. Jensen the loudspeaker. While the invention of sound recorder. Following his success, was poor and had to wear the clothes of his the in a few years had made Poulsen resigned from the Copenhagen late father, although they did not fit him well. Valdemar Poulsen’s great invention, the arc Telephone Company to concentrate on his He often could not afford food, but friendly transmitter, obsolete and put an end to an inventions and to improve his telegraphone people now and then helped him. From a industrial adventure that had lasted two for which he had registered patents in technical point of view, the job was highly decades, the vacuum tube in contrast was many countries. Poulsen handled his lack inspiring. At the time it was referred to as a decisive technology for rolling out the of mathematical knowledge by partnering a “shop culture” approach to engineering loudspeaker. It enabled a fast penetration of with Peder Oluf Pedersen, P.O. Pedersen, a education. new sound technology to the entire world. highly skilled engineer and physicist. The activity in the lab was to work The vacuum tube in turn would be P.O. Pedersen is notable for his work with and refine Poulsen inventions, e.g. made redundant by another new techno- on electro technology. In 1912 he became a the ‘telegraphone’. Late in 1903 Poulsen, logical achievement, the transistor after professor of telegraphy, telephony and radio with assistance of P.O. Pedersen, had even its invention in 1947. In contrast, Jensen’s at the College of Advanced Technology invented the ‘Arc Transmitter’ which would contribution to the world, electronically (now Danish Technical University) where he revolutionize wireless communications a amplified sound through the use of a loud- in 1922 advanced to become Principal until few years later. In 1904 it was decided to speaker, has basically not changed to this his death in 1941. P.O. Pedersen should split the laboratory in two to obtain suffi- day. Its widespread use is such an inherent become a key person in developing and cient focus on the new development. That part of our daily lives that we cannot fully inspiring Danish audio industry in its infancy proved a great opportunity for Peter Jensen. grasp its full potential. An ordinary home through his significant influence, e.g. He was transferred to the arc laboratory, of today possible has more than 50 loud- through inspiring and educating young engi- i.e. wireless communication lab, which was speakers in use in radios, TVs, cellphones, neers. He also took the initiative to establish set up in new facilities across the street. headsets, computers, bussers, audio the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences The reason for including him, still only an systems in cars, warning systems, etc. in 1937. On January 1, 1941 he had initiated apprentice, to the team of engineers at the However, until the end of 1915 this was still to set up the Acoustical Laboratory as an time was that “he always knew were things a completely unknown device to the public. independent, foundation based institute were put”. Its invention was not predicted, as many under the auspices of the Danish Academy Later on, he also proved valuable, inventions otherwise often are. In principle, of Technical Sciences (ATV). It was the since he was formidable in tuning the it was a classic example of serendipity, i.e. first of several such ATV institutes to be transmission circuits of the arc transmitter. the art of finding things unintentionally or by established in the years to follow. Today Even keeping the arc alive required careful diversion. the Acoustical Laboratory is part of DELTA, tuning, and Jensen mastered that to the When Peter L. Jensen and his Danish Electronics, Light and Acoustics. full. He taught himself , and was colleague, Edwin Pridham (1881-1963), It has been said that Valdemar Poulsen the only one among the employees that invented the loudspeaker, they had a was the genius, and P.O. Pedersen was the could read and send Morse signals. The different focus, that of developing an electro bright mind. Together they complemented arc transmitter was superior to the Marconi dynamically receiver to substitute the mem- each other extremely well and “reached to transmitter since it featured tuning to spe- brane receiver in use in telephone earpieces the stars” of their time. cific frequencies thus avoiding interference at the time. In 1903, Valdemar Poulsen, P.O. Peders- between stations, whereas the Marconi en and others were deeply engaged in im- approach would use the entire spectrum Peter Jensen and Valdemar Poulsen were proving the telegraphone, and also worked and only allow a single transmission. self-taught engineers on other important inventions. Valdemar However, tuning could prove difficult and It is interesting to note that Peter L. Jensen Poulsen was now known as the “Danish time consuming, and due to the low cost of as Valdemar Poulsen were self-taught Edison”. It was to this laboratory that Peter labor, letting an apprentice do the job was

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 5 attractive, especially when the apprentice, into town to tell Valdemar Poulsen about France, boat to the UK, train via London to as in the case of Jensen, was diligent and the big discovery and more experienced Southampton, a 2 weeks sea journey across fast. engineers took over. Shortly after the news the Atlantic to New York and finally by train were spread about the breakthrough and all the way across USA. In summer of 1909, The first wireless transmission of a hu- Poulsen’s wireless telephony. By pure luck he returned to Copenhagen and this time man voice Jensen had been assisting in discovering was successful in setting up an agreement, Many interesting developments and inven- the essentials of the technology and obtaining license for the Poulsen arc tions became part of the life of Peter Jensen became one of the first in the world, if not transmitter technology for the USA. License during his youth in Copenhagen. One the first to hear a human voice being trans- was transferred through Elwell and andhis incident of special merit, the first wireless mitted across a wireless connection. partner John C. Coburn, to the investor who communication of a human voice, is worth owned ‘Poulsen Wireless Telephone and mentioning. Poulsen and his engineers had Roaring California Telegraph Company’ (PWTTC), in Palo Alto, a clear vision that the continuous waves — California. of the arc transmission system would America discovers Poulsen’s arc trans- The Poulsen Wireless Company would somehow enable transmission of a human mitter be the first Tech company in Palo Alto, the voice - not only Morse codes via the wire- The success of Poulsen and his wireless heart of what would, a few decades later, be less transmissions. They just did not know transmitter, the arc generator, should known as Silicon Valley. how to make it work. In other places of the turn into the opportunity of fame and world, similar theories and experiments breakthrough for Peter Jensen in the audio The opportunity of a lifetime for Peter were in progress, but no breakthroughs had domain. The breakthrough of wireless com- Jensen as yet been reported. munication, in direct competition with the After striking the deal with Poulsen, the The Chief Engineer of the lab, Schou, successful landline based telephony was challenge changed into that of practical had one day in 1906 brought in a small on, not least in a country like the USA with matters. A mechanic from , Carl piece of crystal, galenite, to be use as de- its vast distances. Albertus, was sent to Copenhagen for train- tector. Connecting a thin wire to it, it would Traditional telephony was costly due to ing, but a person familiar with operating the function, but often unstable, as a point-con- its huge investments in cobber connections, arc transmitter was badly needed. Peter L. tact metal-semiconductor junction, forming poles, maintenance, etc. California, a rapid Jensen was the optimal choice. He had left a Schottky barrier diode. The arrangement growing State far from the East Coast of the the Poulsen lab in Copenhagen on March is sometimes referred to as Cat’s whisker Continent, nurtured a culture of adventurers 1, 1909, to enter his military service as a . When connected in series with and gold diggers and with an influx of wireless operator in the Danish Navy and the so called “tikker” in the Poulsen system newcomers. A city like San Francisco had that ended in October the same year. Valde- they discovered that the dots and dashes grown from about 1,000 people in 1848 to mar Poulsen sent Peter L. Jensen a letter in the transmission would create tones, 415,000 in 1910, just 62 year later. People offering him the assignment in California, whereas if the crystal was not present only could become very rich from one day to now at a rather generous pay of 125 US$ a humming would sound in transmissions of the other. The devastating earth quake month, far better than the 9 Danish Kroner dots and dashes. In lack of success, the and fire in San Francisco in 1906 and its per week he received when he started back project was put aside. However, Jensen subsequent rebuilding added to an almost in 1903. It was a comfortable payment even was intrigued by the opportunity of human revolution in business activities creating a in California. In addition, Jensen would have voice transmission, so one evening he went roaring environment. The city was rebuilt in all his expenses covered. He gladly accept- back to the lab with two of his friends, Axel just 4-5 years, and as often the case in such ed the job offer, not least for the opportunity and Olaf Vosbein-Jensen. Jensen had in the booms, entrepreneurial building tycoons, of seeing the world. previous experiments realized that the com- real estate developers, and fortune hunters Jensen left Denmark on December bination of the tikker and the crystal was played an important role and plenty of 9, 1909, along with Carl Albertus, arrived essential, since in the absence of a tikker money was available. in New York on December 21, and came the connection was completely silent. A consortium of business people, to San Francisco around January 1 1910. That evening, Jensen placed one of the bankers, and technical people, the latter Leaving a doll and gray Danish winter and two brothers, Axel, in a shed with a micro- closely connected to Leland Stanford’s arriving a few weeks later in California with phone and he positioned himself about Stanford University in Palo Alto, was formed its mild sub-tropical climate, tropical fruits, 100 meters apart with a receiver and a in 1908-09. A young engineer from the palm trees and sunny weather impressed a headset. He had asked Axel to count from 1 consortium, Cyril F. Elwell, was sent all the 23 year young man that had grown up in a to 10 and keep repeating, but all that came way to Copenhagen to assess the promis- remote rural area on the shores of the windy through in the wireless communication was ing technology of Valdemar Poulsen’s Arc Baltic Sea. He soon came to learn that the tones that he and Chief Engineer Schou Transmitter, which proved superior to a US California was also a region of contrasts. had already discovered in their previous development by for the Wealthy people and bounty hunters were experiments. After a long set of trials, but General Electric Company. Elwell had be- common, but also a lot of extremely poor in vain, they were about to give up, when come familiar with Poulsen’s work through people struggling just to survive, facing a Jensen by mistake put his hand on the the scientific literature, and he visited miserable life at a level far below what he tikker and prevented it from operating. Poulsen in late 1908, as did many pioneers knew from his native Denmark. As he wrote Suddenly in the headset he heard Axel’s and business people from around the to his mother: “In America you find all the voice:” eight, nine ten, can you hear me?” It world to understand the new technology. best and all the worst – mixed together!” was so basic and yet not discovered in their However, Elwell had failed to strike a deal Business was very successful for previous experiments. The tikker and crystal with Poulsen on behalf of the consortium Jensen and not least the PWTTC Company had counteracted and the tikker should and returned empty handed to California, throughout 1910. Several transmitter be removed. Next morning Jensen went traveling by train from Copenhagen to stations were set up in San Francisco,

6 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 01 The experimental radio station set-up by Valde- mar Poulsen in Lyngby was an incredible play- ground for Peter Jensen. Often at night he would go to the lab and in his free-time transmit voice messages, music, or undertake various experi- ments on his own. Here he is listening to Morse communications, 1908-1909.

02 A young Peter L. Jensen, 1910, in setting up Poulsen arc for the Poulsen Wireless Company. Sitting right is Peter Jensen and center the mechanic, Carl Albertus, that followed Jensen from 1909 to 1925, when Albertus passed away.

01 02 Sacramento, Stockton, Los Angeles, and there were a number of business people in however, failed. Valdemar Poulsen had by other places. It turned out that the Poulsen San Francisco, who felt they had missed then already sold basically all his rights to communication system using selected the great opportunity to make money on the arc transmission system. They tried to frequencies proved very robust against wireless investments. Coburn had in his obtain a license for Ireland and Canada to even deliberate attempts of jamming from typical style positioned himself centrally facilitate wireless transmissions across the competing wireless operators, e.g. United in forming a new consortium. Painting a Atlantic. British authorities had originally Wireless. picture of a worldwide radio cooperation for suggested to them that the option would During this period, Peter Jensen all communication outside the USA con- be available. However, later on it became developed a strong friendship with a 5 vinced investors. Part of the plan was he apparent that the option for transmission years older colleague, Edwin S. Pridham should go to Copenhagen and purchase all systems had already been taken by a British (1881-1963). The two respected each other patents from Valdemar Poulsen for the arc syndicate under the British “king of arma- very much, and 5 years later it would be the transmitter for the entire world except the ment” Lord Armstrong. In Copenhagen, two that together invented the loudspeaker. USA. That could follow later on. However, they were respectfully received by Valdemar Pridham was born at Downers Grove near he needed a good inroad to Poulsen, and Poulsen and his colleague P.O. Pedersen, Chicago and had managed to get an en- that was where he saw Peter Jensen, the 24 but opportunities for the Californian gineering degree at Stanford University. In year old former assistant with Poulsen, as consortium had faded away. On departure, that respect they complemented each other the ideal go-between. Poulsen gave hand to his former apprentice well, Jensen with his practical, creative and Jensen was flattered when he learned and now titillated him by:” Goodbye, Mr. entrepreneurial approach and Pridham with about the list of investors and accepted Jensen!” As Jensen later recalled it: “Only a much stronger theoretical background in to join Coburn to Copenhagen. However, a European could fully appreciate the full radio engineering obtained from the famous he insisted that his good friend Edwin S. recognition in the few words of Valdemar professor Ryan at Stanford University. Pridham should be part of the deal. Peter Poulsen”. At the end of 1910, the PWTTC Jensen was not unfamiliar with Coburn and Under the influence of Pridham, Peter Company was split up in two due to his extravagant, intrusive and dominant Jensen decided to return to the USA and new regulations of the US government style, e.g. having a personal automobile and apply for US citizenship. On his way back demanding operators of wireless services, driver and always using a gold knobbed he managed to pay his mother at the island now Federal Telegraph Company, and cane, and he knew that it would make a of Falster a short visit. She felt sorry for his the original Poulsen Wireless, supplier of good impression on Valdemar Poulsen. decision to finally leave Denmark. He should system solutions. For Jensen it seemed So by the end of 1910 the three of not see her again until 12 years later, and time to go back to his native country, them set off to Copenhagen. Unfortunately, then only for a few days. mission completed. However, he was now Coburn, also an alcoholic, never made it The two young men had made an approached by Coburn, one of the founders to Copenhagen. He got trapped in Paris appointment with Coburn to meet him in of Poulsen Wireless. and London on the way and was drunk London. Once here they found Coburn in a When the PWTTC company was for weeks. Knowing his own weakness, he state of excessive drunkenness, appearing broken up, Coburn had made about had hired a black servant to keep him from like something the cat had just brought in, 70.000 US$ from his sales of shares – a severe drinking, but even that failed. unable to enter into any sensible conver- lot of money then, and income tax did So Jensen and Pridham had to proceed sation. Lacking money for the return travel, not exist in California. At the same time to Copenhagen on their own. Their mission, they had the drunken Coburn dragged to a

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 7 01 02 01 Peter Jensen in the “lab”, i.e. the parlor of the Bungalow in Napa. The Poulsen transmitter sys- tem can be seen in the right side of the lab.

02 The bungalow on F Street in Napa. The bun- galow itself served as lab for the researchers. The building to the right is the mechanic workshop. That building is no longer there. The towers were used for wireless transmissions.

03 Jensen and a colleague in the lab in Napa. The Lab was set up in the parlor of the house.

04 The mechanic workshop in Napa. To the left Carl Albertus and Hugh N. Sym to the right.

05 “Foghorn Murphy” in San Francisco 1958 in front of the “Giants”. The person in the picture may not be the original Foghorn Murphy of 1915, but he serves the same role.

03 Cooks travel agency for cashing in a trav- would prove to be a more productive work- Poulsen Arc transmitter and established eler’s check, and later on to a train at the ing environment for the inventors. Funny a full radio transmitter station in Napa. very last minute to make it for the streamer enough both young men ended up marrying Various experiments with even other items ‘Lusitania’ back from Southampton to New young Napa women - Vivian Steves (Jen- that had been sent over from Valdemar York. sen) and Hazel Mauritson (Pridham) – and Poulsen in Denmark were made. They had had children. The bungalow and associated been intrigued by a galvanometer based Setting up the Napa Valley R&D lab land was acquired for US$ 2.500, and a recorder that Poulsen had invented to They only had vague ideas of what to do small workshop was set up in a separate record up to several hundred characters per when back in California, but Coburn con- building on the premises. The parlor served minute during Morse signalling in telegrams. nected them with investors of his consor- as lab for the two engineers. The bungalow It consisted of a thin wire between magnet tium, first and foremost Richard O’Conner, still exists today (1606 F Street, Napa) and poles, and the wire would deflect and a local soap and candle manufacturer. It can be found on Google Street View. make markings on photographic paper should prove a fortunate act and lay the The aim of the activity was to develop that moved past, when currents were sent foundation for the development of the new technology in the domain of wireless through the wire. loudspeaker – although no one at the time communication and improve telephone They realized that the speed of the unit understood that. sound quality. Carl Albertus, who had was similar to ordinary speech. Substituting O’Connor and his business associates worked with Peter Jensen since the days the thin wire in the galvanometer with a had been involved in the plans of acquiring in Copenhagen, signed up as mechanic. thicker one, and attaching the center of the Valdemar Poulsen patents, which, Jensen and Pridham got some shares in it to the center of a membrane, gluing an however, had proven impossible to secure. the new company, and Coburn sold his ordinary match between the two, they They now formed the company ‘Commer- share for 7.500 US$. Being an alcoholic, realized that they had a receiver for voice. cial Wireless and Development Company’ he later on lost control of his life, lost all Connecting it to a carbon , and set up a research lab for Jensen and money, automobile and driver, and his gold they discovered they could transmit voice. Pridham in remote Napa, in Napa Valley 55 knobbed cane. He ended up as a tramp The quality of the receiver had exception- kilometers north of San Francisco. At this sleeping in the streets. ally strength and clarity. They called the small town, they established their R&D lab invention an electro dynamically principle in small bungalow on February 22, 1911. The invention of the dynamic speaker for sound reproduction. Mistakenly they O’Connor felt an isolated setting away that was not an invention at all assumed that they had made a serious new from the distractions of San Francisco During the first months they set up a invention and applied for a US patent, after

8 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 04 05 having studied if other patents on the topic was also a character balancing on the dark “the Giants” during parades and afterwards already existed. side of law and understanding the art of comment games. Needless to say, the team got extremely winning patent battles of inventions, he only The idea of adding a horn to their disappointed, when their patent application originally had little part in. Selling rights, device so that sound could be heard not later on in 1911 was turned down, since but not respecting the transfer of right, only in a head-set, but to more people in a the principle had already been discovered starting several “wild cat companies”, luring room, immediately caught on, although it and patented years before. Ernst von investors from money was another merit of far from supported the lucrative telephone Siemens, the ‘German Edison’, had as early his. For Jensen and Pridham, however, the business they had imagined. Galbraith had as January 20, 1874 filed a patent on a access to audion vacuum tubes would later also suggested the use of such a device at “Magneto-electric apparatus” for “obtaining on become essential in their developments railway stations announcing train arrival and the mechanical movement of an electrical of loudspeaker systems. departure. coil from electrical currents transmitted Upon return to California, the two The same evening Jensen and Pridham through it”, and was granted U.S. patent No. researchers were on the verge of giving started pursuing the opportunity. Using a 149,797 later on that year. In 1877 he had up. During their train journey back they gooseneck horn from an old Edison phono- extended his patent to include a diaphragm had seriously discussed breaking up their graph they had Carl Albertus connect the of parchment. Oliver Lodge in the UK had a partnership. Business prospects seemed gooseneck horn to their receiver - a name British patent, No. 9712 from 1898 on some to have evaporated, the financial backers for it was still not decided. During one of the additions. Anton Pollak received in 1908 pulled out after having spent more than following days they started the experiment a U.S. patent No. 939,625 on “improving 30,000 US$ on the R&D lab in Napa. that should prove so mind blowing at the moving-coil loudspeaker with a voice-coil However, again O’Connor should prove the time. In addition to the two researchers and centering spider”. Patents by Dudley Field guardian angel to them. Although the only Carl Albertus, another mechanic from the and others existed on somewhat similar financial supporter left, he asked them to lab Hugh N. Sym was present, and so was topics. However, none of these inventors continue work, although at a downsized the younger brother of Peter Jensen, Karl had managed to turn their patents into budget. Jensen that had come to the USA as well. something viable for use in the real world. In the year to follow, Jensen and Inventing the loudspeaker The miracle of the great voice Pridham continued to improve their The savior to their ideas and enterprise They employed a set of , “invention”, but despite superior quality should come from a completely unexpected which Jensen and Pridham had originally they could not get it down in price and direction. Peter Jensen had gotten married. purchased in Germany on their travel to weight to compete against the 700 gram One day in January 1915 they received Denmark in 1910. Connecting the loud- receiver in existing telephones. Late in 1914 a visit by his wife’s uncle, Ray Galbraith, speaker to a 12 V Accumulator and sending they travelled to New York to present their a blacksmith of profession, probably about 10 Amp of current through the micro- achievements to the American Telephone mostly involved in shooing horses – and phone of the system, they essentially had and Telegraphs Company (AT&T), a Bell knowing absolutely nothing about radio a 25 W sound system. Completely lacking telephone company. The dynamic receiver communication and the likes. However, understanding of the consequences, they of Jensen and Pridham was analyzed he was a practical man. “If you can’t sell powered the system up in the bungalow’s carefully by AT&T for about 6 weeks, while your solution to AT&T what chance do you parlor, which served as their lab. the two stayed in New York. Finally, they then have? None! However, if you could “A crack like the report from a gun came received the verdict from AT&T. A short get your device to speak a little louder, and out of the horn, followed by a screaming letter stating:” Sorry, we are not interested”. put a horn to it like ‘Foghorn Murphy’, and howling noise which was ear-splitting and No explanations or details given. you had a number of them, then it could terrifying,” Peter Jensen later on wrote. He During their stay in New York they had be useful in the park during games, and continued: “Pridham shouted at the top visited Dr. Lee De Forest, a former colleague we could understand what was said”, he of his voice: ‘Disconnect the battery ...’ At of their’s from the days of the Poulsen stated. ‘Foghorn Murphy’ was the famous, this point, the connection was broken, but Wireless Company in California. Now De flamboyant and well known character in Pridham was unaware of that, and he fin- Forest had invented the first vacuum tube, a San Francisco opening baseball games ished the sentence by hollering in a deadstill 3 electrode “Audion” as he called it. He had and rodeos using a loud instrument, an room ‘... before the house blows up!’” sold the rights to AT&T for 140,000 US$. old navy warning device, a fog horn, to get What they had not anticipated was the He would also later on be one of the fathers messages out to people. He would ride feedback from a microphone-loudspeaker of sound in movies. However, De Forest on horseback in front of the football team connection, when the two units are placed

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 9 too close to each other. Today that is com- the potential of their finding. It should take aloud. In lack of anything sensible to say, he mon practice for everyone operating with another four years, before that condition used an imitation of their originally testing microphone-loudspeaker systems, but not was met. messages from the days of testing the in those days, although the engineers knew Later on that day, they phoned O’Con- Poulsen Wireless systems back in 1910. about the effect, once they analyzed the nor in San Francisco to tell him about their He stated over and over again: “Hello situation. The noise was possibly a thou- great achievement. He was highly skeptical Sacramento, hello Sacramento, do you hear sand times louder than anyone else in the but joked that the California state hospital me? How is my voice coming through? world to that date had experienced. They for mentally disabled people was also Do you hear me loud and clear? If you can tried again, now with the microphone and located in Napa. Had they been influenced hear me, start your bonfire!” Jensen heard loudspeaker further apart, and they encoun- by that acquaintance? Next day O’Connor the voice and did as told. However, the tered a deafening noise, partly a thundering paid them a visit along with his friend, the townspeople of Napa also heard it, and for voice, partly still a lot of feedback noise. famous attorney Matt. J Sullivan, who smil- a long time rumors went around that Jensen Next step was then to move the loud- ingly told them that “Dick (O’Connor) had and Pridham had been able to talk directly speaker and the microphone as far apart as called me yesterday about the history and with Sacramento without any transmission possible. Placing the loudspeaker with its I could not make head or tail on the story”. system. Sacramento is located about 100 gooseneck horn on top of the roof facing Then O’Connor had sent his oldest son kilometers from Napa. northwest into the open land, Jensen’s kid across to the office of Sullivan, but when During the time they also managed brother Karl was hanging on to the chimney, he told that the researchers up in Napa had to make new patents. For example they trying to prevent the loudspeaker from fall- managed to hear a “telephone” one kilo- combined a wireless receiver in a box, with ing down as a result of the vibrations in the meter away from it, Sullivan was convinced a turntable and a loudspeaker and patented loudspeaker. A cable was connected from that O’Connor had gone nuts. the system. The system solution would for the loudspeaker down into the house, where The event immediately changed every- many years be a quite typical setup for many Pridham sat talking into the connected thing for Jensen and Pridham. From a situa- radio systems with integrated turntables. microphone. Peter Jensen and mechanic tion, where their project and company were Albertus was standing outside listening, and about to go bust, there was now no lack in what they heard was “a voice not of this finding investors to sponsor further work. Breakthrough – a 4 year world”. Jensen sensed it as the voice of a An immediate, but possibly trivial journey giant speaking. challenge was finding a useful name for the — Shortly after, Peter Jensen started to run invention. Names like “tele megaphone”, Three weeks that changed the world of across the fields followed by Albertus. Jen- “Stentor” (Greek: meaning loud-voiced), reproduced sound sen, the younger of the two, sprinted along “Magnavox” (Latin: the great voice”) and Eventually the invention of the loudspeaker at a remarkable speed, Albertus lagging others were discussed, but eventually the would have to be presented to the public behind. After about 1 kilometer, the voice of name “loudspeaker” picked up, although at large. In 1915, the Panama–Pacific Pridham was still very loud, and Jensen did Jensen never liked that. International Exposition was a world fair not stop until he was about two kilometers It is interesting to note that although held in San Francisco, between February away. Now the voice was starting to most inventions are predicted and often 20 and December 4. The purpose was become unclear, and a cross-wind distorted debated in the press before the invention to celebrate the opening of the Panama the voice of Pridham. even takes place, this was not the situation Channel, but it was also a business oppor- A little further out, Jensen was stopped for the loudspeaker. No one seems to have tunity to the world and a showcase for the by a fence. Pridham later claimed that predicted the advent of the loudspeaker. In rebuilt city after the earthquake 11 years Jensen had set a personal record in running. addition, it took a long time, before people earlier. It might have been an excellent When Albertus finally came along, they understood the full potential of the invention. opportunity for Jensen and Pridham to decided to go back. Jensen had already use the exhibition for disclosure of their taken over the microphone and speaking, Entertaining Napa at night invention, but they feared that others might when Albertus made it back. Pridham, in During the rest of 1915, Jensen and steal their idea. Hidden in the center piece the meantime, had mounted his bicycle and Pridham nurtured and refined the loud- of the exhibition, the “Tower of Jewell”, they rode away to experience the miracle, while speaker solution. With the Edison Goose- had placed a loudspeaker. The loudspeaker Karl, the younger Jensen, was still hanging neck Horn connected to the membrane played music that could be heard on the on to the chimney. and galvanometer, the heart of the dynamic battleship “Oregon” at the Golden Gate The rest of the day was full of joy and microphone, their solution had for the next bridge, nearly 2 kilometers away, where the celebration. No one before had heard a several years obtained its appearance. seamen danced to the music. However, in voice of that strength, so on this winter day They also connected a cylindrical Edison general people did not really pay attention in early 1915 (Jensen claims it was winter, to their loudspeaker thus cre- to the new invention. other sources mention spring of 1915) they ating a musical system. At night they would December 10, 1915 should prove the had finally invented something that no frequently play music from a loudspeaker on first event, where the public really got news one else had ever done before. It was an top of the building, entertaining townspeo- of the new invention. A demonstration was invention that should change the world of ple of Napa, a city of about 5,000 people. set up in Golden Gate Park to an invited sound forever – and the planet hasn’t been During the summer of 1915 they ex- audience. The next day, Edgar “Scoop” quiet since! tended the audible range of the loudspeaker Gleason” published an enthusiastic article However, as with most inventions to about 12 kilometer. At one event, Jensen in “The San Francisco Bulletin” about the they are of no value until they have been was located on a hill, called “Cup and Sau- event of the previous night. accepted and put to work in the real world, cer”, quite distant from their laboratory, and “Great invention made of Californians and on this day they were still far away from he was to put up a bonfire, if he could hear solve many problems. The slender tone of this – and they still only vaguely understood the voice. Pridham was in the lab reading a single violin heard about one mile away.

10 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 01 01 The bungalow in Napa. On the roof is a tripod for support of loudspeakers. It was not there on the first experiment, when Karl Jensen was hang- ing on to the chimney holding the loudspeaker.

02 People on the balcony of San Francisco City Hall, December 25, 1915. To the far right is Edwin Pridham, hidden behind the gooseneck , and to the left of him Peter Jensen. Dick O’Conner is in front next to the phonograph facing the photographer. Mayor Rolph was also on the balcony.

03 The team in Napa. Karl Jensen to the far right, 02 Peter Jensen in center, and Edwin Pridham to the right. In between is the two mechanics.

04 People are crowding in front of the new City Hall in San Francisco on December 25, 1915 to hear among other things the loudspeaker. At the centre of the building on the balcony above ‘Stars & Stripes’ is the loudspeaker.

The sound of operatic Luisa Tetrazzini’s voice reverberating throughout the stadium, and a piano solo resembling the chimes of Westminster Abbey played by Colossus of Rhodes”. 03 04 And the article went on praising the Christmas Day, December 25, the “Bulletin” meters away, heard every word the speak- achievements of Jensen and Pridham, men- held an annual holiday celebration inviting ers said”. It continued: “…Magnavox, an tioning also that Jensen was an immigrant famous singers to entertain. An agreement incredible invention that yesterday was put from Denmark that had come to the USA to was made with Jensen and Pridham (and at test for the first time for the public”. originally install the Poulsen arc transmitter O’Connor) to repeat the demonstrations and transfer the patents that was now in of Golden Gate Park, but now for a much What to use a loudspeaker for? use by Federal Wireless Co.’s systems. larger audience. A crowd estimated to be Although highly successful in bringing the One of the demonstrations held for around 100,000 people attended the event message of the loudspeaker invention out the “Bulletin’s” journalist, took place on an that afternoon of Christmas Day at the to people, challenges still remained: What evening with drizzling rain and winds up to Union Square in San Francisco. The Civic to use the new invention for? In hindsight it 20 miles/hour. While the demonstration took Hall had just been completed after 2 years should have been a trivial matter - but not place, two football teams were playing and of reconstruction following its complete in 1915. The market was just not ready; e.g. shouting next to the event. Certainly not an devastating in the earthquake of 1906. people did not have radios in their homes. ideal evening for an audio demonstration! So there were more reasons for people Use of the loudspeaker at train stations and The loudspeaker was situated at one end to come to Union Square on this sunny sports events had been the inspiration of of the stadium and the listeners at the other afternoon– not just the demonstration of Galbraith, the blacksmith, but what else? end, about 750 meters away. However, in the Magnavox, the “great voice” or the Jensen and Pridham started to experi- the rain they enjoyed the fascinating voice loudspeaker as we know it. ment. One idea came from the Maare Island of Alma Gluck that filled the air, and later At the Balcony of the Civic Hall over- Naval Station in the San Francisco Bay not on a Hawaiian string quartet that sounded looking the crowd, Jensen and Pridham had far from Napa. Commander George Cook “like the harps of the cyclops”. Surprisingly set up a loudspeaker system concealed be- Sweet had the idea that a loudspeaker enough, the noise from the football game hind a Stars & Stripes flag. Several people system could be used to communicate was not noticed by the listeners. in addition to Jensen and Pridham merged from ground to a passing airplane (people in on the balcony, including O’Connor. San in those days sat in open cockpits of Christmas Day, 1915, Union Square, San Francisco mayor James Rolph, Jr. made a biplanes), and the pilot in turn could use Francisco speech to the assembled crowd, and from the system to communicate to ground. The demonstrations of the loudspeaker a “Victrola” phonograph they played a pre- Reality proved the idea useless. The noise at Golden Gate Park had managed to stir recorded song by Tetrazzini – all magnified from the engines in an airplane was mixed up great interests, and “San Francisco by the loudspeaker of Jensen and Pridham. up with speech of the pilot and amplified Bulletin” wanted to capitalize on the 100,000 people shouted hurrah, and the to a level, where nothing could be heard. achievement. Possibly, Richard O’Connor newspaper next day floated over with The two engineers had more success in with his connections to the political system appraisals like: “Every ear in this massive constructing a noise cancellation micro- was active behind the scene. Every year at crowd of people, even people hundreds of phone. It had proven difficult to keep the

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 11 01 03

01 & 02 President Woodrow Wilson arriving at Balboa Stadium, San Diego, CA., on September 19, 1919 to deliver his address on promoting the ratification of the treaty of Versailles after World War I and membership in the Legion of Nations. 50,000 people were present to hear the president. The loudspeaker was essential in securing the success of the day.

03 Woodrow Wilson is delivering his speech at the stadium in San Diego on September 19, 1919. Above his head is the funnel shaped horns with microphones installed. That building is no longer there. The towers were used for wireless transmissions.

02 noise out from the microphone. Instead they people for developing business. The art of Woodrow Wilson had engaged himself opened the microphone so that noise could business has its own set of conducts and deeply in setting up the treaty of Versailles, influence both sides of the membrane in the practices that typically require a different and not least forming the new League of microphone simultaneously. That cancelled breed of people. In the case of Jensen, he Nations, the forerunner to United Nations. most of the noise and the speaker’s voice, had to learn that dimension of life later on. However, the US political system was entering from one side and close to the When the US entered World War I in against the ratification and not least enter- membrane, could be heard clearly. The 1917, developments related to the progress ing the League of Nations. Wilson threw all noise cancelling system was installed in of a future loudspeaker market were put his energy into convincing the Americans airplanes with great success, e.g. in the on hold. The Magnavox Company focused and travelled around the nation by train Curtiss NC-4 flying boats, where crew on the military market, primarily telephone trying to establish pressure from the consti- member were located far apart. production for use in naval ships and tuencies to senators and representatives in In 1917 the R&D Company, The airplanes. It included flight communication Congress. Cheering crowds would gather Commercial Wireless and Development systems, i.e. the noise-cancelling system at the stations along the way, but Wilson Co., ceased to operate. Despite success in and the dynamic receiver in headsets suffered a failing health and adhered to his inventions they had failed to develop a use- developed by Jensen and Pridham. The doctor’s advice not to make rear-platform ful business activity for the company, and company delivered telephones for more speeches. Sixteen days of travel and investors now again faded off. Instead, they than 250 destroyers. speeches had been very fatiguing and took merged with Sonora Phonograph Corpora- Parallel to their new activities, Jensen a toll on Wilson. Prior to his speech in San tion in San Francisco, a rather successful and Pridham still fancied their old love, the Diego, California, his doctor warned him company in selling gramophones. The new loudspeaker, and were able to get hold of against talking out-of-doors and was about company was renamed Magnavox, and the vacuum tubes to build for the to cancel his planned address. consolidated company started on August 3, loudspeaker. It meant that now even small The event was planned for the City Sta- 1917. O’Connor remained director and chair- signals could be amplified and used in dium (later known as Balboa Stadium), and man of the board, while Frank M. Steers, the loudspeaker applications. They made their to protect the President it was decide to put former president of Sonora, became CEO. equipment available to local institutions, up a glass cage of about 2 square meters Jensen and Pridham served jointly as “Chief but hardly made any income from the in one end of the stadium. The cage was Engineers”, normally a hopeless parallel equipment. Jensen judged that their inven- open in the front but it would be impossible sharing of responsibilities, but the two close tion was hardly known by any outside the for anyone to hear his address. A group of friends fared well with the setup. borders of California. citizen approached Magnavox and asked Somehow their basic challenge was for assistance in magnifying the speech rather classical. Scientists and inventors The turning point for the loudspeaker and Magnavox agreed. Jensen was on a of technology are not necessarily the right At the end of World War I, US President business trip to Washington to negotiate

12 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary contracts with the governments, so Pridham making radio systems with loudspeakers, death of Jensen’s father back in 1902. She had to go to San Diego on his own. the new entertainment item that every home had been awarded a small pension and It was thought “undignified” to ask the started to need. O’Connor past away in had worked hard in addition. Money that President to hold a microphone, and instead 1924.The following year Jensen had enough Jensen from time to time had send her, she it was decided to put up two funnel shaped of being controlled by aggressive business had put in a savings bank. When he saw horns with a microphone installed in each people and left Magnavox. her, he hugged and kissed her, a habit he above the head of the President. Pridham O’Connor, who had influenced the had developed in the USA, where he had had the system set up, employing a three success of Jensen so much, and whom learned to show his affections. “I hear you staged , two vacuum tubes in each Jensen had respected sincerely, was no are famous”, she said and continued: ”now stage. Before the arrival of the President, longer around to mediate. In 1927, Jensen I only hope it will last”. Pridham entertained the audience by play- founded the ‘Jensen Radio Manufacturing In 1956 Peter Laurits Jensen received ing some music through the loudspeaker Company’ in Chicago. The product was knighthood by the Danish King becoming system. The stadium was filled with about “Jensen Speakers” and he operated “Knight of Dannebrog”, which was a great 50,000 people, an incredible number of under a license of Magnavox. In 1929, honor to him. people when realizing that the entire San Jensen Company manufactured 60% of Diego County at the time only counted all speakers being made for independent A rare talent about 74,000 people. Just as President radio producers. During these years, Jensen Peter Jensen was a rare mix of talent, Wilson’s motorcade entered the stadium and his new Development Manager, Hugh ingenuity, curiosity, sensitivity and an open on September 19, 1919 late afternoon, Knowles, nurtured audio. In mind garnered with a fair amount of luck. Pridham was horrified when smoke started 1942, Jensen presented the first commercial He operated in a time where technology to emerge from the amplifier. Immediately coaxial two-way loudspeaker. However, the was undergoing major changes, and he he shut it off and pulled out the nearest following year he had enough of his share- seized the opportunities as they presented of the vacuum tubes. It had collapsed. holders reign, and he resigned from Jensen themselves. Contributing to his success Putting a new vacuum tube in its place, he Manufacturing, just shortly after to set up his was the fact that a number of people close managed to get the system up and running new company, Jensen Industries, which he to him or crossing his way during childhood, again just as the President was entering the ran until 1961, when he died of lung cancer youth and later in life took major decisions stairs to the platform with its glass cage. - having been a heavy smoker for years. influencing his life, eventually guiding him Wilson delivered, what one reporter Hugh Knowles left Jensen Manufac- to success. He had the fortune of entering a described as the “finest speech of the turing three years later when he founded world hot-bed of opportunities, San Francis- whole tour”. Another reporter stated that all Knowles Electronics, one of the world’s co, where capital was plenty. A quarter of a but a small portion of the crowd could hear major manufacturers of microphones, century later, similar opportunities paved the “every word”. Whatever the actual success especially for medical applications. way for the birth of Silicon Valley, the area of the experiment, it was, as the New York where the Poulsen Wireless Company was Times reported it next day, a “remarkable Showing the Danes the art of loudspeakers located, when Jensen first came to the USA. spectacle”, one “seldom equaled in this In 1922, Jensen visited Europe to develop It is interesting to note that in the book country”. In a sad aftermath, President business further. In Copenhagen, he agreed “Technology in America” edited by Caroll W Wilson 5 days later suffered a stroke, when to give a showcase of the loudspeaker to Pursell, Jr., Peter Laurits Jensen is included he was in Pueblo, Colorado. He never really a bemused public. A demonstration of his as one of twenty very influential Americans recovered and for the rest of his term as equipment took place from an office in an in technology development along with president, he was heavily incapacitated. upper floor of the building of Danish news- people like Benjamin Franklin, Graham Bell, For Magnavox, and not least Pridham paper “Politiken”, sending sound from a Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, Charles A and Jensen, it was a magnificent success. loudspeaker to a crowd of people filling up Lindberg, Enrico Fermi and others. The press all over the USA had the techni- the square at the Copenhagen City Hall. Today Jensen is forgotten by most cal achievement of the loudspeaker system A few days later, he visited his old people, but his major contribution to soci- in its editorials the following days. mother, still living at the island of Falster. ety, the loudspeaker, is as potent and alive She lived in small house in the village of as ever. Magnavox successful in business Moseby and had struggled hard since the ■ From this point on, the success of Mag- navox was secured. In 1921, President Harding used the Magnavox loudspeaker system in his campaign for running for About the author presidency and later on in his inauguration — Birger Schneider is Vice Pres- initiated and led the activity of in R&D management and finally as President. ident, Road Sensors, Optics & establishing a microelectronics as Director for Global Business In 1922-23, the Magnavox Company Light, at DELTA since July 2012. R&D centre in Denmark, which Development, Video & Audio test. made incredible profits, paying out divi- Education: BSc.EE in 1972, and was to be the Microelectronics In 2012 he rejoined DELTA. dends of 20 cents per share and additional employed at DELTA from 1973 Centre (now DTU Nanotech). Birger Schneider is a extraordinary 15 cents. But now the “big until 1992, serving as Section Operated his own company, member of the Danish Academy companies” started to see the business Head, then Division Manager microLEX Systems A/S, 1992- of Technical Sciences (ATV), opportunities in loudspeaker systems and and from 1987 to 1992 Vice 2008, with focus on test solutions currently as Vice Chair for the AT&T entered the scene, and took over President, Technology. for video and audio, delivering domain of ‘Electro & IT’. He also systems for big events. AT&T controlled Received the “Electro-Prize systems worldwide to companies serves on the steering boards for Award 1979” for outstanding such as Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, the Danish Innovation Networks the vacuum tube industry, which now was contribution, dedication and Oticon, GN-Resound, etc. Sold for ‘Sound’ and for ‘Lighting’ lifeblood for Magnavox, and could dictate performance in R&D (Danish the company to National Instru- (Dansk Lys). terms. Magnavox instead focused on Society of Engineers). In 1985 he ment in 2008, and served in NI

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 13 THE HISTORY OF The loudspeaker from 1915

By Claus Futtrup —

14 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary In 1915 the first loudspeaker was invented by Peter L. Jensen and Edwin Pridham. However, for the commercial success of loudspeakers in every home to be accomplished, several surrounding technologies had to be in place.

A puzzle of technologies turing radios. One of these, Bang & Olufsen affected by the Great Depression in the (B&O), still exists today, founded in 1925 by 1930s as much as certain other countries. takes form Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen. In fact, the Danish economy experienced an — In other words, applications for loud- increase in GDP during the time of the Great First and foremost, electricity had found its speakers were rapidly developing. In the Depression, except for 1932. way into normal households (in Denmark beginning, all speaker units in Denmark A breakthrough was the invention and around the turn of the 20th century). were either manufactured in-house (kitchen early manufacturing of AlNiCo (Alumini- Secondly, the triode vacuum tube had been table style) or imported. um-Nickel-Cobalt) magnets in 1930. Prior invented in 1906 by Lee de Forest, making to this, electromagnetism had been widely amplification of electrical signals possible. The direct radiator loudspeaker used and permanent magnets only existed Furthermore, the whole signal chain The practical (modern style) dynamic as some weak steel magnets. Being able with a recording side and a playback side speaker began with the Rice and Kellogg to magnetize a permanent magnet and had to be established. AIEE paper (1925) and the Radiola utilize this for signal transformation (from At the beginning the signal chain was loudspeaker based on that paper (1926). electricity to mechanical motion) required a direct feed, but this was later simply This was a game changer, because what a lot less energy and overall was much extended with a direct transmission through Kellogg and Rice discovered was a useful easier to work with. AlNiCo magnets were radio waves. The concept of storing sound/ frequency range above the first mechanical developed further through the 1930s. They data, such as speech or music on vinyl or resonance frequency of the speaker, where can be considered the first performance reel-to-reel tape recorders evolved in paral- the frequency response flattens. Therefore permanent magnets and they quickly lel. The gramophone had been in use since the speaker was suitable for applications replaced the magnetic steel-based ones. the 19th century, but the electro-magnetic without horn-loading – a concept called AlNiCo magnets were superior to previously pick-up cartridge, suitable for electrical direct-radiator loudspeaker. available permanent magnets and dominat- amplification and playback through loud- ed the loudspeaker market for the following speakers, was not invented until 1925. 40 years. At some point during this period, Like a puzzle, the pieces came together Peerless started producing their magnets one-by-one, within a couple of decades. in-house. On 9th October 1918, the two Danish Another breakthrough relevant for the engineers, Axel Petersen (1887–1971) and loudspeakers was the invention of stereo Arnold Poulsen (1889–1952) founded the in 1931. Initially named “binaural sound”, Electrical Phono Film Company, later to the stereo was invented by an English become Ortofon. Their ambition was to electronics engineer named Alan Blumlein synchronise picture and sound in movie while he was working for EMI (the recording theatres. On 12th October 1923 the first company) in the UK. sound film recorded indoors was shown In 1930 Albert L. Thuras, working at Bell at the Palace Theatre in Copenhagen. Labs, patented the bass reflex principle. Hollywood converted to sound film in the The Rice-Kellogg speaker unit based on the AIEE paper (1925). Source: www.aes.org This was incredibly early, considering that late 1920s. The release of “The Jazz Singer” the principle would not theoretically be in 1927 (by the Warner brothers) marked the properly understood within the loudspeaker breakthrough. industry for another 40 years. Microphones were initially of the carbon The origins of the loudspeaker company type. The electrodynamic (moving coil) Peerless date back to 1926 when Einar Danish loudspeaker industry in 1930s microphone was invented in 1923 and grad- Skjold Petersen (a carpenter who was During the 1930s, there were about 25 ually took over, the primary advantage being interested in radio) and his cousin, T.M. radio manufacturers in Denmark alone. The a significantly better signal to noise ratio. Larsen, formed the sales company Skjold situation was similar in the neighbouring Petersen & Co. Among others, the company countries. Companies such as Bang & Radio enters private homes represented an American loudspeaker Olufsen, Linnet & Laursen, Eltra, Bravour, The first Danish radio broadcasts for the brand named Peerless. The world crisis, To-R, Arena, RTC, and Neutrofon, just to general public were transmitted in 1922 following the Great Depression in 1929, put mention a few of the better known brands, using AM (Amplitude ). On 1st an end to these imports and the Danish grew up in a shelter of protective duty and August 1926 daily news was broadcast. Up company turned to repairing loudspeakers. tariff walls. Peerless was the main supplier until 1951 there was only one Danish radio It soon began to produce its own speakers of speakers for these production plants in channel in Denmark. A second channel (P2) and, as Peerless in the USA had closed Denmark and throughout the Scandinavian went on-air in 1951, and a third channel (P3) down, Skjold Petersen & Co. took over market. was added in 1963 with 100 % focus on the Peerless brand name. The company The only domestic competitor to Peer- popular music. started on Amager (a Danish island near less was Videbæk Højttalerfabrik, founded In mid-1920s, many companies Copenhagen). in 1933, which probably had the advantage emerged in Denmark focusing on manufac- The Scandinavian countries were not of being located reasonably close to Bang

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 15 “Acoustics” from 1954. Both books are highly regarded even today. Harry F. Olson, who documented his scientific work in his book, is in particular famous for his study of cabinet shapes and their influence on diffraction (and the result- ing anomalies in the frequency response). Cabinet designs without parallel faces also reduce the need for internal damping, which reduces hysteresis and improves the dynamics. In this way Olson has inspired many loudspeaker engineers over the years to deviate from square/rectangular boxes. Interestingly, the concept of electrical equivalent circuits, intended to simulate mechano-acoustical behaviour with electrical devices, was first applied by Bar- tholomew N. Lochanti in 1952. This concept was crucial for loudspeaker developers for the following 40 years, until more advanced computer simulators took over. Tandberg loudspeaker unit with electromagnetic field coil, commonly used in the 1920s. This all signifies that acoustics and loudspeaker technology started becoming a field of scientific study. In this process the & Olufsen. Videbæk Højttalerfabrik A/S was workshop, whereas cardboard for the cone Danish Technical University (DTU, but back founded by Niels Christian Madsen, and was purchased at the local bookstore, then named Polyteknisk Læreanstalt) forms the products were initially named Hroswitha and the suspension made of chamois the acoustics laboratory (named Lydteknisk (an older spelling form of the geographical leather came from the local grocery store. laboratorium) on 1st January 1941, on re- name of Videbæk). Later the company and The voice coils were hand wound and the quest from P. O. Pedersen, Principal of DTU. its products were renamed SEAS (from assembly was handled at the kitchen table One of P. O. Pedersen’ students, Fritz Inger- about 1970), and then Vifa (from about by Mrs Madsen. Later on, a dedicated slev, became manager of the lab from 1945. 1981). Videbæk factory was established in 1947. All this happened during World War II, when N.C. Madsen, started out as a wind- During the 1930s a was a Denmark was occupied by German forces and mill-builder as well as a machinist, and box with a technical appearance and black (1940-1945). Fritz Ingerslev, who played a was most likely also manufacturing electric buttons. The loudspeaker was built into the significant role within acoustics in Denmark motors for windmills and the farming indus- device, located either next to the buttons until his retirement in 1982, wrote a Danish try in his home town, Hjerm by . or on top of the device and the back was book for education in acoustics in 1949. N.C. Madsen settled in Videbæk, at the open - the so called “open baffle” design. DTU as an educational institution corner of Bredgade and Møllegade where In spite of the shortcomings, this concept deserves a lot of credits for the commercial he started a small automotive repair shop reign supreme in the market. At this time success of Danish businesses within elec- and a driving school. He sold stationary the concept of a separate speaker box was tronics and electro acoustics (microphones, motors from old cars (with generators) to considered poor design, and an attempt to loudspeakers, hearing aids). During recent farmers in the area, who at this point did not launch such a product would possibly be years also Class D amplifiers, since both have electricity yet. The Danish electronics considered “suicide” for the business. ICE Power as well as Toccata – later pur- industry was already up and running. In 1933 FM radio was invented by Ed- chased by Texas Instruments, were founded Bang & Olufsen, where two of N.C. win Armstrong and the radio media quickly out of PhD projects from DTU, thanks to Madsen’s brothers worked, were in need became a huge success: about 8 years Michael A. E. Andersen. The engineering of some speaker drivers for their speaker later approximately 50 radio stations were schools in Denmark played a significant systems. Bang & Olufsen, who up until broadcasting globally. Belgium, Denmark, role in the Danish industries for decades. then purchased speaker drivers in France, Germany, and the Netherlands were among Today the electronics and electroacoustic attempted to purchase drivers at a local the first countries in Europe to adopt FM on blacksmith in Struer. The blacksmith ex- a widespread scale. Stereo capability was pressed that this task was beyond his busi- added in the early 1960s. ness, but his brother in law, N. C. Madsen could take over the business. The Madsen The first loudspeaker literature family experimented during weekends and The first book about the technologies in 1933 they ended up with a functioning of loudspeakers, “Loud Speakers”, was prototype of speaker drivers to be delivered written by McLachlan in 1934. Hereafter to Bang & Olufsen. literature has developed at a steady pace, first Harry F. Olson’s book “Elements of Handmade Acoustical Engineering (first edition 1940, To begin with Videbæk’s speaker drivers second edition 1947), which eventually were handmade. The metal pieces for the (1957) became “Acoustical Engineering” speaker driver were made at N.C. Madsen’s and then shortly after L. L. Beranek’s book N.C. Madsen

16 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary business is the 4th largest export business chine (in the 1990s no one else had 5-axis sent the Western Danish way of producing of Denmark. machinery for wood work). Ludvigsen was, speakers. World War II had a huge impact on in 2000, able to form two shells, calculate The Western Danish way means that Danish businesses, who used the time the spring back and assemble them in a transducer production is organized in afterwards to fully recover. perfect 45 degree joint with the top panel. cells. Down one side of the production the On a side note, 1946 was the year This technique was used, for example, in magnet systems are assembled and down that Ortofon started making cutting heads the Audiovector 6 loudspeakers. the other side the soft parts are assembled. for the vinyl recording industry, soon after Brdr. Ludvigsen and Hornslet were the Sub-assemblies are typically stored in large followed by a pick-up cartridge (1948). two most important manufacturers of com- carts on wheels, which mostly resemble Ortofon made their first Stereo Pick-Up (the plex cabinets in the world in the 1990s and book shelves. At some point the basket is SPU) in 1958. Robert Gudmandsen worked into the 2000s. Almost everything for B&W, joined with the magnet system. Then after for Ortofon from 1941. He took a principal KEF, Linn, Audio Physics, Audiovector, and curing, the soft parts are mounted into the role in the development of the SPU pick-up System Audio, just to mention a few loud- basket/magnet system assembly. Proper cartridge and was later nicknamed Mr. SPU. speaker companies, were manufactured in curing of glue is assured between each step Denmark. and precision of subassemblies assured Loudspeaker cabinet production with proper tools. Denmark is known for its wood based Technical education The Eastern Danish way means that furniture production. One of these furniture N.C. Madsen’s son, Carl Christian Nørgaard transducer production is organized in a companies, Tistrup Møbelsnedkeri, was Madsen studied engineering at the Aarhus production line, often on a conveyor. Here founded in 1948. During the 1950s the com- Engineering School. After finishing his exam it is required that speakers are assembled pany converted to making wood cabinets in 1948, he was headhunted to Norway by bottom-up, which means you start with for radios and later on loudspeakers. The Jan Wessel to start making transducers and the bottom-plate of the magnet system, company still exists today and is run by the transformers for Wessel’s radio production then the magnet, then the top-plate, then founder’s sons, Kai and Preben. In general, (Radionette) and in order to sell these com- the basket, then the voice coil is put in and you can say that wood furniture production ponents to other manufacturers. the spider, then finally the cone/surround and loudspeaker cabinet production are Aarhus Engineering School (today (which could be a pre-assembled part). part of the recipe for the large production of named IAH and is part of AU, Aarhus The Eastern Danish method was in use in loudspeakers in Denmark. University) is another institution in Denmark, Denmark the 1960s, but was later adopted Since the 1950s Denmark has been which has a long tradition of educating by Taiwanese manufacturers and is today known as the country where loudspeaker some of the most important and influential known in the industry as the “Taiwanese cabinets of high quality and complexity are engineers in the world, in particular within way”. The method is suitable for high-vol- built. loudspeaker technology. One of these ume production and Peerless were experts. Hornslet Møbelfabrik A/S (later Hornslet was the Norwegian, Ragnar Lian, who In 1989 Peerless engineers made Cabinets ApS), developed most of the later made some significant loudspeaker a -line, which combined LEAN Matrix technology for the B&W 800 series. inventions while working for SEAS and flow-production with very high flexibility Later on (in 1999) Hornslet developed the Scan-Speak. so that it was possible to change between “HORNflex” technology, where a sheet of different products (also of different size) veneered MDF is manufactured in a par- Two Danish ways of speaker production in a flow along the production line. In ticular way and lacquered while still flat, so It is interesting to point out that two different practice, when shifting from one model to that it can be bent, and afterwards glue is ways of working with loudspeaker pro- the other, the stop-time would be a matter applied into the creases to retain the curved duction have emerged: the Eastern Danish of minutes, while tools were changed and shape. Hornslet has had a couple of bumps and the Western Danish way of producing glue stations reconfigured. This puts high on the road and last time it was active was loudspeakers. Mind you, Denmark is a small (specific) demands on the glues, which in 2014. country, and the distance between Aarhus had to have very specific properties, and Brdr. Ludvigsen was another prominent and Copenhagen is less than 200 km. therefore employees at Peerless were also cabinet manufacturer, which emerged from Peerless represents the Eastern Danish experts in mixing glue with other materials the esteemed Danish furniture production. way of making loudspeakers in Denmark, to adjust e.g. viscosity or curing time. The They were experts in form-pressed whereas SEAS (Vifa), Scan-Speak, Dynau- assembly of parts was made wet-in-wet. veneered wood, which can afterwards be dio, AudioTechnology, DALI, and several The adhesive was allowed to run down from machined with a 4-axis or 5-axis CNC ma- other Danish loudspeaker companies repre- the cone/coil assembly in to the spider/coil

Harry F. Olsen Fritz Ingerslev Carl Christian Nørgaard Madsen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 17 01 assembly. Finally the assembly was cured in father retired and SEAS bought Videbæk from 1951 and daily transmissions from an oven along the conveyor belt. Højttalerfabrik. 1954. At the same time Radionette had a Magnavision (Eltra) was the first Danish The establishment of SEAS sister company in Copenhagen, named manufacturer of TVs. Bang & Olufsen In 1949 Carl Christian Nørgaard Madsen Radiovision, which had to be closed. introduced their first TV in 1952, TV 508 was hired as the designer for the transducer Wessel asked Nørgaard Madsen if there S (nicknamed The Wheelbarrow) which business at Radionette. He grew up in a was anybody among the Radiovision staff was replaced by a nicer designed TV the home where his father, N. C. Madsen, (and he could use and Magnus Nesdam-Madsen following year. Around 1956, TV had its mother) manufactured loudspeakers at was hired to Videbæk Højttalerfabrik, first as commercial breakthrough (among others home, and just two years earlier (in 1947) an Production Manager, later Factory Manager. at The Radio Exhibition in Berlin, IFA) and actual production site, Videbæk Højttaler- Nesdam-Madsen remained to be a key meant another application for loudspeakers. fabrik, were set up. Nørgaard Madsen must figure in Videbæk for the following 35 years However, many Danish families did not have been an ideal match for Radionette’s until he retired in 1995, and he was also the have TV until well into the 1960s. At least founder, Jan Wessel, to realize his vision of architect behind the separation of Videbæk some 25 manufacturers of TVs showed up making transducers for Radionette’s radio Højttalerfabrik from its mother company, in Denmark during this time period. Several production. SEAS, in 1981 – an event I will return to of these were already making radios and Nørgaard Madsen was a professional later on. saw TVs as a change to diversify (and stay engineer and a skilled business manager. Alongside these events, the stereo in business). TVs extended the success with In a very short time Wessel and Nørgaard magnetic tape recording was demonstrated radios for another decade. Madsen needed to set up a separate on standard 1/4-inch tape for the first time production site and separate business, in 1952 – a cornerstone for the later devel- A highly respected figure thus in 1950 SEAS (Skandinavisk Elektriske opment of stereo. 1956 was also the year that the Danish AS) was founded by Wessel and Nørgaard engineer, Knud Thorborg, a highly respect- Madsen and in 1951 SEAS moved to Moss, The introduction of TV ed figure within the loudspeaker industry, Norway. In the early 1950s, television was gradu- started working at Peerless as R&D The quality of the SEAS products was ally showing up worldwide. The first trial Engineer where he produced components higher than most of the competition, not broadcasts in Denmark were arranged by for transducers. One of the first products least the business of Nørgaard Madsens the newspaper Politiken in 1932. It became designed by Knud Thorborg became one own father, Videbæk Højttalerfabrik. The possible to pick up shows from the BBC of Peerless’ largest successes: the cone SEAS business enjoyed continuous growth, around 1936-1939. The TV technology was tweeter, MT20HFC, introduced in 1956 and and ten years later, in 1960, they celebrated publicly demonstrated around 1947-48 and later sold in millions. the production of speaker unit number one Denmark’s Radio (Statsradiofonien) had trial For the 50th anniversary of Dansk million. The same year Nørgaard Madsen’s broadcasts in 1949-50, regular TV shows Akustisk Selskab (D.A.S.), 2005, Knud

18 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 02

01 The Eastern Danish production method is organized in a production line. Peerless woofer production 1973. 03 02 Peerless advertisement from 1952.

03 The Western Danish production method, where cell production is used. Proper curing of glue is assured between each step.

04 In the early 1950s, television gradually became more and more popular.

Thorborg wrote 12 pages about the loud- speaker industry and is quoted for saying the following about the R&D process at that time: “New models were developed in the way that firstly, the technicians made their chassis and designers made their cabinets. Then the loudspeaker manufacturer had to fill out the remaining space with the best and largest speaker. This led to a large demand for all kinds of possible - and some impossible - sizes and shapes of loud- speakers, typically round as well as oval shaped. Each new construction required a myriad of tools. Peerless produced by principle all components themselves, in addition to a number of necessary tools for 04 their production. It took half a year to get his massive paper files, did a few calcula- (the closed box loudspeaker), invented and all this ready, before the day arrived when tions with pen and paper, and presented the patented by the American inventor, Edgar the first speaker sample could be manufac- perfect solution.” Villchur. This signifies the end of open-back tured. The first test gave a good indication Knud Thorborg generously shared his loudspeakers, and is an early reminder that of whether the project would become time and knowledge with fellow engineers separate speakers and the concept of high successful - although of course you could in the loudspeaker industry, and taught fidelity (Hi-Fi) is coming soon. On the other refine and adjust afterwards.” more than a generation of Danish engineers hand, horn loudspeakers do hang on for This way of working put great pressure how to make transducers and speakers, some additional decades. on the loudspeaker engineers who had to the Eastern Danish way. He continued to Bang & Olufsen released its first stereo- come up with solutions with very specific work for Peerless until 2009, when Peerless phonic loudspeaker, the Beovox ST606 in constraints. Knud Thorborg mastered this closed their facilities in Denmark. He then 1960. It was manufactured to complement discipline like no other and was able to worked for Scan-Speak until his death (May its first stereo radio that year. The introduc- deliver ingenious and surprising solutions 2015). tion of separate speaker boxes marks the when everyone else had given up on a On a side note, 1956 was also the year start of the speaker box industry – and the project. Ole Klifoth of Audiovector recalls: that the US company, Acoustic Research, triumphal of the Hi-Fi concept in Denmark. “When the young engineers with their com- started marketing the AR-1 loudspeaker - puters had given up, Knud browsed through the world’s first bookshelf speaker, utilizing a brand new acoustic suspension principle

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 19 20 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The golden age the textile dome in his patent. This invention Audio Dyne, founded in 1965 by Peter Mün- — marks a turning point towards High Fidelity ster Hasselriis, who originally was a Sales By far the most prosperous time post-war (Hi-Fi) in high frequency transducers; by Manager for Bang & Olufsen. The initial was a 15 year period 1957-1972, where the end of 1970s the soft textile dome purpose of Audio Dyne was to import Dy- Danish industry in general and the loud- completely outperformed the conventional naco products from America and sell them speaker industry in particular blossomed. paper cone tweeter design. Hecht had a in Europe. In 1967 the Audio Dyne business US patent for the concept, but Europe was was turned into Scandyna, partially funded Inventions not restricted with a patent, which many by the American audio engineer, David In 1961, the Australian engineer, Neville European speaker companies utilised. Hafler, (founder of Dynaco) and together Thiele, presented a paper on vented box A German manufacturer of soft parts with SEAS engineers Scandyna developed loudspeakers. The loudspeaker industry for loudspeakers, Dr. Kurt Müller, started speakers for Dynaco. showed little interest, however. At Peerless manufacturing textile domes in the late One of the most successful Hi-Fi loud- the concept was tested, but the engineers 1960s and one of the first soft dome speakers of all time, the Dynaco A-25, was concluded that it did not work. The concept tweeters introduced to the market in 1968 developed with help from SEAS engineer headed into oblivion until the engineer was the SEAS H87 tweeter. This 38 mm (1½ Ragnar Lian; featuring H87 textile dome and PhD student, Richard H. Small of inch) dome tweeter designed by the two tweeter, as well as rubber surround . California, arrived in Sydney to pursue SEAS engineers Ragnar Lian and Mogens Several new technologies that were built his PhD thesis and expressed an interest Hvass became hugely successful and sold into the Dynaco A-25, were forerunners for in this work – publishing his findings in a in more than 1.5 million units over the years speakers of the future. More than 1 million number of papers during 1969-1974. The 1968-1981. Mogens Hvass had worked Dynaco A-25 units were sold from 1968- papers of Richard H. Small marked another for Nørgaard Madsen for 20 years, while 1980 and the A-25 design went through turning point for loudspeaker designers, Ragnar Lian started at SEAS in 1963. several evolutions during that time. who were now capable of calculating Ragnar Lian explained to Fredrik C. As a side note, Dynaco (in the US) took performance of boxes in advance prior to Hildisch that while he worked for SEAS care of paying all royalties to Hecht for the building prototypes, and thus could predict things in the loudspeaker industry changed: licensing required by his soft dome patent. the electro-acoustic outcome with good “From about 1965-66 Hi-Fi was starting to The Dynaco A-25 products made by SEAS precision. show up, and then the fun started. Then used Norwegian made transducers and The soft (textile) dome was invented in it was allowed to step outside the beaten they were assembled in Denmark. Assembly the US by the audio industry pioneer, Wil- paths.” and shipping were managed from Videbæk liam Hecht, in 1964. Various types of domes While Ragnar Lian was at SEAS, he also Højttalerfabrik. existed prior to his patent, but Hecht was developed the first woofers in Scandinavia the one who really nailed it when he care- with rubber surrounds (some of the world’s Skaaning enters the scene fully described the non-rigid behaviour of first, 1968): the 8 inch 21 TV-EW and the 10 In the late 1960s, David Hafler (Dynaco) and inch 25 TV-EW. The front-runners for these Peter Hasselriis (Scandyna) were on the woofers were the KEF B139 (from 1963) and lookout for a second-source for the Dynaco KEF B110 (from 1966) with neoprene rubber speakers to meet the high demand for the surrounds. No doubt they must have been speakers, when they met Ejvind Skaaning a source of inspiration, but foam surround around 1968. products were still developed in the 1970s Ejvind Skaaning was originally a and into the 1980s, not least because of mechanic working at Ford Motor Company, their sound performance qualities. Hereafter and after establishing a successful scooter loudspeakers with foam surrounds were business in Aarhus in the mid-1960s, he no longer developed because rubber had a sold the scooter company and started a superior lifetime and the consumer market record company called QSR, Quality Sound expected this. Recordings. Skaaning became friends with Ragnar Dynaco A-25 marks a time of prosperity Lian while Lian was studying in Denmark at During such a time of prosperity, in particu- Aarhus Engineering School and they shared SEAS H87 tweeter lar the 1960s, many loudspeaker companies an interest for audio, recording and organ started up in Denmark. One of them was music. In the late 1960s QSR had turned

Ragnar Lian Ejvind Skaaning Magnus Nesdam-Madsen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 21 01 01 Beolit 1000 was launched in 1968 and it uses the first speaker unit with ferrite magnet system (by Ragnar Lian). The Beolit range of products continued to evolve.

02 The A-25 cabinet was solid and well dampened inside with stone wool. On the outside it was cov- ered with real walnut veneer. The front grille was a frame covered with a light linen fabric (not unlike what AR used on their products). A speaker would cost 80 USD over the counter. It was not long before sales was well underway, and when the product received the tag “Best Buy” in Consumers Report, demand became enormous. After mount- ing the drive units and being tested, the cabinets were packed and stowed in large containers. In the most hectic period one container went to the every week. Overall, SEAS may have sent between 700,000 and 900,000 pieces of A-25 to Dynaco, i.e. an outstanding success, over a period of 12-13 years. Scan-Speak had a similar production volume, but over a shorter period of time (about 6 years). So in total well over 1 million A-25 units have been produced.

02 into a loudspeaker business. SEAS for cooperating with QSR. When fired Nesdams’ vision After meeting with Hafler and Hasselriis from SEAS, he was asked to clear his desk 1970 was also the year that Videbæk in 1968, Skaaning built a prototype for Dy- and leave within 5 minutes. I get the sense Højttalerfabrik was re-named SEAS. At this naco and eventually he was able to get the that Mogens Hvass transferred knowledge production site lower-quality products were business for Dynaco A-25. The transducers about the SEAS H87 to QSR and this was manufactured, whereas SEAS’ high-quality Skaaning bought from SEAS. likely the reason why he was fired from products were made by SEAS in Moss, The success of Dynaco A-25 was SEAS. Already in 1969 the first speaker unit, Norway. tremendous and both QSR and SEAS had the D3806, was developed while the busi- The Danish site was managed by the a very successful business with Dynaco ness was still named QSR. Skaaning then notorious Nesdam. Magnus Nesdam-Mad- during 1968-69. Eventually, it came to a converted QSR into Scan-Speak (February sen was born Magnus Madsen (in Vojens, disagreement about sourcing SEAS trans- 1970) and hired Ragnar Lian (March 1970). 1929), but he changed his last name to ducers for QSR products, because SEAS Hvass and Lian, now working together Nesdam-Madsen in 1947. Yes, Nesdam regarded QSR as a competing supplier of again, developed transducers for Scan- is simply Madsen spelled backwards and Dynaco A-25s. Speak to replace the SEAS transducers and no doubt this reflects his sense of humour. Skaaning made a bold move. In 1969 started producing Dynaco A-25s entirely People normally just called him “Nesdam” he hired Mogens Hvass who was fired from with Scan-Speak parts. and from here on we will do the same.

22 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Nesdam clearly had a vision of raising not forget, JAMO, is founded in 1968 by In Germany, Peerless purchased Mikro- the product quality from the Danish side, Preben Jacobsen and his brother in law, phonenbau (this became Peerless-MB), which he executed during the 1970s. In Julius Mortensen (JA-MO stems from the which manufactured loudspeakers, 1974 SEAS had around 450 employees. names Jacobsen and Mortensen). They microphones and headphones. In the 1970s built their first factory in 1970 and expanded Peerless purchased the cabinet maker The success of A-25 continues year on year until 1994, when it had Unison in (Denmark) and a factory Through the first half of the 1970s, SEAS become the largest speaker manufacturer in in Bretton (France) was purchased to jump and Scan-Speak competed on supplying Europe. JAMO made more than 10 million into the French market. A-25s to Dynaco. At the same time the Dy- loudspeakers during their first 30 years. At this point (1976) Peerless was one naco A-25 went through several evolutions, In 1994, JAMO’s market share in Den- of the largest manufacturers of speakers for example, at some point the speaker was mark was around 40 %. Then times became in Europe, maybe one of the largest in the equipped with an acoustic valve. tough and several poor management deci- world when it came to Hi-Fi products, with The acoustic valve is an opening in the sions were made. JAMO had tried to com- a capacity to make 30,000 speakers per otherwise closed box, with damping materi- pete with the Asian market and although day. Danish (and Norwegian) transducers al, to release the pressure inside the box in partially successful, not least through smart were - and in many people’s opinion still are a resistive way, by air flow friction through production setup and some automation, – leaders in the global market. If you were the damping material. When properly tuned, they eventually had to give up. looking for a high quality driver at a good it dampens the fundamental resonance They closed the factory around 2004, price (some would even say the best driver frequency in the box. The friction means when the majority of the production was at any given price) you would buy it from that the system damping is increased (i.e. transferred to China. In 2005 JAMO was the businesses in Denmark and Norway. the total attenuation factor Qt is lowered). sold to the American loudspeaker company, Peerless was among the first loud- This principle had its hey-days when Klipsch, and hereafter they ceased to have speaker companies in the world to change woofers were made with relatively small much activity in Denmark. the former (bobbin) of the voice coil from magnet systems due to cost considerations paper to aluminium. With its many advan- and therefore had a high Qt (resulting in Peerless in the 1960s & 1970s tages, aluminium remained a standard an under-damped design). The principle is In the 1960s Peerless launched a line of kits recipe for many speaker manufacturers all rarely used anymore. for the DIY market, which sat the standard the way through the 1980s and well into In parallel with the Dynaco business, for quality kits. SEAS picked up the idea the 1990s, when glassfiber and polyimide Peter Hasselriis sold Dynaco A-25 under his and also launched a line of kits. This busi- (Kapton) materials were explored as viable own brand name as Scandyna A-25 for the ness area made Peerless and SEAS visible alternatives. European market, manufactured by Skaan- in the consumer market and was part of a Peerless continued to expand interna- ing (Scan-Speak). Scandyna also imported successful branding strategy. tionally. In 1977 they entered a joint venture and sold various electronics. In 1966 Peerless faced a necessary and with capital from Denmark and India, and Scandyna went through several critical problematic change of generation when Peerless of India was founded in Bombay phases and various bankruptcies during the one of the founders, Einar Skjold Petersen (today Mumbai), production started in 1978. next decades, but managed to stay afloat retired. Peerless was a well-established Peerless’ facilities in Søborg (Copen- and in the hands of the Hasselriis family un- and financially solid company. During this hagen) were expanded several times. til around 2011. Today the brand is probably phase, Peerless’ other founder, T.M. Larsen Worldwide Peerless had more than 1000 most famous for its Podspeakers, originally stayed with the company for a couple of employees. The American mother company, an iconic design by Simon Ghahary of B&W years as General Manager and a 20 % EAD added system manufacturers like (early 1990s), which was handed over to shareholder (the remaining 80 % shares Infinity to the business portfolio. The entire Scandyna and further developed into a was purchased by American EAD). A couple loudspeaker division was managed from product line followed by several evolutions of years later EAD purchased the shares Søborg without much interception from the over the years. The Podspeakers were using of T.M. Larsen and became sole owner of Americans. drivers from Peerless of India and they were Peerless. Peerless was able to recover. assembled at Tistrup Møbelsnedkeri. In 1968 Per Staal became General Ferrite magnets Scan-Speak cabinets for Dynaco A-25 Manager of Peerless and the company Early in the 1970s, ferrite magnets became for the US market were made at Lem Senge- expanded heavily. Loudspeaker production increasingly popular in various speaker fabrik (a woodshop that manufactured beds) was established in Boston (1973), USA designs. The first SEAS loudspeaker with in the 1970s. This factory later became (named PAL, Peerless Audio Leominster). a ferrite magnet was designed by Ragnar Lydig, located in Ringkøbing, Denmark. In Peerless also became a shareholder in KLH, Lian for the B&O Beolit 1000 (Type 1401) 1994 Lydig was merged into the American Boston, USA. travel radio, launched in 1968. The primary Harman group, named Harman Consumer In August 1971 the Peerless factory reason to change from AlNiCo (Alumini- Manufacturing A/S, and here they designed in Gladsaxe (Copenhagen) was expanded um-Nickel-Cobalt) to ferrite was the content and manufactured Harman Kardon, JBL, with 3500 m2 of new buildings, with plans of of cobalt, which was very expensive and and Infinity loudspeakers for many years, expanding further over the next 5-6 years to dependent on sources from Africa (most until Lydig closed down in 2003. Lydig also 11,000 m2. The factory was organized with notably Congo). Using ferrite resulted in a supplied cabinets to other manufacturers, raw materials entering one end (Peerless quality magnet at a much lower cost, but it e.g. Audiovector. Lydig’s production line, casted their own magnets, pressed their required significant changes to the magnet which made cabinets of very high quality, own steel chassis, wound their own voice system design, because the balance was sold to Meiloon (Hong Kong). coils and formed their own paper cones and between magnetic reluctance and coercivity textile spiders) and at the other end of the is completely different. Due to the heavier The rise and fall of JAMO factory 250 meter down the road, out came ferrite magnet systems, sometimes a new Another Danish business which we must the finished loudspeakers. (stronger) basket would be required as well.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 23 Oil crisis changes the To summarize, up until this time, Den- David Hafler. When the civil war in Lebanon mark had been more or less self-sufficient broke out in 1975, it led to a great loss business with electronics from about 1925 and for Skaaning. He had to sell his remaining — well into the 1970s, nearly 50 years time shares in Scan-Speak to stay afloat. This In 1973, the first oil crisis sets in globally, span, where Denmark had high volume made Hafler the primary owner of Scan- quadrupling the cost of oil. This hit Denmark production of radios, gramophones, tape Speak, just as it was the case for Ortofon relatively hard. The Danes had to learn to recorders, television, loudspeakers and (1974), which essentially leaves Skaaning save energy - turn off the lights at home, combinations hereof. without influence in the company. turn down the radiators, take showers in- During this process, Ortofon changed stead of baths, every other street lamp was Danish drive units in the forefront of Scan-Speak products into Ortofon branded turned off, vehicle speed limit was lowered, technology loudspeakers. Unfortunately the mother- and for a period of time it was not allowed While Ragnar Lian worked for Scan-Speak, company, Fonofilm Industri AS (owned to drive cars on Sundays, except for emer- he invented the Symmetric Drive concept by Hafler – and Chanin, who was more gencies. The oil crisis resulted in financial (1972), with a copper cap on the pole piece involved in the electronics side, including instability following global recession, which to make the voice coil inductance versus ADCOM), like several other companies led to a dramatic increase in unemployment excursion Le(x) symmetric, which was worldwide, struggled and in 1975 they in Denmark. At this point in time Denmark patented US3935399 and he wrote an decided to sell to Harman International. had just joined (in 1972) the European Union AES paper titled “Linear and Non-Linear Since Harman already had loudspeaker (back then named the European Economic Time Delay Distortion in Loudspeakers “. manufacturing in their portfolio, the Scan- Community), which meant that Denmark This paper describes the nature of linear Speak business did not match their strategy entered the Open Market in Europe with and nonlinear time delay in loudspeakers. and Scan-Speak was brutally shut down free trade across the European countries. Remedies to reduce or remove this effect (summer 1976). Liquidation papers show The Danish radio- and TV-production, are described. that 1.6 million kroner was removed from which had boomed in the 1950s and 1960s, In 1973 Scan-Speak launched the the company just days before it filed for almost collapsed in the following decade, D2008 tweeter, a 19 mm dome tweeter bankruptcy. Scan-Speak ceased to exist partially pushed by a saturated market, with a revolutionizing new idea, to drill for approx. 6 months, when eventually the over-investments and the introduction of a hole through the center of the magnet pieces were picked up by Dantax (1977). competition - due to being part of EU’s system and install a rear chamber at the After leaving Scan-Speak, Ejvind Open Market - from foreign business into back, with damping material. The end result Skaaning attempts at another business. the Danish market (initially predominantly was a tweeter with much lower resonance This time with Gerhard Richter and Meir from German manufacturers, later not least frequency and essentially this design could Mordechai, together founding RMS in 1975. from Japanese electronics giants). Only easily compete with traditional 1 inch dome RMS produced transducers and speakers in Bang & Olufsen and a few other larger tweeters in low-frequency extension, while Israel, and was 1976 taken over by Morde- competitors survived the first attach and at the same time have more output at the chai and converted into Morel. later only Bang & Olufsen has survived. On highest frequencies, better dispersion, etc. Skaaning then in 1976, again in coop- the other hand, the loudspeaker industry The D2008 was an instant success and eration with Gerhard Richter, started Dy- continued to grow, although the business became one of the most popular dome naudio. From the very beginning, Dynaudio became less profitable than before. tweeters on the market. It was used by UK was a manufacturer of finished loudspeaker Peter Larsen, a famous Danish trans- companies such as Naim, Linn, and still systems, separate transducers (not least to ducer engineer, finished his education at today is used by ProAc and Spendor. other OEM manufacturers), as well as kits. University (a completely new uni- The rear chamber was an idea that versity at the time, established in northern Ejvind Skaaning continued to use when Dantax Jutland, Denmark) and started working for he founded Dynaudio, and here it found Dantax Radioindustri A/S was founded in SEAS in Videbæk in 1974. He later worked its place in for example the D21 and D28 1971 by John Jensen. Through the 1980s for Dynaudio, then JBL in Northridge (USA), tweeters. Dantax had huge success, not least with to finally settle on an independent consult- The rear chamber idea was not picked their iconic designer loudspeaker, the ing business, Loudsoft. He is a consultant up by competitors until much later, for ex- TUBE, and they were the 3rd largest speak- for several audio companies, including ample SEAS (Norway) introduced their first er manufacturer in Denmark (after Bang & Peerless of India, for which he designed a tweeter with a rear chamber in 1986, the Olufsen and JAMO). Later on Dantax sold product line that has many similarities to H400 alu-dome tweeter, which also became Scan-Speak to Vifa, but kept the Scansonic Vifa products. a highly regarded tweeter of its time (for brand, which today is revitalized with radios Aalborg University is the second Danish more than a decade it was considered a and loudspeakers. university which educate Master’s Degree reference-tweeter in the market). Today it is Another brand under Dantax, Raidho, engineers. Later Aalborg University be- like an industry standard - almost all tweet- was founded by Michael Børresen in 2003. comes famous for work in Acoustics. Later ers (as soon as it can be allowed for cost They started out by trying to manufacture on again, other engineering schools and reasons) are made with a rear chamber. and sell a ribbon tweeter, but it was never universities were established in Denmark implemented into any specific product. I with specialty in acoustics and electro- Winds of change suppose Børresen was irritated by this fact acoustic technology (i.e. microphones and Ejvind Skaaning and Scan-Speak ran into and decided to make his own loudspeakers. loudspeakers), for example SDU (South some serious trouble in mid-1970s, not Later on (2009) Raidho became a sub- Danish University) which was founded least due Skaaning’s business and financial sidiary of Dantax with Michael Børresen as in 1998 as a fusion between several involvement in the middle-east and in responsible for product development (today institutions in the area – remarkable since March 1974 the stocks are expanded with he is R&D Director). Denmark is a small country with only about money from the former manager of Dynaco, 5 million citizens.

24 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 01 01 & 02 The Western Danish manufacturing meth- od is traditionally labour intensive but as demands for high volume and/or uniformity has increased, production cells with more automatic equipment has been applied, in some cases with robots.

The pictures (1) and (2) illustrate to some extend the span in processes adopted for speaker driver assembly, which first and foremost is a gluing exercise.

Certain parts of the traditional Western Danish production methodology are difficult to automate and typically require craftsmanship, like for ex- ample the handling of delicate voice coil wires is often best in hands of skilled workers, illustrated in picture 02, while assembly processes by robots facilitate uniform, precise processes, illustrated in picture 01, here used for adhesive application onto a chassis in woofer production.

02 Ortofon worldwide. Vinyl has later experienced a development of Scan-Speak products as On a side note, Sidney Harman was ap- small revival and Ortofon’s business seems Dantax just manufactured and sold existing pointed a political position under President to have stabilised. Today Ortofon thrives transducer and speaker designs. Carter and had to sell his stocks. In 1976 and they have expanded into other fields, In 1983 Wrønding quit Dantax to Harman International Industries was sold including headphones. establish his own transducer business, to Beatrice Foods (yes, a food company). In 1983, Ortofon expanded into the Hiquphon, which still exist today. Initially the Sidney Harman returned to his business in (loudspeaker and hearing aid) measurement Hiquphon tweeter was remarkably similar 1979 and within a year he recovered JBL equipment market when they launched to the Scan-Speak D2008, but eventually from Beatrice Foods, at a fraction of the the P400, an advanced analogue device it was developed into a product line. All sales price. Ortofon was spun off separate- with tracking filters and an advanced rub & products from Hiquphon were 3/4 inch ly, sold to the Danish management. buzz detection algorithm. This equipment tweeters, all looking very similar to and As the CD media became popular in became a cornerstone in the production clearly inspired by the Scan-Speak D2008 / the late 1980s and 1990s and sales of vinyl testing of speakers in several Danish speak- D2010 products. decreased, Ortofon eventually went into a er companies. drought period, where no investments were Changes within SEAS made into the company. Ortofon remained Hiquphon SEAS were from the mid-1970s and onward in the vinyl business and only survived Oskar Wrønding worked at Scan-Speak faced with increasing competition and a because DJ’s were using a “scratching” from 1973 and continued with Scan-Speak stressed global economic situation. At the technique, which requires vinyl, leaving at Dantax, where he became responsible same time the company had an internal Ortofon to become a major supplier of for the Scan-Speak production. During management crisis. Alcohol consumption these special pick-up cartridges to DJs 1978-83 there was almost no product

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 25 01 An anechoic chamber consists of a shell of concrete and Leca that rests on coil springs to dampen noise from vibration in the ground. The chamber is lined on the inside with meter-long sound absorbing wedges of damping material. The chamber is used for all kinds of free field measurements.

02 Beovox C40 and C75, Bang & Olufsen. The de- sign is one of the master pieces by Jacob Jensen and the electro-acoustical engineering was made by Ragnar Lian. The C75 won the Danish “ID” (Industrial Design) Award and later it was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Even by today’s standard, the speakers are small and light- weight with an impressive performance and would fit right into a modern home, e.g. in a bookshelf or mounted to a wall.

03 Audiovector’s first product, the Trapez, was launched in 1979 and based on new Danish driver technology.

01

02 of Nørgaard Madsen was increasing, the internal battle between Nørgaard Madsen and Nesdam was maybe not actually the cause, but fuels the process further. In 1977 Nesdam became General Manager of 03 SEAS. In a 4-year period he tried to improve Nesdam and Ringkjøbing Landbobank first Nørgaard Madsen, deeply alcoholic and the profitability at SEAS, Norway, and at the required the loan paid back with short no- with Alzheimer’s, ended up in a sanatorium same time he orchestrated the transfer of tice (day-to-day) and then agreed to turn off in (Denmark). technology from Norway to Denmark. Ringkjøbing Landbobank’s telex machine, The middle management at Vifa were Jan Wessel died in 1980 and his son so the transfer could not be verified. SEAS opposed to Nesdam’s actions. After was not interested in the business. Eventu- was able to raise the money, but facing Nesdam had completed the departure from ally, it became official that Nesdam changed technical problems, they defaulted on the SEAS, he fired the entire middle manage- strategy from attempting to sell SEAS to loan. This was not completely legal, but it ment at Vifa except for one – Chief Engineer closing the Norwegian part and move all meant that the Danish site was dropped Peter Larsen. Nesdam knew that in order to production to Denmark. into the hands of Nesdam and Ringkjøbing raise Vifa from the ashes, he would need a However, exceptional national political Landbobank as the new owners in 1981. lot of development, so Peter Larsen contin- work prevented this from happening and The new company was named Vifa and ued with Vifa until 1987, when he switched Nesdam instead planned to separate the company with Nesdam as the manager to Dynaudio. Until development of own the Danish site from SEAS, Norway. This recovered remarkably well and experienced tools was completed, Nesdam would visit involved a loan of 1.3 million kroner with successful growth for the next decade, suppliers and ask for supply of parts out of security in the Danish factory, which later whereas the recovery of SEAS, Norway, was tools owned by SEAS. was not paid back in time simply because a somewhat slower and harder process. The second oil crisis hit Denmark in

26 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary 1979, when the price of oil increased quick- remained in production until 2003. Hence up in the hands of Vifa-Speak. ly by a factor 2.8. It was another blow to the product was on the market for no less System Audio was founded in 1984 by the economy, on a global scale, and again than 25 years. The C75 was shown at the Ole Witthøft - a young entrepreneur only 19 shook the Danish loudspeaker industry, Museum of Modern Art in New York. He years old. The products of System Audio which hadn’t completely recovered from received Dansk Industriråds Pris (The Dan- follow a certain philosophy (sound charac- the previous crisis and now facing harder ish Industry Council Award) for the design. ter), the design is unobtrusive and easily competition from e.g. Japan and Taiwan. During the introduction in November and installed in private homes, and the products December 1978 alone, the speaker sold are affordable. A melting pot for loudspeakers 30,000 units. Lian continued to work as a In 1985, Gryphon Audio Designs was In 1979 Ole Klifoth founded F3/Lyd, later consultant for Peerless as well as Scan- founded by Flemming E. Rasmussen. renamed Audiovector. His first product, the Speak and others, and in later years also Initially the company made an MC pick-up Trapez, was based on new Danish driver for SEAS (e.g. for the Exotic F8 fullrange, preamp, expanding into amplifiers, etc., but technology, using the brand new Dynaudio launched 2007). I believe the last product in 2002 they introduced their first speaker, D28 tweeter (the one with a horn), a new which Ragnar Lian developed for Scan- named Cantata. The interesting part is that SEAS paper midrange with coated paper Speak was the famous D2905/9000 tweeter Gryphon used some of the philosophies of (and with anti-resonant modifications), as (launched in 1990). late Steen Duelund, a Danish audio-maniac, well as a new Scan-Speak 25W/8561 with The business at Peerless went fairly who was also a mathematics teacher. additional mass loading. The Trapez be- smooth through the 1970s, but during Steen Duelund is most famous for his came an instant success and over 15 years the 1980s, Peerless faces trouble. The own crossover for 3-way systems, named sold more than 25,000 pcs. company at this time was still a highly ver- “The Synchronous Filter.” Where normal In 1975 a mail-order business for audio tically integrated manufacturer of speakers, crossovers (e.g. Butterworth) alignments are was founded by the entrepreneur Peter including for example the stamping of steel with a given steepness and Q, the Synchro- Lyngdorf, who was considered a “pirate” by parts for magnet systems and sheet-steel nous filter has different shapes, depending the established radio stores. This mail-order frames. Vertical integration can be great, in on the bandwidth of the midrange. The Syn- company was converted into AudioNord particular if all divisions manage to progress chronous filter is not really transient-perfect and a chain of Hi-Fi stores (named “Hi-Fi and keep up with the state-of-art within or time-aligned as such, but each speaker Klubben”) emerged in Denmark. In 1983 each area. unit is in-phase with all other speaker units, Peter Lyngdorf started Danish Audiophile Unfortunately for Peerless, the loud- not just in the passband but also in the stop Loudspeaker Industry, manufacturing DALI speaker industry in Japan, Taiwan and China band, i.e. the entire frequency range. The loudspeakers. Initially to sell these high was very competitive and making parts in- math for the crossover shows that it can be quality loudspeakers through his chain of house was not always a profitable solution. changed into a 2-way Linkwitz-Riley filter stores, but over the years DALI separated In such a situation, vertical integration can (by removing the midrange). and converted into a separate business with create a lack of flexibility and for example export to many countries. when cast magnesium (later cast aluminium) Beryllium, neodymium, and titanium Peter Lyngdorf once told me, if you frames became more fashionable among In 1975 the first Beryllium dome drivers were to set up a loudspeaker design and customers, Peerless stayed with their sheet- showed up. The material, which was new production in e.g. America, you would be steel frames. Peerless had to reduce their in loudspeakers, was implemented into hard pressed to find good engineers. In activities and close down factories. They Yamaha speakers (for example the NS-1000 Denmark they’re everywhere. Just send out moved to Karlslunde in 1983. studio monitor). The material is classified a job posting and you can easily find highly The same year, 1983, Knud Thorborg as one of the best materials available today skilled engineers, who can design and make became the official R&D Manager at for hard dome tweeters and is experiencing real high-end loudspeakers. The concentra- Peerless. He had already unofficially a second chance since the material was tion of qualified engineers is outstanding in been in that role for more than a decade. made available to the general public, Denmark. Peerless of India became independent from starting with the launch of the Scan-Speak TC electronic was founded in 1976 by the Danish company in 1983. For a while D3004/664000 in 2009. Roughly 34 years two brothers, Kim and John Rishøj. They Peerless of India was actually the major after beryllium was introduced to the market based their business on studio gear. They shareholder of Peerless in Denmark (sold by Yamaha, a large US company, Brush cooperated with Dynaudio on sales and by the Americans), but they never managed Wellman who specialised in materials, marketing of Dynaudio Acoustics studio to get control of the company due to some made beryllium available to the loudspeaker monitors, starting late 1990s. Later (2002) paperwork trouble. The employees at industry. Beryllium has very favourable they turned it into a group of companies, Peerless Denmark were not exactly helpful properties, like low mass, high stiffness and among which the British speaker manufac- in this process. also a fairly high damping coefficient. turer, Tannoy, was included. Eventually Peerless Denmark ended up Mid 1980s marks the earliest speaker Ragnar Lian was faced with challenges without a Board of Directors and the com- products utilizing Neodymium magnets. For when Scan-Speak closed in 1976. He pany was run by the middle management, the following 20 years it became the new founded Ragnar Elektroakustikk, yet led by Sales Manager, Olsen. wonder material of magnet systems, by soon after got a job at Bang & Olufsen as In 1986 Peerless was sold to JME (Jysk which small and powerful magnet systems Development Engineer. Lian thrived at Bang Murer Entreprise) and with financial support can be designed. It has incredibly high & Olufsen and the Beovox C75 became Peerless regained some of its strength (JME remanence and coercivity, with only one one of the largest commercial successes was a construction company – but a former property which the designer must take into in his career. Production was started late manager of Peerless, Corny Petersen, was consideration – it has limited temperature 1978 and in 1985 the product was updated involved in JME). JME went bankrupt in stability. to Beovox CX100. The exterior design by 1990 and Peerless again had to find new Voice coil bobbin from Titanium became Jacob Jensen was unchanged. CX100 investors, and after various owners ended the new big hit in loudspeakers in the late

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 27 01 01 Scan-Speak manufactures speakers with 1990s; because it combines the best quali- The suppliers became tired of the repeated copper in the magnet system. The original ties of the aluminium former (stiffness) with requests and eventually they started to offer Symmetric Drive patent by Ragnar Lian ran out low electrical conductivity (so you don’t get this option. around 1993 and a new design was patented to undesirable electromagnetic damping) and replace the original. This design is named SD-1 it can be made even thinner than aluminium. New horizons and entails 3 copper rings in the magnet system, It also has low heat conductivity, which you In 1987 Skaaning was forced to leave two located on the pole piece near the air gap, can see as either a positive or a negative Dynaudio. In 1990 Skaaning founded a see picture (1), and a third ring near the bottom feature. According to my source, the earliest new company, Audio Technology. This was plate. World patent 1994027413 A1, valid from requests for such former material came the 5th loudspeaker company founded 1993 - 2013. from Ingvar Öhman (a Swede) and Vifa by Ejvind Skaaning, and the last one – forwarded this request to their suppliers. co-founded with his son, Per Skaaning, who

28 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary runs the business today. Four of the five Vifa and Peerless transducer products (and mark is also famous for its microphones. companies still exist today (only QSR, which brands) were transferred to China. Brüel & Kjær started with measurement was merged into Scan-Speak, doesn’t exist The part of Vifa owned by GGEC is still microphones way back, development was anymore) – impressively all manufacturing active in Denmark under the company name pioneered by Gunnar Rasmussen. When he transducers of the highest quality, and a Vifa Denmark A/S. The company is allowed was asked to retire from B&K, he decided testimony to the entrepreneurship of Ejvind to make system designs and they are today to start a new microphone business, GRAS, Skaaning. actively pursuing the design and production 1994, with his wife Hanna Hertz. Today the In 1998 TacT was founded by Peter of post-Hi-Fi modern lifestyle products, like business is run by his two sons. As such Lyngdorf. The first product was the Millen- advanced radios and sound bars. we have not one, but two of the world nium amplifier, a fully digital amplifier for the In 2008 Scan-Speak remained in leading manufacturers of measurement high-end audio market, based on Toccata Videbæk, while Tymphany China (incl. microphones, both located in the Greater “Equibit” technology (Toccata Technology Peerless and Vifa) were sold to a group of Copenhagen area. Other microphone man- is founded by Lars Risbo, following his PhD managers situated in China. At this point in ufacturers exist in Denmark, for example from Denmark’s Technical University (DTU), time Scan-Speak was part of the remaining DPA, they make e.g. recording microphones later sold to Texas Instruments). TacT also Tymphany Denmark A/S. It was sold to suitable for certain instruments and small developed some room correction hardware. the management in April 2009. Tymphany body worn microphones. This company was later converted into Denmark A/S filed for bankruptcy in the Denmark is also known for hearing aids, Lyngdorf Audio (2005), where electronics fall of 2009. Scan-Speak continues doing which is a tiny loudspeaker. Due to space as well as speakers are made. In later years business, now based at the same facilities requirements it is not based on the moving this was paralleled with Steinway-Lyngdorf as Vifa was located since 1947. coil principle, but the balanced armature (2007) with increased focus on loudspeak- As you can see from all the business principle. In fact, three of the top-6 compa- ers and installation business. surrounding loudspeakers in Denmark, nies in the world are located in the Greater financial instability and hard times cannot Copenhagen area. These are Oticon (found- Closing remarks keep the industry down. The Danish nation, ed 1906), GN ReSound (founded 1943), From here on, it is appropriate to let the however small it may seem, is simply a and Widex (founded 1956). The other three companies tell their own stories, and I will melting pot for loudspeakers. major players on the market are Starkey (US not delve further down into much of what based), Phonak (Swiss based) and Siemens happened to e.g. Dantax, DALI, etc. We Danish electro acoustics (German based). continue with companies that are no more, Although this chapter is focusing on the Although one should think that the and with closing remarks on the others. good-old loudspeaker industry in Denmark, loudspeaker, microphone, and hearing aid Scan-Speak was purchased by Vifa as closing remarks, I cannot help but think industries could benefit from synergies, (from Dantax) and moved to Videbæk in electro-acoustic in general. I should men- they seem to live in completely separate 1991. Later the company changed its name tion that SONION in Horsens was originally bubbles. to Vifa-Speak, but the speaker brands Vifa Kirk Acoustics. Kirk was founded in 1892 by The audio and electronics industry in and Scan-Speak coexisted. Emil Møller and it merged with Niels Geert- general is the 4th largest exporting industry In 1991, Vifa was back to 200 employ- sen’s electromechanical factory in 1917. in Denmark. The top-3 is the oil and energy ees, which is similar to the hey-days in the They were famous for their high-quality sector (e.g. windmills), farming, and the early 1970s. After that, Vifa ran into some telephones and the speakers for the tele- medical and pharmaceutical industry. years with minor trouble, where Vifa did not phones were made in-house. During later This history section represents the make that much money and one year Vifa years the production lines would be made author’s best effort in compiling a correct had to write off a loss, and Nesdam was in Horsens, Denmark, and then exported to historical description/narrative. Errors, and forced by the investors to retire in 1995. In China where they manufactured millions of not least omissions, may apply for which I retrospect, the loss was insignificant com- small loudspeakers for cell phones. Some am truly sorry. pared to what was coming later on. as low in cost as 0.01 EUR (one euro-cent). ■ In 2000 Danish Sound Technology (DST) I feel obligated to mention that Den- was formed by Vifa-Speak taking over all stocks in Peerless. Peerless had not been profitable for 20 years and in retrospect this About the author was a very bad decision by Vifa manage- — ment. In 2000 a manufacturing facility was Claus Futtrup was born in loudspeaker boxes and later London in May 2011. Due to established in PanYu, China. To finance all , Denmark, in 1971. He as a System Engineer for auto- his comprehensive technical this, Vifa was forced to sell their buildings received his M.Sc. in mechan- motive. From 2006 to 2008, he and historical knowledge about and instead make a rental agreement with ical engineering in 1997 from was employed as a Transducer loudspeakers he is often invited the new owners, which all-in-all destabilised Aalborg University. His special Design Engineer at Tymphany as a guest speaker at various the otherwise solid economy in Vifa (now field is material science; steel Denmark and, in 2008-2013 events. In 2013 he was speaker DST). and other metals, ceramics, he was R&D Manager at Scan- at the Danish Electroacoustic DST was battling to finance the cost rubber, plastics, and composites Speak. In 2013, he started Society (DEF)’s meeting. In of their production sites and upkeep of in regard to design parameters, working as Technical Sales October 2015 he held a speech process engineering, and chem- Manager for SEAS, Norway, and at the Norwegian Acoustical the businesses. For one they sell their Vifa ical and environment issues. in 2015 he was promoted to Society’s meeting in Trondheim. brand to Chinese investors (GGEC) and During his career, he has Chief Technical Officer. In January 2016 he is invited therefore GGEC were allowed to use the worked for several loudspeaker Claus Futtrup has authored to give a speech at the AISE brand for business not related to transduc- companies. From 1997 to 2006, a number of AES papers, most (ALMA International Symposium ers. DST was looking for investors, and in he worked at Dynaudio A/S first of them published in the Journal and Expo) in Las Vegas. 2005 DST was sold to Tymphany. Hereafter as an R&D Engineer, designing (JAES), one was presented in

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 29 01 02 03

04 05 06

07 08 09

10 11 12

13 14 15 30 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary DANISH LOUDSPEAKER COMPANYS

01 02 03 — — — Artcoustics Audio Technology Audiovector 32 — 37 38 — 41 42 — 47

04 05 06 — — — Bang & Olufsen Clint Cornered Audio 48 — 53 54 — 59 60 — 65

07 08 09 — — — DALI Dynaudio Jabra 66 — 71 72 — 77 78 — 83

10 11 12 — — — Libratone PodSpeakers PointSource Acoustics 84 — 89 90 — 95 96 — 101

13 14 15 — — — Quali-Fi Scan-Speak System Audio 102 — 107 108 — 113 114 — 119

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 31 THE HISTORY OF Artcoustic

32 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Artcoustic was founded in 1998 by Danish Kim Donvig and Patricia Ljungberg. Their goal was to create a luxury speaker brand, which combines design aesthetics and sound quality, without sacrificing one to the other.

The history — The people behind Artcoustic, Kim Donvig and Patricia Ljungberg, moved to London in 2000 to establish Artcoustic Loudspeakers, with the thought: if it does not work here, it won’t work anywhere. This is now more than 15 years ago, and Artcoustic has become one of the most respected brands in the AV industry, win- ning several awards and in 2015 Artcoustic received the Best High End Speaker System award at the AV Tech Media Awards in the UK and The Best Loudspeaker award from Smart Building Awards. Artcoustic has always worked towards combining high sound quality and design aesthetics, and they have achieved this mission. Artcoustic has become well respected in a very conservative UK market, with many good home brands. That is an achievement in itself and Artcoustic is now successfully selling to more than 35 markets around the world. “Our aim has always been to create a high-quality, honest, and true sound and still achieve the aesthetic look of our prod- ucts. We want to compliment, not conflict with, your home’s aesthetics. We want our listeners to feel the music, to experience how a true live sound can be reproduced from Artcoustic loudspeakers,’’ says Patricia Ljungberg.

The product Artcoustic has transformed the way sound and speakers can enhance the atmosphere and interior. The company’s loudspeakers have effectively erased the distinction between loudspeakers and furnishing yet remains true to the intended purpose: Superb reproduction of sound. Artcoustic is now renowned worldwide for its range of high-end performance wall mounted speakers that feature Facts interchangeable screens allowing one to Company name Main audio product types — Artcoustic Loudspeakers Loudspeakers choose any look to go with the interior. The superior product range has been awarded Head office Main markets for its ground-breaking designs and is sold Copenhagen, Denmark UK, EU, India, Asia worldwide. Established in year Number of employees Iconic products 1998 8 — Established by One of the most iconic products will without Kim Donvig & Patricia Ljungberg a doubt be the Artcoustic Multi LCR Sound-

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 33 the correct application. The SL range is a revolution in loudspeaker design, delivering efficiency as high as 110 dB, with output up to 130 dB, and all in a range just 67 mm deep and stunning to look at.

Pioneering art and sound The screens for your loudspeakers can be printed in any colour or with any digital image from Artcoustic’s extensive portfolio, or with your own pictures or designs. You can also choose from over 1500 Pantone colours. The Artcoustic gallery has been made to inspire and guide you to choose from a wide range of digitally printed artworks, created to match the Artcoustic loudspeakers. Artcoustic hand-pick artists from around the world and invite them to create exclusive artworks for the Artcoustic Art Gallery. All speaker screens are inter- changeable; meaning that you can choose your own personal collection of different prints and change the look of your unique Artcoustic loudspeakers, whenever you like.

Spitfire series for demanding home cinema application The Spitfire series is designed for the finest dedicated home cinemas, with different configurations to suit almost any room size. Performance is crucially the same as the Artcoustic SL series, but are more cost Spitfire series: Speaker model, Spitfire 16-8 and Spitfire Control 2 mounted behind a effective due to more industrial aesthetics perforated projection screen and a more robust finish, lending them- selves perfectly to private cinemas where the speakers are hidden from view behind Bar, the first left, centre, and right SoundBar efficiency, output, and accuracy, whilst also the projector screen. in the World. staying true to Artcoustic’s signature design Together with Artcoustic’s signature Artcoustic pioneered the concept of ethos. slimline design, the Spitfire Serie deliver an all-in-one LCR (Left, Centre, and Right) The SL range is designed to be world-class cinema sound without taking up Soundbar as far back as 2000, and the complimentary and flexible, allowing the valuable space in the room. latest SL version is an evolution of this correct model to be specified for the correct classic SoundBar. application. From small flat screen TV Bass, bass, and more bass. The Impact Available in 4 standard versions, all based systems to state-of-the-art private SL series feature clean discrete aesthetics with high cinemas, as well as bars, restaurants, plac- Nearly 20 years of subwoofer technology output timbre matched performance. es of worship - in fact, anywhere where high and acoustic evolution, has merged into the The Multi SoundBar SL can be used as performance sound is required. most advanced and powerful subwoofer a single LCR loudspeaker, or for more pow- With consistent timbre and sound quali- series ever produced by Artcoustic. By erful systems, used as a single mono centre ties throughout the range, the correct model mixing Artcoustic’s early Pressure Control channel. The standard sizes are designed to is the one that delivers the output levels complement today’s flat screens. Bespoke desired together with aesthetics to suit the width options are also available. environment. Artcoustic’s huge portfolio of more than 5,000 artworks and designs The SL series uniquely allows serious quality sound to be The SL range is the result of over 12 years installed with no compromise to the interior research and development and utilises design, and due to the large and expansive the very latest drive unit and crossover SL range, there is always a model to suit the technology. The challenge was to create a application. loudspeaker capable of the dynamics and Performance is assured with a vast power of a horn-loaded design, but with the range of products and a trained installation accuracy and quality of a hi-fi design. network across the world, together with The solution was to employ an array of full design support from head office to Impact series: Speaker Impact 1 world-class drive units to provide incredible guarantee the correct products are used for

34 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The Architect Series has been designed and engineered with same high specifications as all the other Artcoustic models.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 35 technology and the later X2 bass system, audio, and the fast grooving club scene design principals. the company has ended up with something and this has been underlined with the 2015 With Artcoustic’s unique multiple cone truly unique. launch of Artcoustic’s Performance series. array technology, the company achieves a This new technology and design When starting out with the Performance very flat audio response from 15Hz–20kHz, addresses the issue of depth and power series design brief and concept it was with extremely low distortion, guided direc- versus cabinet size, with an impressive extremely important for Artcoustic not just tivity and all combined with very high sound F3 and F6 point due to multiple coupled to create yet another loud PA speaker, pressure levels. 10” bass units, phase optimisation, and but instead to combine all the company’s controlled frequency overlap. knowledge from the existing award winning The future and active speakers, com- This new design technology allows this Spitfire and SL Series technology, and end bined with wireless technology performance to be possible in a cabinet up with something truly unique. Artcoustic Besides constantly improving its existing much smaller than would otherwise be understands the importance of sensitivity product line and expanding the art portfolio, required, alongside higher sensitivity, better and high sound pressure levels, but has colour options, and general choices for heat dispersion, and improved F3 and F6 never been willing to sacrifice the true qual- customisation, Artcoustic is also developing points, operating all the way down to 15Hz. ities typically enjoyed with lower sensitivity new products in the other end of the scale: hi-fi speakers. Artcoustic is currently looking into active The Performance series is a unique speaker technology, combined with pos- cocktail, combining the award winning sible wireless solutions, all in line with the Artcoustic array technology, multi-coupled high end Artcoustic design and engineering sub units and high sound pressure levels, all standards. carefully aligned within well-ordered Danish ■

Impact series: Speaker Impact 3

Future focus — Performance series and the future Artcoustic is rapidly bridging further into the high sound pressure level market, such SL series: Speaker model, Target SL as large cinema complex, professional live

Timeline —

1998 2000 2006 2012 The launch of the Artcoustic DF Artcoustic launch the world’s first The arrival of the X2 Series. This As the plasma TV technology is series on-wall and floor standing ever left, right, and centre SoundBar, series was based on similar Pres- slowly being replaced by the much loudspeakers, including iconic the iconic Artcoustic DF-Multi. sure Control Bass System, as the slimmer LED technology, Artcoustic products, such as the DF75-55, previous series. The X2 series had decide to revamp the entire range DFF120-43, all based on Artcous- a much improved mid and high and the outcome of this, is the tic’s in-house designed Pressure frequency sensitivity, catering for the launch of the SL series. The SL Control Bass System and the typical constantly more demanding home series is the result of over 12 years flat form factor, matching the flat cinema market. research and development and plasma screen technology. utilizes the very latest drive unit and crossover technology.

36 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Famous Swedish media company, 60 seater media room. Artcoustic Performance series speakers, mounted behind an acoustic transparent projection screen.

2013 2014 2015 2015 The year of the Spitfire. The Spitfire Artcoustic goes in wall and in ceil- Artcoustic launches its first stack- After many years of research, series was designed for the finest ing. The Architect series has been able, array PA speaker system. Artcoustic has finally found the dedicated home cinemas, with dif- designed and engineered with same The Performance series is a unique formula for printed speaker grille ferent configurations to suit almost high specifications as all the other cocktail, combining the award colours, which enable Artcoustic to any room size. Performance was Artcoustic models, leaving no space winning Artcoustic array technology, produce an array of colours within crucially the same as the Artcoustic for compromise on sound quality multi coupled sub units and high well-known colour systems, such SL series, but more cost effective and build, but allowing the flexibility sound pressure levels, all carefully as Pantone, NCS, Farrow & Ball, due to more industrial aesthetics to install in ceilings or walls. aligned within well-ordered Danish and RAL but in order to keep things and a more robust finish. design principals. simple, Artcoustic has also made a functional colour swatch book.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 37 THE HISTORY OF Audio Technology

38 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Audio Technology was founded by Ejvind and Per Skaaning in 1990 based on an idea of building small series of speaker drivers for customers that wanted to have some degree of influence regarding electrical and mechanical parameters, as well as appearance and design of the loudspeaker.

The history — In 1990, Ejvind and Per Skaaning founded Audio Technology. The basic idea behind Audio Technology was to build the drivers in a way that previous mistakes were avoided, such as problems with bottoming out and compression caused by ventilation prob- lems. Only the finest raw-materials were to be used. Cone geometry should be refined to the best possible response. This would naturally mean a product at a considerable price level, but this was of no concern. The people behind Audio Technology are enthusiasts and want only the best. Iconic products — 6” driver with 3” voice coil. First driver developed by Audio Technology was the 6” driver. Audio Technology names of the cone was still to be developed. It was the right geometry of the cone got easier for its Flexunits drivers after the emissive cone done according to the ‘Trial and error’ prin- the drivers to come. diameter, because they operate with lots of ciple and went on for month. Lots of tests, Sonus Faber (Italian speaker manufac- different front ring diameters and shapes. measurements and discarded cones saw turer) was already interested in such a driv- Front rings can vary several centimeters, the day of light. Fortunately, this brought a er, so turnover and sales was guaranteed despite using the same cone diameter. lot of experience and the process of finding from start. The physical shape of the drivers was The driver, used in Sonus Faber EX- quickly established and because it would TREMA, was hereby the first commercially not be limited by physical dimensions, used driver of Audio Technology. It was like heights, etc. it was decided, the driver produced with the Sonus Faber logo on the chassis should consist of two rings – a special shaped front as well as an individual front ring and a middle ring, connected by designed cone by the ideas of Franco spacers and bolted together. A very flexible Serblin. construction, that led directly to the name About 2000 Extrema mid-woofers have – Flexunits. been produced, and the sales of these 6” Flexunits was finished with regards drivers, have contributed importantly to the to the physical construction, but the shape ongoing foundation and development of Audio Technology. Next newcomer was a 10“ unit, also with 3” voice coil, but here development 6” Flexunits - Sonus Faber version was somewhat faster. The physical design

Facts Company name Main audio product types — Audio Technology ApS Midrange and woofer loudspeaker drivers Head office Stilling, Denmark Main markets All continents Established in year 1990 Number of employees 6 Established by Flexunits with 3” voice coil. Ejvind and Per Skaaning

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 39 was just a question of enlarging the existing adopted into the other drivers. 4”, 5”, 6”, 8”, In 2009, the Sandwich Cones becomes parts, but the cone structure development 10”, 12”, and 15” drivers were now available available. It is made from two relatively thin proved yet again to be quite time consum- (1994) - some with 2” voice coil only – oth- carbon reinforced paper skins, which are ing. ers with both 3” and 4” voice coils. glued together with expanding foam glue. Then, a 4“ unit was planned and the The structure is light, but very stiff. need for a smaller voice coil occured. Like C-Quenze arrives the 3“ voice coil winding tool, the 2” tool Until now, all drivers were constructed with LR – magnet system was made as an adjustable tool to produce the bolted together chassis, but in 2001 a Last initiative is drivers with an aerodynamic coils with many possible winding heights. new series comes around – the C-Quenze magnet system – the LR system (2012). Voice coil former inserted into the tool can series. This series of drivers are in every The pole plates are rounded to an aero- be changed by 5 millimeter intervals and aspect built from the same parts and dynamic shape, avoiding aero noises and winding heights to almost any given goal. material as the Flexunits, with exception distortion from the driver. The LR system Also, the impedance can be of your own of the frame. It is now a cast frame. This comes only with the 120 mm magnet so far. choice. means the flexibility is reduced, but some Today, Audio Technology ApS is still The 4” Flexunits was constructed on parameters can still be changed. The cones owned by Per Skaaning and two of his the basis of the same ideas and from then are also changed as the energy is put into brothers. cone building set to an ideal geometry went getting a slightly broader bandwidth. As this fast. Experience does matter… driver is a bit more cost-effective than the Hereafter, the 5” Flexunits was made Flexunits, it becomes quite popular, but still, and it rapidly turned out to be a popular there are customers that want what they size driver. A not too big a driver, that is able call ‘The real thing’. to produce relatively large sound in a small cabinet. Many loudspeaker manufactures around the globe have become well-known for producing speakers with good sound, on the basis of this driver. Also the Danish Hi-Fi magazine Highfidelity, launched a DIY project ‘Speak & Abyss’ with the 5” Flexunits. Due to the narrow structure of the 5” driver, it was necessary to change the construction of the basket. Instead of mounting the screws visibly from the front, a row of treats were hidden under the rubber-surround, allowing a somewhat 15” drivers, with Rockport Technologies own Ejvind Skaaning – Year 1999. smaller assembly. This step was quickly Carbon Fiber Cone.

Timeline —

1991 1993 1994 1995 1999 2002 First commercial Guarneri Homage of The biggest Flexunits The Parcifal of Verity The KA system sees For the first time, Au- speaker system using Sonus Faber is intro- – 15” – is completed. Audio in Canada is the dawn of light. dio Technology drivers Audio Technology duced. The driver for The first Flexunits with introduced. A very Full bodied bass at have the honor of be- drivers is tested in this speaker is the big- 4” voice coil, meaning popular speaker that low levels, combined ing in “Speaker of the German Magazine gest number of Flex- great power handling. has been produced in with good damping at Year” in Stereophile Audio under the head- units produced. Copy Four pairs were sold to more or less the same X-max is possible. Magazine represented line: “Nur fliegen ist No 001, is placed in Ace of Base studios in design for 20 years. by Rockport Technolo- schöner” meaning: the Violin Museum in . gies Antares. “Only flying is Nicer” Vicenza.

40 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary

Future focus — In the coming year, Audio Technology has plans of developing midrange drivers with smaller voice coils. The plan is to create drivers with a broader bandwidth, with special focus on the automotive industry. Also the overall size of the drivers will be downscaled to sizes not common for Audio Technology. ■

2007 2008 2010 2011 2012 2015 Six speakers with The sandwich cone The Cutting Edge in The Rockport Tech- $165K Arrakis from November 1st Audio Audio Technology drivers are presented, The Absolute Sound: nologies Altair Loud- Rockport Technologies Technology celebrates drivers in “Recom- giving the Audio Tech- “…then I suspect speaker becomes is tested by Robert their 25th Anniversary. mended Components” nology woofers an that you will find that “OVERALL Product of Harley who says: 25 years of serving the of Stereophile Maga- upgrade regarding low Verity’s Lohengrin the Year”, using 3 Au- “The best Stereo sys- best speaker builders zine. Speakers from distortion and ‘edge’ isn’t cause for buyer’s dio Technology drivers tem I’ve ever heard”. around the globe. Peak-Consult, Sonus in the overall sound remorse but prolonged – 15”, 8” and a 5”. 6 Audio Technology Faber and Verity Audio experience. elation.“, J. Heilbrunn drivers per speaker. are represented. TAS

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 41 THE HISTORY OF Audiovector

42 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Audiovector was founded in 1979 by Ole Klifoth - built on a vision to produce natural sounding loudspeakers for music lovers. The ideas of linear dynamics, linear phase, and low compression still form the backbone of Audiovector’s design philosophy.

The history and the goal was to create a linear impulse with the goal of marrying function and — response. modern Scandinavian/. The In 1979, Ole Klifoth founded Audiovector The exterior design of Trapez was teardrop shaped cabinet allowed Audio- and the vision for this new company designed by 5 times Danish award winning vector to rethink the whole issue of internal was then, and still is, to produce natural Industrial Designer, Lars Mathiesen, and damping. sounding loudspeakers for music lovers. sported all the modern Danish technologies Internal damping is often the source of Ole Klifoth came from other parts of the hi-fi of the golden age of Danish loudspeaker huge production tolerances, which again industry and started Audiovector, because industry. is the source of poor product uniformity. as he says: “I could not find the speaker of The Trapez sold more than 25,000 pairs Audiovector introduced new precision-cut my dreams, so I decided to build it myself.” during the next 10 years and was an instant foam materials, which was cut very thinly As a new company, Audiovector enjoyed success from day one. to fit into the teardrop shape that has no a successful start with the “Trapez” speaker, parallel sides and thus no internal standing which was built according to Ole Klifoth’s The Audiovector 3 waves. The company almost got rid of ideas about linear dynamics, linear phase The need for slim and tall speakers damping materials and their sound quality and low compression. These ideas form the inspired Ole Klifoth and Lars Mathiesen to impairing consequence i.e. hysteresis backbone of Audiovector’s design philoso- develop the lop-sided Audiovector 3 model. distortion. “Fast as a reptile” was the phy. The history of Audiovector is described Standing 1 metre tall and sporting two 6.5” headline of one magazine after testing the through its iconic products selection. drivers with polypropylene membranes S 6 Avantgarde in 2001. The tweeter in this and an aluminium version of Audiovector’s speaker was Audiovector’s first Avantgarde 2406 low compression tweeter, they created AMT in an open SEC system. Iconic products the start of a very successful range of — loudspeakers. Again, the focus was on low The R 11 Arreté The list of iconic products from Audiovector distortion, low compression, linear phase In 2007, Ole Klifoth and designer Jacob is long. In the following, a few of the best cross-overs and a minimum of standing Tryde decided to develop an Audiovector and most forward pointing ones are high- waves. This had become the new Danish flagship speaker, which was intended to lighted. standard for loudspeakers. serve as Audiovector’s in-house reference. The speaker, which started Audiovector, Real music is of course the best reference, was the Trapez, which also stipulated the The M-series but the existence of an in-house faithful principles and dogmas, where after future Introduced in 1996, the M-series was a truly reference to benchmark all new Audiovector Audiovector models have been engineered. modular series of speakers. One type of speakers against, was a long time wish of In the Trapez, the Low Compression cabinets was used for several models. The Audiovector’s listening team. Concept was launched for the first time. series covered a total of five models before Sporting two full midrange drivers on This concept includes all areas, where com- it was discontinued and followed by the the front, a double Avantgarde AMT tweeter pression and distortion needed to be dealt S-series. and eight long-throw bass drivers on the with: in tweeters, bass drivers, cabinets, The M-series was also the first series to rear, the R 11 Arreté has the bass driver cross-overs, and voice coils. The 6dB per be upgradable. With the M-series Audiovec- area of a 17-inch driver, but with a much octave linear phase cross-overs, pioneered tor introduced the open back tweeter SEC faster response. In truth a grand speaker, in the Trapez - something other loudspeaker system for the first time. The LCC concept, able to reproduce the scale and drama of companies claimed would not work - is part although originally invented in the days of any musical genre, and doing this by using of the LCC concept. Trapez, was expanded and put into system all the Danish technologies in Audiovector’s All the concepts used in Audiovector with the M-series. toolbox. The first speakers to benefit from loudspeakers, have been developed in the new reference, were SR 6 models and Denmark, the cradle of loudspeaker design. The S 6/Si 6/SR 6 - Form Follows Function later and recently SR 3/SR 1 models. Designed by Lars Mathiesen and Ole Klifoth The Trapez In 1979 the Trapez - the brainchild of Chief Engineer Ole Klifoth - was first launched. For Facts Company name Main audio product types a long time he had been dreaming about the — Audiovector Passive and active loudspeak- perfect speaker. A speaker with linear fre- ers for domestic use. quency response and linear phase response. Head office Three drivers (modified Scan-Speak Copenhagen, Denmark Main markets and Dynaudio drivers from Denmark), were Denmark, Russia, Sweden, placed on a baffle sloping backwards in Established in year Norway, Poland, Germany, order to bring the acoustic centre of the 1979 Japan drivers in phase, when the drivers were fed by a 6dB per octave cross over. The drivers Established by Number of employees Ole Klifoth 9 themselves were all low compression types

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 43 Audiovector Jubilee model, and other models are: • The double chamber treble driver was developed into an open back treble driver with even lower compression by Audiovecor in 1996 in tandem with the SEC system (Soundstage enhancement Concept) where intelligent use of the rear radiation from the membrane replaces the fight against ear radiation. • In cooperation with Scan-Speak, Audiovector has pioneered the 3 layer sandwich membrane, which uses a combination of woven fibres and a light long fibre paper membrane. • The Dynamic Feed Forward filter tech- nology, which reduces coil resistance by a factor 2, was invented in 2004 by Audiovector in Denmark in order to get performance of the then new S-series closer to that of speakers with active electronic cross overs. • The SD technology which reduces induction related distortion in speaker drivers, was invented in Denmark in the 1960’ties. • The IUC upgrade concept, which is unique to Audiovector and which allows end users to upgrade their existing loudspeakers, is invented by Audio- vector in 1996 in connection with the launch of the M-series modular speaker line. • The NES concept, which reduces Ole Klifoth, founder and owner of Audiovector has been engineering loudspeakers for more than 45 years. energy storage in the drivers of a loud- Audiovector is based on principles developed in Denmark by himself and others. In 2010 he launched the speaker, was introduced by Audiovecor most expensive speaker from Denmark, his R 11 Arreté. in 2008 in connection with the launch of the Si-series speakers. Another Danish invention. The S 3/Si/SR series Cutting-edge technology • The ARA room adaptation technology Inspired by the S 6-shape and the — was developed in Denmark, too. ARA is technology of the R 11 Arreté, the S 1’s, This is Audiovector a low-tech frequency domain solution and S 3’s are scaled down versions using As we know from the historical pages of this to a complicated time domain problem. the same unique cabinet shape to create booklet, many of the important inventions in • The Discreet Active technology, which distortion-free dynamic performance. All loudspeaker technology, have been devel- is retrofittable in modern Audiovector the technologies from Ole Klifoth’s Danish oped in Denmark. Almost any loudspeaker speakers, or available as amplification toolbox (6dB per octave cross-overs, low today is using a double chamber treble for new active speakers, was developed compression tweeters, SEC, SD-tech- driver in order to reduce compression and for high end use in Denmark. It allows nology, resistive ports, 3-point fixing, no to obtain a linear impedance curve. This 24 bit/192 kHz transmission and up- standing waves, etc.) are incorporated in technology was invented and developed sampling. these fine speakers. in Denmark. If we look at B&W’s latest The SR-series is Audiovector’s best 800 series speakers, we will sees that its Audiovector speakers build on an evo- performing series of compact speakers to drivers are using SD technology. Invented in lutionary process of ongoing improve- date. The SR 3 Avantgarde Arreté is a true Denmark. And first order filters. Pioneered ments example of an extremely compact high-end in Denmark. The strategy of constant improvement speaker. The SR-series was also the start The Audiovector speaker on the right is a of technologies and products, which of Audiovector’s colour programme, which very good example of a speaker loaded with are already notorious for their excellent makes it possible to buy speakers in almost Danish technology. Some of the technolo- sound quality and reliability, also serves any colour. gies are invented by Audiovector, some by to preserve the Audiovector sound–DNA. other Danish companies through the years. Something that characterizes all of Audio- Reviews What they have in common, is that they are vector’s loudspeakers from the smallest to Through the years, all Audiovector models all Danish inventions. Space does not allow the biggest one. From the very first product have received excellent reviews. These can us to cover all the technical solutions, but to the newest ones. be found on Audiovector’s website. the most important ones included in this

44 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Many of the important inventions in loudspeaker technology, have been developed in Denmark

The speaker above the SR3 Avantgarde Arreté Jubilee 100 is celebrating the 100 years birthday of the loudspeaker as it was invented by Laurids Jensen. This speaker model is available in red and white, plus a couple of other color combinations and in limited numbers. 100 pairs, indiviually numbered, will be produced.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 45 Home of the loudspeaker of Dr. Oscar Heil’s Air Motion Transformer The teardrop shaped cabinets Denmark is notorious for being a - a dome tweeter was the best choice in The teardrop shape combines beautiful loudspeaker country. In the sixties and performance and power handling. A tweeter design with a non-resonant environment seventies, Danish companies manufactured for Audiovector’s top-models was born and inside the cabinet. This allows for a more loudspeakers per capita than any it was built in-house. reduction in internal dampening materials to other country in the world. The technologies almost nothing. This means better dynam- invented in Denmark are numerous and Proprietary bass/mid drivers incorporat- ics, minimal loss, and very little hysteresis many of these have since become industry ing the best of modern Danish technol- distortion. In short: a more immediate and standard. ogies dynamic performance. Audiovector has developed and fine- In cooperation with Peerless and Scan- tuned many of the technologies from the Speak a line of drivers with stunning The IUC upgrade concept golden age of loudspeakers in the 1960s dynamic performance was engineered, Audiovector is unique in offering a logical and added more technologies to improve using a specially designed chassis with upgrade path of its speakers, as all its ex- loudspeaker performance. On the opposite 3-point fixing to honour Audiovector’s NES isting loudspeaker models can be upgraded page, there are descriptions of the tech- technology (No Energy Storage). Hysteresis to a higher level, e.g. from Signature to nologies used on today’s most advanced distortion is avoided by using titanium voice Avantgarde Arreté or from a passive Super Audiovector models. coil formers and heat is efficiently lead to an active Discreet Avantgarde model. away from the coils by black anodized pole The fact that these upgrades are Precision tweeters pieces and diffusers. SD-copper caps keep offered, has led to several unique elements: In 1984, Audiovector developed its own inductance and distortion under control Firstly, people can buy Audiovector loud- dome tweeter. The goal was to create a speakers with reassurance because the tweeter design with an excellent dynamic The SEC system product does not change and lose value response, extremely low compression and The SEC (Soundstage Enhancement overnight. Secondly, the product has a very narrow production tolerances. Concept) system is a treble system, which more environmental friendly profile than the The result was the 2406 Low Compres- works together with open back, low com- use-and-throw-away products. This inspires sion dome tweeter launched in 1984. pression tweeters. A rear firing port makes a pride of ownership. It is estimated that Since 1984, Audiovector has built all its intelligent use of the rear radiation from more than 65 % of all speakers made by dome tweeters and Avantgarde Air Motion the tweeter (instead of fighting it). The rear Audiovector, are still out there in the service Transformers in-house. output is delayed and becomes a part of of music. People keep them, quite simply. the room’s reflections. It does not interfere Avantgarde tweeters with the direct sound from the tweeter. The Low Compression concept When Ole Klifoth discovered, that he could SEC creates a much bigger soundstage The Low Compression concept is a univer- get a frequency response from 2 kHz-50 and a better reproduction of detail with sal concept, which is reducing all types of kHz from one of the same tweeters, it less distortion than conventional tweeter compression: in drivers, voice coils, treble changed his view on treble performance. systems. This technology is subject to systems, cabinets internally, and cables. Before the Avantgarde tweeter - a carefully patent pending, and was first introduced in This concept allows the parts of a designed and tuned open back derivative the Audiovector M-series in 1996. speaker to last almost forever, because the

Timeline —

1979 1985 1996 1996 1998 2001 The Trapez was Audio- The Audiovector 3 with The Audiovector M-se- The IUC upgrade The Avantgarde AMT The S 6 marked the vector’s first speaker its lopsided front was ries was the first truly concept is introduced. open back tweeter is introduction of the model in which Ole another successful modular series and it Any Audiovector from born. Perfect for the famous teardrop shape, Klifoth’s pioneering design by Ole Klifoth marked the introduc- the M-series can be SEC concept and with with its total lack of technologies were in- and Lars Mathiesen. tion of the IUC upgrade upgraded to a higher a range from 2 kHz–50 standing waves. A troduced. It enjoyed an It was followed by concept. The M-series level. Later they were kHz. It represented beautiful looking design immediate success and scaled down versions, was also the introduc- upgraded to Mi level ultra-low distortion in combining form and received outstanding as Audiovector 1 and tion of the SEC treble and later again to Mi- combination with a very function to perfection. reviews from the start. 2 followed the same system with No-Com- SE level. fast transient response. design concept. pression tweeters.

46 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary heat build-up is vastly reduced. It allows Future focus Passive and active Audiovector’s speakers to sound more free, — Audiovector believes that there always more dynamic, and more powerful than The future of Audiovector is in high–end will be enthusiasts, who worship the best many competing products. luxury loudspeakers - passive as wells as possible sound quality. People who want to active. An Audiovector speaker will also partner their Audiovector speakers with the NES – No Energy Storage in the future be based on Audiovector’s best amplifiers and sources. The mechanics of loudspeakers is often a trusted acoustic and mechanical principles It is also believes that many music neglected area. Audiovector has developed – which is subject to their constant process lovers will choose active Discreet speakers, a 3-point fixing method, which isolates the of evolutionary improvement based on which they can stream to in any available drivers from the weight of the cabinet, thus scrupulous listening tests. format. Although it will be possible to creating less overhang and less coloration. For Audiovector’s passive and active stream in the highest available resolution at Discreet speakers, the mechanical and any given time, availability of music will be Discreet acoustical basis is the most important part extremely important. This is why Audiovec- Almost all Audiovector speakers are avail- of the speaker. tor embraces everything from Bluetooth to able in Discreet versions with no passive 24 bit 192 kHz hi-res. cross-over inside. Instead there are 3 digital Luxury high-end Because of the active Discreet speakers amplifiers with an even harmonics distortion Audiovector will continue to focus on pro- which are fully active and digital (with an profile similar to that of tube amplifiers and ducing luxury high-end products in either analogue sound), passive Audiovector Class A amplifiers. passive versions or active Discreet versions speakers will be inspired by the low loss A powerful (NASA engineered) DSP chip - using advanced acoustical shapes, sound transmission in the active speakers takes care of the linear phase electronic specially designed and precision machined with their electronic cross-overs and mul- crossover, power distribution and distortion bolts and screws, high quality build, and tiple amplifiers. Just as the active Discreet management. The signal is transmitted from attention to detail. speakers have been inspired by their a hub to the speakers in 24 bit/192 kHz passive siblings there will be an ongoing quality. The hub accepts inputs from digital The ongoing evolution cross–inspiration, which will result in con- and analogue sources and has a built-in It is the plan to keep on evolving Au- stant improving speaker models. automatic subwoofer sensing cross-over. diovector loudspeakers in order to achieve The hub accepts wireless BT signals even better performance in the future. This Audiovector’s in-house reference directly, Wi-Fi, hi-res, airplay signals (the is expected to happen using new and better The fact that any new speaker model from three latter through an external port). It materials, new technologies (some of which Audiovector are measured against and accepts optical and digital signals and has will be developed by Audiovector’s own compared to the Audiovector R 11 Arreté, a built-in high quality A-D converter for design and engineering team), new under- bodes well for the future. The real reference, analogue sources. standings of human perception of sound of course is live music, which is why In other words, you can make a full- quality, and new discoveries in hearing Audiovector’s listening team are frequent blown system, with a hub, a pair of Audio- psychology. concert attendants. The aim of Audiovector vector Discreet speakers, and the source of is to bring the concert hall into people’s your choice. homes. ■

2004 2008 2010 2011 2012 2014 The S-series is born The Avantgarde AMT The R 11 Arreté is The S 6 evolved into Audiovector active The SR-series is intro- out of inspiration from tweeter is lifted to a released - the most SR 6 (via Si 6). It was Discreet is introduced. duced: Audiovector’s the S 6-shape. With higher level. Faster expensive Danish soon regarded as a Multiple “green” ultra- best performing com- floorstanders, stand- transient response, loudspeaker to date. true reference speaker. high damping factor pact speaker to date. mounts, centre speak- more linear frequency Initially intended to be It has an isobaric bass PWM digital amplifiers New treble drivers, low ers, and subwoofers response, and lower used as an in-house system in combination with analogue sound loss cross-overs, NES it is a complete range distortion result in a reference, soon after with a 2.5 way upper driven by DSP derived 3-point fixing and mul- for both stereo and cleaner yet clearer the speaker catches bass/midrange/treble “electronic” cross- tiple colours, are just a surround sound. sound. the interest of music system. overs with linear phase few of the highlights. lovers. Bessel filters.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 47 THE HISTORY OF Bang & Olufsen

48 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Although B&O loudspeakers are renowned for the visual design, feats of engineering are needed to ensure a matching audio performance. Many challenges have been addressed over the years. Now, active directivity control is close to a reality due to advances in hardware and processing power.

The history pensate for the natural response of a driver a difference in the magnitude response of — (particularly a woofer) in an undersized the direct sound and the early reflections off When the history of Bang & Olufsen (B&O) enclosure. nearby surfaces. is told, one usually hears of the early In order to protect the drivers from days - of Peter Bang’s progressive ideas excessive excursion or the amplifiers Omnidirectional tweeters such as his desire to make a device that and power supplies from clipping, B&O’s In the late 1950s, Erik Rørbæk Madsen, would eliminate the problem of spilling acid Adaptive Bass Linearisation (or ABL) B&O’s acoustical engineer, was attempting on his clothes when coming home from technology was concurrently developed. to reduce the audible difference in disper- re-charging the accumulators for his radio This custom-tuned dynamic equalisation sion between the low and high frequency experiments - or of his more unique ideas system ensured that the product’s various bands by developing an omnidirectional like ‘electro-fishing’. Or the story of how components stayed within their operating tweeter whose dispersion would bet- some of the company’s initial funding came ranges. Of course, in the early models such ter-match that of the woofer. from the ‘egg money’ from the Olufsen’s as the Beosystem 2500, this processing In 1960, B&O released the ‘Rondstraler’ family farm - or how the young men’s was performed using analogue circuitry. or ‘Rundspreder’ tweeter - a construction fathers insisted that their new radio factory, However, this has been replaced by digital using two high frequency drivers aimed ver- opened in 1927, to be designed to be signal processing which is used in all tically (one upwards, the other downwards) convertible into a school as a ‘backup plan’, current products. at conical reflectors separating them. This since, as was expressed in a newspaper While the constraints imposed by loud- tweeter was designed to either be placed in Copenhagen at the time: “Radio is a speaker size can be addressed using signal directly on the main loudspeaker cabinet fashion trend, a phenomenon, which like processing (either analogue or digital), or to be hung from the ceiling. Rather than spiritualism, jazz, and embezzlement is a the relationship between a loudspeaker’s aiming the tweeters directly at the listener, consequence of progress.” shape and its directivity, power response, the concept was that the primary sound If the stories are not written about the and effects associated with diffraction are came from the reflected signals which were early history of the company, they are told more physical in nature. However, since the dispersed in all horizontal directions equally. of visual designers and the icons they have acoustical behaviour of a B&O loudspeaker Five years after production of the contributed to the company’s portfolio. We is designed to meet the needs of a re- Rondstraler was discontinued, a new hear of Henning Moldenhawer’s Beomaster al-world customer rather than a listener with loudspeaker system was introduced based 900K radio, Jacob Jensen’s 4000 turntable, ‘one chair and no friends’, these aspects on the same intention. The Beovox 5000 Steve McGugan’s Form 2 headphones, and are of paramount importance, and have loudspeaker could be upgraded with the David Lewis’s Beolab 8000 loudspeakers. been a primary concern at Bang & Olufsen Beovox 2500 Cube Tweeter, created by Rarely, however, is the story told of for more than 50 years. acoustical engineer Esben Kokholm, which Bang & Olufsen’s long history of research By the 1950’s, it was well-established was another early attempt to produce an into and developments in the acoustical that a loudspeaker driver’s directivity was omnidirectional high-frequency unit. This behaviour of loudspeakers. Although often (at least partially) a function of its diameter was a 95 mm cube with six 50 mm drivers classified by audio enthusiasts as ‘lifestyle’ and the frequency range in which it was that could, again, be mounted on a stand or products (one of the most dismissive used. Generally speaking, the higher the hung from the ceiling. and pejorative words in their vocabulary), frequency, the more directional the driver. The six drivers, each aimed in a considerable engineering and experience This ‘beaming’ resulted in at least two audi- different direction, were driven with the is required to ensure that the audio per- ble and undesirable problems in domestic same signal. Although this high-frequency formance of B&O loudspeakers are on par loudspeakers. The first was the change in loudspeaker suffered from lobing effects with their visual design and construction the loudspeaker’s timbre (or tone colour) caused by the multiple drivers operating quality. Two of the largest challenges for the when moving off-axis to it. The second was in the same frequency band, the more company’s acoustical engineers have been the direct result of the size and shape of the loudspeakers. Facts In order to overcome the effects of Company name Main audio product types — Bang & Olufsen A/S Loudspeakers, Headphones, a loudspeaker’s size on its magnitude Audio players response, Bang & Olufsen acoustical Head office engineers realised that the most effective Struer, Denmark Main markets solution was to move to building active Worldwide loudspeakers with an individual filter and Established in year amplification channel for each loudspeaker 1925 Number of employees driver in the system. This allowed them to 2000 Established by achieve the maximum potential from the Peter Boas Bang and system by using active filtering to com- Svend Andreas Grøn Olufsen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 49 omnidirectional high frequency dispersion commercially-available products, it was directivity was controlled using a symbiotic provided an improvement over the Beovox increasingly recognised in the Acoustics combination of driver directivity, placement 5000 loudspeakers they were designed to Department that the power response of a of the loudspeaker drivers and appropriate accompany. However, the introduction of loudspeaker has a larger influence on its filters in the DSP. However, this project wider-dispersion dome tweeters in later final sound design than its on-axis frequen- never came to market as it was cancelled products made this concept unnecessary. cy response when intended for a domestic due to complexity and cost. listening environment. Uni-Phase loudspeakers Indications of this were documented ALT: Acoustic Lens Technology In May 1977, Erik Bækgaard, a Manager as early as 1972 in a research report by In 1996, before the HT14 project ended, of Electronic Engineering at B&O, pub- Rørbæk Madsen and Henrik Staffeldt - the Poul Præstgaard, Head of the Acoustics lished a paper in the Journal of the Audio result of the first Danish government-spon- Department, had two important conversa- Engineering Society where he described sored research project involving collabo- tions less than a month apart. The first was a solution to one problem associated with ration between industry and a university. a phone call from the visual designer, David second-order crossovers. In a typical This knowledge came to have increasing Lewis, asking that the department start (second-order Butterworth) two-way cross- importance on future products, as is de- thinking about loudspeaker concepts that over, the two bands are 180º out of phase. scribed below. would prove to be more of a challenge to To avoid complete cancellation at the design. The second was with an American crossover frequency where the two signals ARCHIMEDES company called Sausalito Audio Works, have identical magnitude, the polarity of the In 1983, work began on the development whom the Danish acoustical engineer, Jan upper frequency band is typically inverted. of the Beovox Penta passive loudspeaker. Voetmann suggested Præstgaard contact. However, this solution results in a total sum At the time, the literature indicated that a They had developed a reflector called an that has an allpass characteristic. narrow vertical directivity was beneficial to ‘Acoustic Lens’ that appeared to offer a Bækgaard’s solution to this problem the overall performance of a loudspeaker, wide horizontal directivity with a narrow was to insert a third section to fill in the however, the belief had not been proven vertical dispersion. missing phase component, linking the scientifically. Based on this common The idea was to use a device with a upper and lower frequency sections and knowledge, the Penta was designed with a vertical cross-section defined by a portion avoiding the necessity for polarity inversion. goal to control vertical directivity and was of an ellipse, with the acoustic centre of a This section has a first-order bandpass released to market in 1986. vertically-aimed loudspeaker (typically a characteristic and was produced by a so- Around the same time, Søren Bech of tweeter) at one focal point. Signals would called ‘phase link’ driver. This corrected the the Technical University of Denmark (and therefore be reflected off the surface and phase response of the entire system and later, B&O’s Director of Research) contacted pass through the second focal point. In eliminated the allpass characteristic. Villy Hansen at Bang & Olufsen and Laurie order to distribute the signals in the horizon- The result was an entire range of passive Fincham at KEF Electronics in the UK to tal plane, the shape was rotated to form a loudspeakers, dubbed the ‘Uni-Phase’ se- propose that the three organisations collab- semicircular cross section. ries, that was produced from 1976 to 1987. orate on a EUREKA research project. As is shown in Bækgaard’s paper, his sys- In 1987 the five-year project, nicknamed tem improved the loudspeakers’ responses ‘ARCHIMEDES’ began, with a goal to in the time domain, not only on-axis, but evaluate “the influence of individual reflec- also off-axis in the vertical plane. tions on the timbre [and spatial aspects] of the sound field produced by a single Frequency or Power Response? loudspeaker positioned in a room the size Since the 1980s, the typical development of a normal living room.” (Bech, S. (1996). of a Bang & Olufsen loudspeaker, whether Spatial aspects of reproduced sound in analogue- or DSP-based, has relied small rooms. Journal of the Acoustical heavily on two primary measurements: Society of America 103(1), pp. 434-445.). the on-axis frequency response and the The conclusions from this research showed power response (an integration of many that strong floor and ceiling reflections had Fig. 1 The second prototype of the Acoustic Lens, frequency response measurements made a detrimental effect on the perceived timbre which showed that a curved face was necessary around a tessellated sphere surrounding the of a loudspeaker. In addition, the results led to reduce comb filtering effects caused by edge loudspeaker). to well-defined criteria defining the desired diffraction. These measurements are performed vertical directivity of a loudspeaker. by the project’s acoustical engineer in ‘The Work then began on the development Cube’, a 1800 cubic metre pseudo-anecho- of a replacement for the Penta. This loud- ic chamber at the company’s Acoustics speaker, internally named ‘Højttaler 14’ or After listening to a lens-equipped loud- Research and Development department in ‘HT14’, was to have a vertical directivity that speaker at a meeting in Los Angeles, it was Struer. Two active filters are then created was both controlled and constant (meaning decided that the idea had potential, and so - one to flatten the on-axis response, the that the directivity should be the same at all development on this concept began with other to smooth the power response. These frequencies). the acoustical engineers in Struer. are the starting point for the sound designer The intention was that this would be a After years of simulation, analysis, and who will choose one or the other, or some fully-active DSP-based loudspeaker using evolution of the technology, the result was hybrid of the two, as the beginnings of the a vertical arrangement of nine loudspeaker incorporated into the Beolab 5 (2002-pres- final tuning of the loudspeaker. drivers in a column-design. (The visual ent). This loudspeaker delivered the desired Through the development of many design of HT14 was later re-used for the constant directivity in the horizontal plane loudspeakers, both prototypes and Beolab 1.) The loudspeaker’s vertical as can be seen in Figure 2, with a reduced

50 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary BeoLab 5 neously delivering both a flat magnitude These artefacts led to abandoning the 150 response on-axis and a smooth power original ‘pure’ concept of the ‘Sharkfin’, but 100 response. The basic concept was (for ex- starting a new loudspeaker concept with 50 ample) that a ‘classic’ two-way loudspeaker a variable (or at least selectable) directivity 0 construction be used with active filtering to that would give a customer the opportunity

−50 deliver the desired on-axis response. to determine the horizontal beam width Horizontal Angle [°]

−100 An additional dipole assembly aimed and thus the balance of direct-to-reflected 90º away from the on-axis direction would sound in the listening room. −150

100 1000 10,000 then sit either on top of the loudspeaker By that time, Munch and Jakob Dyreby Frequency [Hz] (hence the nickname the ‘Sharkfin’) or hor- had already been collaborating on a re- izontally-mounted on its back. Either posi- search project with two graduate students Fig. 2 Directivity of the BeoLab 5. Contours are in tioning would place the null of the dipole in at DTU, Martin Møller and Martin Olsen steps of 3 dB related to the on-axis response. line with the front of the ‘main’ loudspeaker. (both of whom started working at B&O after The signal from this dipole could then be they graduated). They, together with Finn dispersion in the vertical plane. used to alter the power response of the Agerkvist, an associate professor at DTU, In addition to the specific horizontal system without having an influence on the presented a scientific paper at a convention and vertical directivity characteristics, the on-axis response of the total system. of the Audio Engineering Society in 2010 Beolab 5 also proved to have a combination called “Circular Loudspeaker Arrays with of a flatter on-axis magnitude response Controllable Directivity”. and smoother power response than was In this publication, they showed how previously seen in B&O loudspeakers. As a cylindrical enclosure containing 24 small was mentioned above, the initial filters loudspeaker drivers, each with its own applied to a prototype loudspeaker under amplifier and individualised DSP, could be development are the direct result of acousti- used to steer a beam of sound in any direc- cal measurements. tion in the horizontal plane with an arbitrary Following this, the loudspeaker under- and controlled directivity, with the purpose goes an extensive sound design process of creating different individual ‘sound zones’ where additional filters are applied based within a single listening area. on listening to a wide range of recordings This study proved that it is possible in various listening rooms. The final result to create a loudspeaker that could, using is then measured once again in The Cube different filters in DSP, range from a narrow in order to define the master reference directivity (similar to commercially-available Fig. 4 The “Sharkfin” experimental loudspeaker dipole- or cardioid-pattern loudspeakers) specification of the loudspeaker before the with a top-mounted dipole made with back-to- through to a full horizontal omnidirectional start of production. back drivers. The final on-axis magnitude and power dispersion. Consequently, it was then used responses of the Beolab 5, seen in Figure as the basis of development on a commer- 3, show that a smooth power response This concept was finally built and tested cial product with similar capabilities. proved to be more important than a flat in late 2012. Measurements in The Cube on-axis response. This result did not come indicated that the concept performed as Beolab 90: Beam Width Control as a surprise to the development team, predicted in a free field, and so an extended This first prototype of the new loudspeaker, since it was a trend that was seen in the listening session was undertaken. The internally code-named ‘Speaker 40’ or development and tuning of previous B&O outcome of this experiment indicated that ‘S40’, was devised as a scaled-down loudspeakers. (in a 2-channel stereo configuration), when version of the barrel loudspeaker used in changing the contribution of the dipoles, Møller and Olsen’s experiments. It had a there was an audible effect - not only on hexagonal arrangement of tweeters and the timbral impression of the loudspeakers midranges and a square arrangement of but also on the spatial presentation of the woofers as can be seen in Figure 5. Each recordings. driver was to have its own amplification Phantom images changed both in and DSP with customised filters to correct perceived width and distance, and envel- its time- and frequency-domain charac- opment (when it existed in the recording) was also altered, particularly when the loud- speakers were closer to a reflecting surface. This was due to the fact that, although the Fig. 3 On-axis frequency response (blue) and pow- dipole’s null was aimed at the listening er response (red curve) of the BeoLab 5. position, it provided an audible (but unwant- ed) contribution to the early reflections from sidewalls. This was particularly noticeable in a symmetrical stereo configuration when The ‘Sharkfin’ Experiment the dipoles faced in similar directions, At the end of the ARCHIMEDES project, increasing the phase difference of the lateral Gert Munch (the acoustical engineer on the reflections, and therefore giving an artificial Beolab 5 project) had an idea of building sense of spaciousness, even in monophonic Fig. 5 S40: prototype 1 an active loudspeaker capable of simulta- recordings.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 51 teristics, in addition to applying directivity the first two - a loudspeaker with the single rear-facing midrange and tweeter control. Unfortunately, this version was not capability of making forward-facing beam were replaced by two of each, giving the a success due to the fact that the drivers with an adjustable horizontal directivity possibility of a left-back and right-back were simply too far apart to result in an (now called ‘Beam Width Control’), but also Beam Direction. acceptably constant directivity. the option to change the primary direction The end result is a loudspeaker that The aim of the second prototype, of the beam in a wider directivity to one can be different loudspeakers for different shown in Figure 6 was to abandon the of a small number of directions (or ‘Beam customers - or can fill different roles in one steerable beam concept and concentrate Direction Control’). customer’s home. In narrow-front mode, on making an extremely narrow and The result, shown in Figure 7, was a the Beolab 90 can meet the needs of the constant horizontal directivity. The resulting forward-facing cluster of 3 tweeters and 3 most demanding audiophile. However, its loudspeaker was well-suited to solitary, midranges, giving the possibility of creating other modes (selectable using the included active listening, as its spatial presentation a narrow horizontal directivity. In addition, application or automated by audio sources) of recordings was remarkable. However, it the side, and rear-facing drivers from Proto- make the Beolab 90 an extremely adaptable was decided that this would not make an type 1 were incorporated to be able to steer loudspeaker. At the same time, it fulfils the appropriate product for Bang & Olufsen due the sound beam in either of 4 directions. targets set at B&O over 50 years ago - to to its focus on a single listening position. The configuration of Prototype 3 was make a full-range loudspeaker with a con- Consequently, the aim for the third almost identical to the final production stant directivity that fits seamlessly into the prototype was to create a hybrid between model. The only difference was that the customers’ homes and lives.

Beam Width Control Disabled

150

100

50

0

−50 Horizontal Angle [°]

−100

−150

100 1000 10,000 Frequency [Hz]

Fig. 8 Directivity of the BeoLab 90 with Beam Width Control disabled (only the front-centre Fig. 6 S40 prototype 2. The loudspeaker included woofer, midrange and tweeter operational). Con- one rear-facing midrange, tweeter and supert- Fig. 7 S40 prototype 3 and the first pre-production tours are in steps of 3 dB related to the on-axis weeter. BeoLab 90. response.

Timeline —

1925 1960 - 1962 1967 - 1971 1976 - 1987 1978 - 2003 Company created The Rondstraler Tweeter Beovox 2500 Tweeter Beovox 120.2 (1983-1988) - The Beovox CX-series (1960-1962) showing the (1967-1971) - another one of the many ‘Uni-Phase’ passive loudspeaker. When two loudspeaker drivers and attempt to deliver an omni- loudspeakers with a woofer, sales of these ended in reflectors with the grille re- directional high-frequency tweeter and ‘phase link’ 2005, over 570,000 had moved. The intention of this dispersion, this time in three driver. been produced. design was to provide an dimensions. Each face of omnidirectional directivity in the cube contains a 50 mm the horizontal plane to better tweeter, all six of which are match the behaviour of the driven with the same signal. low-frequency section.

52 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Future focus — Although Beolab 90 is the latest in Bang & Olufsen’s quest to define the directivity of Beam Width: Narrow Beam Width: Wide, Front its loudspeakers, it is only the beginning

150 0 150 0 of putting control of that directivity in the hands of the customers. It has been 100 −2 100 −2 possible to personalise the tonal balance

50 50 of sound systems for decades - even if −4 −4 only with simple controls such as Bass and 0 0 −6 −6 Treble knobs. However, we are entering

−50 −50 an era where the spatial behaviour of the Horizontal Angle [°] −8 Horizontal Angle [°] −8 loudspeaker can also be optimised to suit −100 −100 not only the listener’s living space, but also −10 −10his or her preferences and situations. The −150 −150 result will be loudspeakers that can not −12 −12 100 1000 10,000 100 1000 10,000 Frequency [Hz] Frequency [Hz] only adapt from space to space for different customers, but can be easily switched from Fig. 9 Directivity of the BeoLab 90 in Narrow-Front Fig. 10 Directivity of the BeoLab 90 in Wide-Front performing as an ‘audiophile’ loudspeaker mode. Contours are in steps of 3 dB related to the mode. Contours are in steps of 3 dB related to the for active, critical listening by one person on-axis response. on-axis response. to a party loudspeaker, or anything in between. ■

1986 - 1989 1991 - 1993 1992 - 2010 2002 - present 2015 The Beolab Penta (1986- The Beosystem 2500 with The Beolab 8000-series The Beolab 5 - Bang & An early production sample 1989) was Bang & Olufsen’s the Beolab 2500 loudspeak- loudspeaker (1992-2010). Olufsen’s flagship loud- of Beolab 90 undergoing first loudspeaker with a ers - B&O’s first fully-active One of Bang & Olufsen’s speaker from 2002 until acoustic measurements in built-in amplifier. However, loudspeakers. These loud- visual design icons, echoed 2015. It was the first loud- The Cube. it was not strictly speaking, speakers marked a leap by its successor, the Beolab speaker in the portfolio with an active loudspeaker, since in sound quality for small 18 (2013-present). the Acoustics Lens Tech- the crossover was placed enclosures due to the equal- nology and the ABC room in the signal chain after the isation and ABL processing compensation system. amplification stage. ahead of the amplification stages.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 53 THE HISTORY OF Clint

54 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The Clint brand is named after the famous Danish rock formation, Møns Klint – a type of rock formation which is very solid, but also pure and strong. From the very beginning, Clint’s number one priority is to create innovative, well- designed and affordable audio products.

The history to start creating all their products from finds the right manufacturing partner. An — scratch, including design, development and agreement is signed for the production of The story of Clint goes back 21 years. It manufacturing. The ambition is to handle Clint products. begins in 1994, when three friends and all design and R&D functions in-house, entrepreneurs (Jesper P. Christiansen, with the manufacturing process closely Preben Hansen and Brian Larsen) start monitored to ensure that the company’s the company HCL Europe A/S, importing high quality standards are met. consumer electronics from the Far East. The And so the journey begins for the Clint importing slowly evolves into OEM/ODM brand. The brand is named after a very production, including a wide range of AV famous Danish rock formation, Møns Klint – products, and a wide range of brands. a type of rock formation which is very solid, To start with, the main customers are but also pure and strong. Exactly what the Danish and Scandinavian supermarkets, AV Clint brand, and the Clint products, should resellers and chain stores. In the years that be associated with! Even the colour of follow, sales expand to the Netherlands, the rock formation, chalky matt white, is Spain, Portugal and Germany as well. The used for all the white speakers in the Clint product range includes various AV pro- product range. ducts, and each product is developed and The technology produced to meet the demand for devices The team behind Clint have worked with for the fast-growing digitisation of audio and radios and speakers, one way or another, video broadcasting. for their entire professional lives. They know about the radio market, the technology that is used, and they have reliable and solid sales channels. Nonetheless, times change and the technology keeps developing. The team become aware of the new possibilities offered by music services. Apple introduces iTunes, and everybody can buy exactly the songs they like. Spotify launches a music streaming service, enabling people to listen to music via subscription. The radio media Production are very strong at this time, but CD distribu- One of the main priorities now is to find tion is slowing down massively, indicating a the right manufacturing partner. Since the threat to a very large part of the existing Clint company has been working with overseas product line-up. The Clint brand is born manufacturers for more than a decade, this During the search for a manufacturing In the year 2008, the Clint brand is born. is expected to be an easy task. However, partner, the Clint team has discovered new At this time the company is known as this is not entirely the case. Searching for a technology concepts, based on products ViewMedia ApS, and it has just a few DAB manufacturer to produce products that the allowing users to play their purchased radios in its portfolio, but the team behind company itself has developed and designed music from a smartphone, or other wireless the company has an amazing knowledge turns out to be a much more complicated device, to a personal speaker or a sound of the radio industry, as well as the different task than just making OEM products. After system. This is a very interesting discovery, technologies used for radio production. All a lot of hard work, and many factory visits and new technologies including wireless team members are well-established en- and negotiations, the company finally and streaming capabilities become an trepreneurs in the field of digital audio and video, and they are among the pioneers of Facts Company name Main audio product types digital radio products (DAB/DAB+/Internet — Clint Digital ApS Streaming & Digital Audio radios) in northern Europe. The basis and key foundation of the Head office Main markets , Denmark Northern Europe Clint brand at this time, as it will remain to the present day, is to provide well-designed Established in year Number of employees and well-engineered high quality products. 1994 5-10 At the outset, the company works mainly with OEM products from southeast Asia, Established by but co-founder Brian Larsen and his Jesper P. Christiansen, Preben colleagues want to change this. They want Hansen and Brian Larsen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 55 important part of the Clint product strategy. for the DVB TV market, together with a The Asgard™ range, 2014 At this time, multi-room is also an upcoming range of DAB/DAB+ radios, Internet radios FREYA new technology, so far only used by one and other products for the audio market. The first product is FREYA. To begin with, other company in the world (an American The company is also ready to launch a FREYA is a simple, elegantly designed por- company). But the Clint guys rapidly adopt completely new line-up of streaming and table Bluetooth speaker. Small, easy to use, the idea of developing the multi-room tech- multi-room products. However, the company lightweight, and with good sound. FREYA is nology into a range of speakers. needs an economic boost to move forward. later upgraded to a Wi-Fi version, with full So, at the beginning of 2013, ViewMedia multi-room capabilities as well. The design vision ApS enters into a partnership with EET One of the most important brand features Europarts. The ViewMedia company is ac- ODIN for Clint is “uniqueness”. All Clint products quired by EET Europarts, and the ViewMedia The second product is the ODIN speaker. have to be unique, easy to use, and, of activities are placed in a separate business ODIN is a much larger speaker unit with course, good looking – preferably Scandi- entity, called Clint Digital. The acquisition more power. ODIN has the same character- navian looking. Therefore, in 2012, the need provides the right springboard for launching istics as FREYA, with matching materials, for an in-house designer becomes evident. the very exciting new Clint product range. colours and user-friendliness. All employees are asked to reach out to their networks in the quest for the perfect On the right track – and ready to intro- HEIMDALL candidate. One of the candidates is a young duce Asgard™ The third product is HEIMDALL. HEIMDALL man named Phillip Bodum, who is working The new partnership provides the perfect packs a lot of features into one small unit, as an industrial designer in New York. He economic and business environment, in- and is intended for customers with existing has a lot of experience with the design of cluding a back-end organisation that allows stereo systems. Using this small but pow- furniture, interiors and graphics, but he has the Clint team to concentrate on product erful device enables the stereo system to never designed electronic devices before. development and the market launch of the harness all the new features, such as music However, the Clint team decides that a latest Clint products – the all-new wireless streaming, multi-room functionality, Internet partnership with Phillip is a good idea and, and multi-room speaker range, dubbed radio and streaming from local services. It for the first time in the company’s history, an Asgard™. simply upgrades the old hi-fi system to the in-house designer is hired. A decision which All the Asgard™ products are named new digital era. will soon prove to be just the right one. after the Nordic gods, and they all have a special story to tell. Speakers and other A new beginning with EET Europarts electronic devices are part of people’s By 2013, ViewMedia ApS has developed a everyday lives, and of their home décor, so range of operator approved set-top boxes the Clint team want to bring them to life.

THE CLINT APP: All of the products in the Asgard™ range connect to the same multi-room feature. To use this feature, the Clint app needs to be installed on a smart device. The app is available free of charge and gives customers a powerful tool to set up and control, via a smart device, all the speakers they have in their home or office. The Clint app is designed and developed in- house, just like the Clint audio products, so that users will experience the best possible performance with minimal hassle.

Phillip Bodum is a graduate from Parsons School of Design in New York where he still lives and works. As his roots are from Denmark he has a strong dedication to details, materials and functionality.

56 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Digital convenience ODIN Top of the line all-in-one complete FM/ Clint Digital focuses on the development ODIN is the second product launched in DAB/Internet/CD/DVD/docking station of new products in the Asgard™ range, the Asgard™ range. ODIN is a generously for iPod/iPhone to meet all the needs of a digital home. proportioned, powerful stereo speaker, In 2002 the company introduces its H1510 Therefore, the team also designs and cre- best kept on the floor. ODIN also has an model. This is a large hi-fi system in a tall ates portable units which can be used both optional aluminium stand, which raises it 5 glossy wooden cabinet with external speak- indoors and outdoors. The product line-up cm above the ground and angles it 8° for an ers. The system includes all the details includes speakers of various sizes, to fill any optimal sound experience. and specifications needed for a high-end room in a home or office with great music. The ODIN speaker receives an IF design modern hi-fi system. It includes FM/DAB/ Wall mounts and floor stands are also part Award in 2015 as well as a RedDot Award Internet/CD/DVD as well as a docking sta- of the range, to enhance the performance in 2015. tion for iPod/iPhone, and offers great sound as well as add flexibility when it comes to performance. placement of the speakers. For Clint Digital, as an innovative and forward-thinking company, this is what matters most. The product range is focused on design and functionality. Clint Digital thrives by creating products that include state-of-the-art technology, sophisticated design, a variety of colours and a high degree of user-friendliness. Furthermore, the products need to be affordable for everyone. Clint Digital is a company with incred- ible potential. The team behind the Clint brand and products have been honoured with several international awards for design and functionality. Recognition like this is what drives the development of the compa- ny, the brand and the products. Cutting-edge technology Brilliant adapter for upgrading existing — hi-fi systems Iconic products World’s first combined DAB+/Internet The model named H2001 is introduced in — radio 2006. The H2001 is an adapter for upgrad- New form factor The company behind the Clint brand is ing existing hi-fi systems to the latest digital the first in the world to launch a combined audio and DLNA streaming. This model is FREYA DAB+/Internet radio. The radio is launched successfully launched as an OEM product FREYA is the first product launched in the in 1997, and is called H1601. The H1601 for multiple customers in Germany, the US Clint Asgard™ range in 2014. A small, por- model is the company’s own design and and Scandinavia. This model continues table speaker that can be placed anywhere. it becomes a very successful product in to sell very successfully today, with minor The design is spectacular with its cylindrical Scandinavia. design changes and with updated firmware form factor and aluminium cabinet. When In the UK, too, the company is the – but the key features are still the same. it is designed, it is one of the first speakers first to launch a radio with combined with a cylindrical form factor, since at this technologies such as traditional FM and time all speakers are more or less square the new DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) wooden or plastic boxes. digital platform, plus Internet radio, giving The FREYA speaker receives an IF access to more than 10,000 radio stations design Award in 2015 as well as a RedDot worldwide. Award in 2015. The company produces the H1601 as its own-brand model, and also launches various OEM versions for a range of cus- tomers around the world.

Very early adopter of music streaming technology At a very early stage, Clint products feature music streaming technologies, including the implementation of streaming access from local devices and local servers. Later, the new and popular music services like Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, etc., are added to the products.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 57 Advanced integration of multi-room tech- Future focus have a wide variety of choices for installing nology — a great sound system in their homes. The Clint company is among the front-run- From the very beginning, Clint Digital’s Having specific speakers for specific rooms ners in the industry with regard to the number one priority is to create innovative, improves overall flexibility and the enjoy- spreading of multi-room technology. The well-designed and affordable audio prod- ment of music. company focuses especially on fine-tuning ucts. This remains the top priority for the The Asgard™ application will be further of the technology, making sure no delays company going forward. developed, with new features and a new occur in the music distribution from speaker The Clint Asgard™ range will be further design and interface, keeping in mind that to speaker, and making sure the handling developed, and many new products within ease-of-use in navigation and stability in of multi-room technology is smooth, easy the Asgard™ multi-room concept will be use are some of the key issues for custom- and convenient, with a user-friendly, intuitive brought onto the market in the near future. ers. interface application to control the speakers. A multi-room setup means that customers In the Clint radio line-up, new products will be launched – featuring new designs, new colours and new functionalities. Clint’s employees are especially passionate about radios, since this product category is an important part of the company’s heritage. Clint is strongly focused on the digiti- sation of audio and video products, and in the future the company will focus on the development of products within the catego- ries of wireless speakers, digital radios and streaming devices. Emphasis will also be placed on product categories like in-car entertainment and the merging of SmartHouse and IoT systems. ■

Timeline —

1997 1999 2000 2002 First tabletop combo radio with DAB/ Upgraded stereo versions added to New portable product range. Combo stereo system including FM/Internet and DLNA. Hits the UK the product range. all known technologies enters market first and then Germany and the market with launch in the the Nordics. Netherlands to begin with.

58 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Create innovative, well- designed and affordable audio products. This remains the top priority for the company going forward

2008 2013 2014 2015 Upgraded compact stereo system is First new Asgard™ speaker de- New FREYA WIFI speaker with full ODIN - the large wireless stereo launched in Switzerland. signed by Phillip Bodum comes to multi-room features and with battery speaker in the Asgard™ range is life. Speaker is named FREYA after support is launched. launched. And the hi-fi adapter the Nordic goddess. HEIMDALL is introduced at the IFA show in Berlin.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 59 THE HISTORY OF Cornered Audio

60 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Established in 2010, Cornered Audio ApS creates high performance loudspeakers for modern homes, commercial installations and entertainment venues.

The history — Founder Hans V. Madsen has more than 30 years of experience from the audio industry in both the consumer and professional segments. “No matter where I went on the planet, customers asked for discreet loudspeakers. Tables, chairs, sofas, shelfs. Everything can be visible, but for some mysterious reason, speakers must be hidden away. One very late evening, listening to music and being in an almost meditative state, the Cornered design appeared for my inner eye. The next day I decided to stop working against the trend towards discrete speakers, but to work with it. I then formulated the Cornered Vision: ’To create a discreet loudspeaker system that would integrate well into homes and commercial installations while deliver- ing unexcelled performance’,” says Hans V. Madsen.

Vision “The idea behind Cornered is simple and powerful; we design our speakers to be placed in corners or on walls and ceilings without steeling the picture. And we use the corner to increase output and create uniform coverage throughout the room. We brand ourselves by the term ’Aesthetic Sound’ as our products are pleasing to the eyes as well as the ears,” says Hans V. Madsen.

Design The patented design is classic Danish and minimalistic, blending form and function. With a 90 degree triangular shape, the cabi- nets fit perfectly in corners – either vertically on the wall or horizontally below the ceiling. The front is slightly curved and the cloth covered grill mounts with neo magnets so it can easily be removed and allow access to cable terminal and mounting points. Mount- ing points are an integrated part of the design and allows the speakers to mount Facts flush on wall and ceilings without brackets. — Company name Main audio product types The cable terminal is hidden behind the grill Cornered Audio ApS Loudspeaker systems and cable is run from the rear of the cabinet through a port to the front baffle, so there is Head office Main markets no visible cable no matter if the speaker is , Denmark Scandinavia, UK, France, Italy, installed vertically or horizontally. China, Korea Australia, South Two cabinets can be mounted together, Established in year Africa working as a bi- or dipole speaker in home 2010 Number of employees cinema applications. And in professional Established by 4 applications, two cabinets can be coupled Hans V. Madsen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 61 installed to mention just a few customers. In 2013, Cornered Audio took out a design patent on a triangular speaker cable, designed as a support product for the triangular speakers. The cable is of course designed to run in the corner and is a great solution for places where it is not possible to run the cable in or behind the wall – or as a retro fit cable solution in existing installa- tions where the cable is run on the wall. In 2014 full polar plots were measured for all products and EASE data was made available for professional installers, enabling them to simulate sound pressure and cover- age in any given room. In 2015 the LS1 – an ‘Aesthetic Line Source model’ was launched at the ISE Show in Amsterdam. LS1 features closely spaced dual horn tweeters and is flown in a straight line with a maximum of six speak- ers. Such a configuration delivers 104 dB in 30 meters with hi-fi like clarity and very uniform coverage. There is no visible flying gear from the front and the solution is an aesthetic approach to professional sound reinforcement in high reverb venues. Cutting-edge technology — Technically Cornered Audio takes pride in making a true audiophile product with together to widen coverage to 180 degree. exceeded 90 % of the turnover already in excellent clarity, dynamics, and sound Three cabinets can be coupled together to year one. Over the next years, the smaller pressure. Designs feature the use of loud- cover a 270 degree corner and four boxes C3 and C4 was introduced and Zentropa speaker components from leading Europe- can be coupled together and flown from the now also installed C4 in their VIP screening an brands and R&D is made by a pool of ceiling offering 360 degree dispersion. rooms in the Danish operation ‘filmbyen’. world-class Danish acoustic engineers. Air With the discreet design, music and coils and polypropylene capacitors are used movie lovers are enabled to install a pow- in the crossovers and to ensure ruggedness erful multi-channel speaker system in their and exceptional reliability, everything is on home without making the living room look the brink of being over-engineered. like a sound studio. And professional in- An advanced slave woofer design is stallers can install serious sound systems in developed to adapt the bass response meeting rooms, shops, and lounges without to the boost from the corner, so that the getting in bad standing with architects and corner is used not to create a bass boost, interior designers. but to increase the overall sensitivity and output of the speaker. So the speakers Iconic products sound like ‘normal’ speakers, but can — be neatly hidden away in the corners. All The iconic C5 model hit the market by C4 back to back without grills at “Boards and tweeters are designed with waveguides that summer 2010. It received excellent reviews. Sports” in Istanbul, Turkey. optimise dispersion at the crossover point German AREA DVD called it ‘outstanding’, and creates seamless integration with the Hi-Fi Test gave it strong recommendation in woofers. the category ‘oberklasse’ and in Hungary, Later in 2012, the larger C6 and C6TRM Positioning the speakers in corners AV Online stated “…they acted almost like models were introduced and shortly after, places high demands on the off-axis re- studio monitors”. the largest Turkish television company sponse from the speaker. To ensure that the In 2011 the C5 was installed in Danish Digiturk installed C6TRM and C12PNC’s in off-axis response is uniform and controlled, rebel movie producer Zentropa’s VIP all their VIP movie screening rooms. Today full polar plots of all Cornered Audio speak- Screening room in Berlin. And later same Cornered’s speakers are sold in more than ers are measured – a process involving year, Zentropa’s founder Peter Aalbæk 40 countries. The customer list includes more than 10,000 computerised mea- installed a 5.1 C5 system in his home with prestigious customers such as Louis Vuitton surements per speaker. The data enables the new C12PNC subwoofer from Cornered with five shop installations in France, the Cornered to offer EASE data to professional – a subwoofer designed as a puff appearing iconic five star Hotel D’Angleterre in Copen- installers so that they can simulate sound as a leather seat. In 2012, Cornered was hagen, the five star Hotel W in Bangkok, pressure, coverage, and speech intelligibility established in 10 countries and exports Sunglass Hut in Mexico with 50 shop in any given room.

62 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary An advanced slave woofer design is developed to adapt the bass response to the boost from the corner, so that the corner is used not to create a bass boost, but to increase the overall sensitivity and output of the speaker.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 63 Room Integration a minimum of comb filtering from the walls. as high minimum impedance to enable When controlling the off-axis response The combined result is maximising the the speakers to get the most out of the and optimizing the speaker acoustically amount of direct sound in the listening posi- amplifiers. The sound is forward and for placement in corners, the speakers tion and minimising the amount of reflected Cornered speakers engage the listener with becomes surprisingly non-room dependent. sound. Because of that, Cornered speakers dynamics, emotions, and great speech The reason is that the first reflection – to excel in clarity and are capable of repro- intelligibility – so you will actually be able to which the ear is very sensitive – comes right ducing a natural three-dimensional sound hear the lyrics. after the sound leaves the speaker, so there stage, filling the entire room with sound. The aluminium cabinet helps to cool is not enough time for the brain to enable it A combination of aluminium cabinets the components so the speakers maintain to perceive the first reflection. The second and MDF baffles makes the speakers perfect performance for hours even when reflection comes very late as the sound has compact while still sounding as a wooden pushed hard. In the TRM models, power to travel through the entire room, so there cabinet. The triangular shape minimises compression is less than 1.5 dB after an 8 is minimum negative influence from the standing waves from inside the cabinet, hour IEC power test. second reflection. adding to the clarity of the sound. Strong In addition, as the speaker is angled 45 focus is placed on low group delay, uniform Future focus degrees away from the side walls, there is phase, and frequency response as well — The current product range offers products for smaller living rooms and shops up to large living rooms and medium SPL clubs and lounges. Cornered will widen the prod- uct range to include triangular installable subwoofers, wireless installable stand-alone models, and weatherproof models for outdoor use. The brand name Cornered describes the core of the company: Designing speakers for corners. However, the speakers also mounts on walls or ceilings – so they are not con- fined to corners - and in the very near future, Cornered will evolve into the pro segment of the market with an aesthetic solution to large scale PA systems including in- and outdoor line array speakers and club solutions. Cornered Audio gives customers yet Cornered speakers are not confined to corners. They also mount flush on walls and ceilings without another option to install speakers discreetly brackets. and aim at impressing customers and fellow music lovers with aesthetic sound. ■

Timeline —

2010 2011 2012 2012 Cornered Audio ApS is established The C12PNC subwoofer is launched The smaller C3 and C4 models were Cornered C6TRM and C12 subs are and launches the iconic C5 model – designed as a puff because there launched and late in the 2012, the installed in Digiturk’s VIP screaning receiving excellent reviews from is never room for a subwoofer but larger C6 and C6TRM models were rooms. European AV magazines. always room for a seat. introduced as well.

64 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The triangular shape minimises standing waves from inside the cabinet, adding to the clarity of the sound.

2013 2014 2014 2015 First Louis Vuitton installation in EASE Data provided for all models Iconic 5 star hotel Hotel D’Angleterre Launch of the LS1 Line Source Courchevel 1850 in the French allowing professional installers to choses C6TRM and C12 in their model launched at the ICE Show in Alps, followed by installations at LV simulate sound pressure, coverage Champaign Bar Balthazar. Amsterdam. Soings, Deauville and others. and speech intelligibility in any given room.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 65 THE HISTORY OF DALI

66 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary In a low-density industrial neighbourhood in Nørager, close to in Northern Jutland, Denmark, lies the headquarters of one on the best-known loudspeaker brands worldwide, DALI.

The history rented production facilities (and besides the beginning than we could have done if — that, the water was pouring through the roof we had only been building our own speak- In the sprawling, squat buildings the design, when it was raining). Instead of finding a ers,” says Lars Worre, CEO of DALI. manufacturing, and assembly of DALI new space for rental, the whole facility was speakers is carried out by a staff of 100 moved 100 kilometres north, to Nørager, Like cheese to the French specialists from all trades. And they design where a new HQ would be built. A new Denmark has a unique tradition for sound nearly everything by themselves. Even the factory was set up for the manufacturing of and for loudspeakers in particular,” says mounting screws for the speaker units. DALI loudspeakers. Lars Worre, CEO of DALI. “Not only was DALI was officially instated 30 years the dynamic loudspeaker invented here, ago, in 1985. But the actual beginning was Cerwin-Vega for all of Europe in 1915. Electromagnetism was a Danish two years earlier, in 1983. At that time the But the factory was not only built for DALI. discovery too, by H. C. Ørsted, nearly a newly-founded chain of hi-fi stores ‘Dan- From the onset the biggest production at hundred years before that, in the 1820s.” marks Hi-Fi Klub’ (today just ‘Hi-Fi Klub- the Nørager facility was of Cerwin-Vega “This is, along with the very long dark ben’) was having a huge success selling loudspeakers. Danmarks Hi-Fi Klub had winter evenings..., probably the reason stereo components from NAD and Denon from its earliest days been selling enormous why Denmark has always had such a big at affordable prices. But which speakers numbers of the big, hard-hitting American number of loudspeaker manufacturers. It is should they recommend to go along with loudspeakers, fuelling partiers and ag- an indigenous product for the region. Like the amplifiers, turntables and cassette gravating neighbours and parents. But in wine and cheese for France.” players? The stores were already selling the mid-Eighties the Dollar exchange rate “For the Danes, however, this is natural lots of Cerwin-Vega loudspeakers, but they was close to 12 Danish Kroner for a Dollar, to us. We do loudspeakers, and we are were huge, costly and mostly suited for which, along with significant import duties, used to see our products around the world. hard-hitting music genres. made American hi-fi products prohibitively But if you go to a hi-fi store in China, you expensive in Europe. will see many Danish flags, advertising Built NAD speakers in the boss’ cellar In order to cut costs on customs and that the products are from Denmark. Even To fill the gap in the product range, freight (Cerwin-Vega loudspeakers were though many of them have never been Danmarks Hi-Fi Klub began designing and huge and heavy!) a Danish production was anywhere near Denmark. They tend to use making NAD-branded loudspeakers. In set up. And for more than 10 years DALI the term ‘Danish’ in the broadest possible spite of the name, it was purely a Danish built the Cerwin-Vega speakers for not only way, as the customers associate Danish product. NAD had never made loudspeak- the Danish market but for the rest of Europe heritage with quality and quality sound.” ers, and the models were only made for the as well on a licence basis. Germany was Danish market. a particularly big market, and as strange From house brand to brand name Product development and partly as it may sound today, mainly due to the DALI is one of very few brands that production initially took place in the cellar many American soldiers that was based successfully have made the transition from of Hi-Fi Klubben’s founder Peter Lyngdorf’s in Germany during the Cold War. The being an in-house-series for a chain of hi-fi house. Later manufacturing facilities were production continued during the Nineties, shops to being an independent and well- rented in various places in the small towns until the Cerwin-Vega brand changed own- known player on a world-wide market. of and Ry, close to where ership. The last ‘Danish’ Cerwin-Vega was DALI was originally created to ac- Peter Lyngdorf lived. produced in 1999. commodate the need for value-for-money “Making Cerwin-Vega loudspeakers speakers for the Hi-Fi Klubben chain Speakers for pocket money was essential to our initial growth, as it stores. While the share majority is still After two years of selling NAD speakers to meant that we were able to build a much owned by the original entrepreneurs, (later customers, the brand DALI (Danish Audio- bigger factory and hire more people from supplemented by management by-in), DALI phile Loudspeaker Industries) was founded, starting out with mostly compact two-way speakers, some of the models carried along Facts from the NAD period. The smallest model, — Company name Main audio product types DALI 2, a 13-litre 6.5-inch compact, became DALI Loudspeakers an immediate success. If you were a young student setting up your first dwelling, you Head office Main markets could put two of these in your bookshelf, Nørager, Denmark Scandinavia, England, Germany, next to an NAD 3020 amplifier, and you had India high-quality sound at a hitherto unseen low Established in year price (less than a month’s ‘SU’ educational 1985 Number of employees 250 (100 in Nørager and 150 in grant in 1985). Established by Ningbo, China) In 1986 the demand had outgrown the Peter Lyngdorf

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 67 have come a long way from their humble the strength of being measured and evalu- speaker units is considered the above-all beginnings. Today DALI has official distribu- ated independently on the export markets. critical process to master. tors in 65 countries and is among the most We have managed cut out a position for The reasons for taking the make-it-in- well-known loudspeaker brands worldwide. ourselves globally, and that is a strength – house-approach are speed, flexibility, and The transition has not been an easy one, both for us and for Hi-Fi Klubben. We have quality. The advantage of having every step but it was necessary. gained credibility in the process,” says Lars in the production done in close proximity “Very few so-called house brands Worre. of the R&D engineers, is total control over have managed to gain a foothold on other As an in-house brand you stand a risk every detail. And when problems begin to markets, but in order to keep developing of having unrealistically high thoughts about arise, it is easy to make quick adjustments the company we had to try,” says CEO Lars yourself, since you have not really met and get back on track. Without having to Worre. the independent scale where international wait for weeks for the next shipping crate “It is not a question of expanding just brands compete – far away from your home to arrive by ship and conclusions to be for the sake of growth. Actually, we have market postponed. always preferred to maintain the many DALI’s loudspeakers are now available DALI used to design all speaker units advantages of being a small company, in more than 65 countries, and more than and have them produced by other loud- not least our passionate mentality and 90 percent of the production is exported. speaker manufacturers. But even though loyalty towards ‘why are we here’. On the Japanese and American audiophiles the units were made according to DALI’s other hand making lots of speakers gives listen with respect to the top models, and own, strict specifications, they still had to us a lot of advantages as well, cost-wise, DALI is getting rave reviews in critical hi-fi choose from a palette of standard tech- technology-wise and in terms of making magazines worldwide. Even though the nologies and parts, like magnets, voice partnerships with major partners.” loudspeakers are often sold at price points coils, soft parts, etc. “The company spirit has gone through somewhat over those at the Danish home After DALI took over production of profound changes in the process. From market. the speaker units, they have been able to the moment where we decided to become implement new process- and material tech- independent, to actually doing it, and fur- No outsourcing nology and experiment more freely, making ther towards the day when we were able to Where many manufacturers are saving small test runs and changing things much make money on a worldwide market. Going costs by having their speaker enclosures more target oriented and – faster! all the way required some quantum leaps, built by Asian sub-contractors, at DALI not at least in the mind-set.” they have chosen another path, building A Danish factory in China all critical parts by themselves. And that While DALI is at heart a Danish loudspeaker Independence means credibility includes designing every little part – from manufacturer, the entry level models are “Our wish in the process was to keep our the smallest screw to the most complex made at DALI’s fully-owned factory in position as one of the preferred brands in components and structures. And, most Ningbo, China. The Chinese factory also Hi-Fi Klubben, at the same time as gaining importantly, in-house manufacturing of manufactures certain components and parts for several of the models that are built in at the Danish factory. The Ningbo factory was founded in 2007 and is in several ways an exact copy of the Danish factory in Nørager. The approx. 150 employees work under the same conditions as their Danish colleagues. The management is Danish as well, located on-site. Manufacturing in China eventually comes down to cost and proximity to many of the sub-supply sources. But beside the cost of wages there are cultural differences. The Chinese DALI workers share the desire to work hard and to aim for results, but while being great specialists, their Danish colleagues tend to have a broader general knowledge. Today DALI makes four complete ‘classic performance’ loudspeaker product lines, ZENSOR, OPTICON, RUBICON, and EPICON. Along with smaller ranges of specialist speakers, like the active KUBIK models, the shape/form oriented FAZON series, there is a dedicated range of subwoofers that can be used in conjunction with several models. While the number of models is dazzling, there is a clear line from the smallest and Loudspeaker drive manufacturing in-house was from the start a close cooporation between R&D and most inexpensive model and up to the production engineers. flagship high-end models. The sound – the

68 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Denmark has a unique tradition for sound and for loudspeakers in particular

– LARS WORRE CEO, DALI

voicing – is maintained throughout the and lavish veneered MDF, creating an be a prestige product, but rather a one-off model ranges. almost resonance-free yet elegant twist of showcase product for hi-fi shows. “But then “When you listen to a selection of our the classic box-design. the orders began to arrive, so we figured speakers, it is obvious that they are related. The 1990s saw the event of dipole that we had to begin manufacturing it,” Lars The qualities found in the more expensive speakers, a technique from the earliest Worre recalls. models is to a certain degree found in the days of loudspeaker construction. In the Handling of the MEGALINE was ‘fairly cheaper models as well,” says Lars Worre. same period ribbon speakers became easy’ – for a towering high-end loudspeak- popular. DALI SKYLINE combined the two er, arriving on a 260 kilograms transport Iconic products principles in a flat, triangular loudspeaker pallet. Each cabinet was divided into three — that still today is admired for its design. The identical subsections, stacked on top of Many DALI loudspeakers deserve the label open-backed speaker was equipped with a each other. Twelve 6.5” woofers and three ‘iconic’. The first official speaker to carry the 15” woofer two 4” midrange units and a 40” 30” ribbon tweeters per channel provided brand name, DALI 2, was a breakthrough in ribbon tweeter of DALI’s own design and a uniform sound field from floor to ceiling, price. At only 525 kroner (in 1985), about half manufacturing. literally. Aside from forming an almost the price of similar loudspeakers, it opened perfect line-source, the design was able to the ears of many new listeners to hi-fi. cancel out floor and ceiling reflections to a point where these room boundaries could be taken out of the equation entirely. Cutting-edge technology — Agile motion and low distortion The biggest challenge when building loud- speakers is neither obtaining a deep bass response, flat frequency range, nor high power handling. In fact, you rarely serve the listener well if ANY single discipline of loudspeaker performance is taken to the The one iconic product to literally tower extreme. Having said that, there may be a them all was DALI MEGALINE. As the name holy grail of speaker design, according to In the mid-Eighties the ingenious suggests, it was a line source loudspeaker DALI: to minimize distortion and non-linear DALI 40 saw the light of day featuring the of pompous proportions. Standing 2.3 losses in general. This goes through all DALI-patented ‘L-coupling’ bass principle meters tall it just exactly fits into the height aspects of the design from materials to the for complete cancellation of low frequency of most homes, while the bill fits only the design of moving parts and a philosophy cabinet vibration, along with an innovative wealthiest. which prioritises the composition of agile, combination of extruded aluminium profiles The MEGALINE was never intended to lightly damped moving parts rather than

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 69 heavy and heavy-damped moving parts. standing loudspeakers weighs only a few unless the viscosity is kept at an absolute “Of course we strive to avoid resonan- grams and are made of a pressed wood/ minimum, it tends to make the impulse ces and colourations, but you can easily go cardboard pulp, chosen not for its lack of response slower. And the quests for low too far down that path. We did that on some sound but in order to achieve ultra-fast compression ultimately lead to invention models in our early years. If you play around response, wide bandwidth and a ‘organic’ of a new kind of magnet system, banning with excessive mechanical damping, you resonance decay. the traditional excessive use of iron in the risk ending up with a speaker that measures Great care is taken in the magnet and magnet assembly, in favour of a newly perfectly flat but has lifeless sound,” says motor system to avoid non-linearity, and developed material, SMC (Soft Magnetic Lars Worre. artefacts leading to dynamic attenuation Compound). As an example of the low loss ideal, the of the signal. Magnetic oil for instance has woofer’s diaphragms for DALI’s bigger floor been used for tweeters in decades, but Out of the Iron Age The most remarkable achievement reached is the material SMC (Soft Magnetic Com- pound). When pressed and heated into shape it has unique magnetic properties. “Iron has been used for magnet systems for decades, and it works very well for transporting magnetic flux. Or so it seems,” says Lars Worre. “The problem is that iron has a far from linear behaviour when exposed to a pulsating flux field. The resulting induction varies with both frequen- cy and amplitude. At ultra-low frequencies the rules we learned from the books apply, but send a fast, strong signal into an iron magnet, and you get both compression and distortion. Unfortunately music consists of both fast and strong signals mixed in an ultra-complex and unpredictable cocktail.” For the EPICON high-end series a special magnet system based on the SMC material was developed and patented. The so-called Linear Drive Magnet System has reduced the distortion in the woofers with The EPICON 8, the largest model in the EPICON series, introducing SMC in woofer and midrange magnet a magnitude of up to 20 decibels – that is systems. a potential hundredfold decrease, bringing the odd-order distortion down to a level

Timeline —

1983 1986 1980s 1990 1992 1996 DALI is founded as After starting up in Not only DALI speak- DALI begins its expan- DALI Skyline 2000 DALI’s state-of- a manufacturer of founder Peter Lyn- ers are built in the new sion towards a world- dipole speaker includ- the-art loudspeaker loudspeakers for the gdorf’s cellar and factory. In order to wide market. After ed 15” woofer, two 4” MEGALINE is intro- stores of Danmarks later at production at save cost on freight having been created midranges and 40” duced. Originally the Hi-Fi Klubben. The various locations, a and customs, all Cer- as a shop-brand for ribbon tweeter. gigantic line source first speakers are sold new HQ and factory is win-Vega speakers for the Danish stores, the speaker system was under the NAD label. built in Nørager, near the European market first attempts at export meant to be a one-off The brand name is Hobro, Denmark. are built in Denmark. are made. demonstration for a changed to DALI in hi-fi show. 1985.

70 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary comparable with that of amplifiers. reproduction and very little sales is not the Into the music Since the Linear Drive System and interesting challenge. Making an achievable Loudspeakers are for reproduction of SMC was introduced, DALI has been able loudspeaker with a prefect reproduction is sound, music, any music. But sometimes to trickle down to the technology to its much more intriguing: you want to get a little closer to the beat, more economical product lines, saving on “We constantly strive to become better, to be part of the process. For the last two materials while still retaining most of the and the cost-no-object statement models years DALI has been working symbiotically advantages. are not nearly as interesting. If you really together with multiple platinum-winning want to demonstrate what you can do, musician Lukas Graham. Hybrid tweeter module show me your most inexpensive product The cooperation means that Lukas Another DALI signature technology is their and how much it can do for money. To Graham and his band are sometimes drawn hybrid tweeter modules, combining a dome make that great you have to be really upon when launching new products. In tweeter for a detailed treble reproduction ingenious!” return new audiences and scenes around and seamless midrange integration with a the world are opened up for the Danish planar ribbon for constant dispersion and ensemble. extra weightlessness in the extreme top. ■ The hybrid tweeter configuration is today used in most of DALI’s bigger loudspeakers. For the compact models a singular dome tweeter is used instead. Aiming for a small loudspeaker makes little sense if you end up making it half a metre high in order to fit in all the units. Future focus — Cost-not-object not a challenge The A i DALI stands for ‘Audiophile’ but Lars Worre does not see his company as a high- end company per se. The EPICON speakers are expensive, but far from the astronomical prices of the most esoteric high-end com- panies. Even though there is an unceasing challenge in improving things further, he has no ambitions of participating in the race for the most expensive speaker in the world. Lukas Graham at DALI distributor event at restaurant Kadau in Copenhagen 2014. According to Lars Worre making a 200,000 dollars set of loudspeakers with a perfect

2002 2007 2010 2011 2012 2015 Launch of DALI EU- DALI’s twin factory DALI begins in-house Introduction of DALI The research for the The OPTICON series PHONIA, introducing in Ningbo, China is manufacturing of FAZON F5, a genuine high-end EPICON se- utilising SMC-tech- two important DALI set up. Staff of 150 speaker units. The high-end hi-fi loud- ries leads to the inven- nology from the more technologies, present employees builds first model to use the speaker, build in alu- tion of a new magnetic expensive EPICON in all later ranges: the entry level series units is DALI MENTOR minium and targeting a design technology, and RUBICON lines is Wood fibre woofer from DALI’s range and 6 SE. more design oriented using Soft Magnetic launched at a musical cone and the hybrid produce parts for the audience. Composite with ul- event in London, being tweeter module. Danish production. tra-linear electro-mag- webcast to a world- netic properties. wide audience.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 71 THE HISTORY OF Dynaudio

72 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Dynaudio was founded in 1977 in Skanderborg, Denmark, by a group of engineers who shared a passion for music. The company has always been interested in exploring the dynamic response of loudspeakers and the company’s founding objective was to create high performance loudspeakers that would exhibit no dynamic limitations.

The history a wide range of award-winning audiophile had to develop a series of innovations — home audio loudspeaker systems and such as the exceptional Center Magnet Contrary to what many would believe, the supplying high-end audio companies System technology, Symmetrical Magnet very first Dynaudio loudspeakers were with audiophile grade driver components, Design, MSP (Magnesium Silicate Polymer) based on OEM drivers sourced externally, Dynaudio has become one of the leading cone material, Aluminium Wire Voice Coils, with cabinets and crossovers designed and professional audio companies by bringing Aperiodic Bass Damping, Impedance built in-house. Believing that the heart of its innovative loudspeaker technology into linearisation, Ferrofluid damping, and other any system is the driver, and being limited recording studios. cutting-edge technologies. Many of the by the constraints of the quality of the OEM The world’s most advanced studios are technologies listed have become integral drivers available at the time, the company equipped with Dynaudio monitors, while innovations in Dynaudio’s product portfolio founders knew that the only means of Dynaudio loudspeakers have also been se- and characterise Dynaudio both in the past achieving higher performance from a loud- lected as the official reference loudspeaker and today by providing future products with speaker would be through improvements of the venerable BBC Radio & Music (British a technological superior foundation. and innovations in driver design. Broadcasting Corporation), among others. One of the first reviews of the Model Realising that its vendors were unable Dynaudio’s aftermarket automotive 100 was written by Electronic Sound in to deliver satisfactory options, Dynaudio loudspeaker models have brought the 1981 and stated: “The most special thing embarked on a project to develop and company’s technology and performance about this speaker is clearly the bass per- manufacture its own no-compromise to the car audio industry, perfectly evoking formance. Especially in the bass it achieves driver designs, and only three years after the high-end sound quality the company an impulse precision that to our knowledge the company’s inception, all Dynaudio had become synonymous with. Dynaudio is unsurpassed by any other product.” loudspeaker models featured the innovative is also collaborating with automobile new self-manufactured drivers. Shortly manufacturers Volkswagen and Bugatti to Evidence Master thereafter, the company also began market- develop high-end factory fitted high fidelity The Evidence Master was launched in 1999 ing its raw drivers in addition to its finished loudspeaker systems for their models. and represented a milestone in state-of- loudspeaker systems. Each and every Dynaudio loudspeakers the-art loudspeaker technology at the time; Dynaudio has over the years evolved is subject to no less than 86 individual qual- establishing new standards in performance into a leading manufacturer of high ity control tests before it is allowed to leave and product design. performance loudspeaker systems, having the factory in Denmark, and the company The Evidence Master takes advantage established itself as one of the largest and has achieved certifications validating the of Dynaudio’s most advanced driver design most advanced high-end audio companies high levels of quality in the manufacture of with four woofers, two midrange drivers, in the world. its products. and two soft dome tweeters all of which Dynaudio’s home audio loudspeaker are positioned in a vertically symmetric products are renowned for their high-tech Iconic products array. The highly sophisticated crossover drivers that are designed, engineered and — balances these high performance drivers by manufactured completely in-house, and for Dynaudio 100 utilising Dynaudio’s DDC technology, which their handcrafted, furniture grade cabinetry. The Model 100 loudspeaker was introduced reduces room reflections and delivers an The company has consistently refined its in 1978. This iconic loudspeaker was the incredibly authentic music reproduction. core technologies while diversifying into first to incorporate all in-house developed The loudspeaker comprises of three other product categories to evolve into the and manufactured woofers and tweeters. individual sections: the upper and lower leading loudspeaker specialist that Dynau- In order to accomplish this, Dynaudio sections are identical and house the dio is today. bass drive units, while the middle section Distributed in over 60 markets globally, Dynaudio produces a diverse range of dedi- Facts Company name Main audio product types cated audiophile grade loudspeaker models — Dynaudio Passive, active, active digital, and drivers for Specialty Audio and Home wireless loudspeakers Theater, Professional Studio, Car Audio and Head office OEM applications. Skanderborg, Denmark Main markets Germany, United States, To this day, the Dynaudio R&D team Established in year Netherlands, United Kingdom, in Denmark relies on its own innovations 1977 and China for material selection, manufacturing processes, component matching, and Number of employees Established by quality control, with production still based 250 Wilfried Ehrenholz, Gerhard in Skanderborg. Aside from manufacturing Richter and Ejvind Skaaning

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 73 contains the midrange and treble drive units mance digital amplifier. Dynaudio tweeters include a special as well as the crossover; the latter being The two woofers feature extremely damping chamber integrated into the rear of further isolated within its own sub-compart- large and powerful magnets; each driven the construction, deadening any back-wave ment. The Evidence’s construction offers a by its own power amplifier to ensure a low energy through an acoustic absorber. The tremendous advantage, as it allows for each frequency output is always delivered at the advantages include extremely high power section to be optimised for the different highest level of bass precision. The Focus handling and unimpeded excursion. requirements of precise bass, midrange, 600 XD utilises a quad-amp design: just as The voice coil is positioned within the and high frequency reproduction. The with the woofers; the midrange driver, and magnetic field of the tweeter magnet. When Evidence Master’s middle section features tweeter have their own individual power the loudspeaker reproduces sound, the both Dynaudio MSP (Magnesium Silicate amplifier. These four drivers are harmonised voice coil, powered by the amplifier current, Polymer) cone midrange drivers, and two through the highly sophisticated state-of- moves at a speed of up to 25,000 waves perfectly matched and meticulously select- the-art DSP. per second. To achieve a uniform move- ed Dynaudio coated soft dome tweeters. The Focus 600 XD’s power outage of ment, increase power handling while also The elegant design of the aluminium 600 W per channel offers a performance improving the dome’s excursion, ferrofluid baffle is the direct result of geometric reserve capable of realistic playback of is used around the voice coil. Due to the optimisation for absolutely perfect sound even the most demanding musical perfor- relatively high current and extremely fast dispersion. The mechanical properties of al- mance; faithfully recreating the feeling and movements, the voice coil is under constant uminium and the mass of the middle section scale of a live performance recording or the thermal stress. The ferrofluid dissipates this guarantee perfect resonance control – the full impact, energy, and depth of modern heat, while also increasing power handling reproduction of high frequencies remains electronic music. capabilities. completely uncoloured, so even the finest The proprietary MSP cone material The frequency range of the Dynaudio musical details are precisely produced. together with the renowned soft dome tweeter can thus be expanded while the This ensemble of high-end technology tweeter with Precision Coating ensure the frequency response remains smooth and and design has been made possible by tonal perfection and balanced sound char- linear, delivering a high resolution and close years of in-depth research and develop- acteristics of Dynaudio loudspeakers. to neutral sound reproduction. It is extreme- ment, which makes the Evidence Master ly difficult to produce a soft dome tweeter one of the absolutely finest Dynaudio Cutting-edge technology to such high levels of tolerance, which is loudspeakers ever produced. — a primary reason many companies chose Coated soft dome tweeter another material. But Dynaudio has invest- Focus XD Dynaudio has relied on silk soft-dome ed vast amounts of resources into the soft Launched in 2014, the Focus 600 XD was a tweeters for recreating high frequencies dome tweeter, and the company’s tweeters digital break-through, as it introduced high- since the company was founded, contin- are commonly regarded as perhaps the very end audio for completely lossless, digital uously improving and perfecting the soft- best drivers in the world. 24bit/192kHz transmission from source to dome principle over the years. driver. The Focus 600 XD introduced the Dynaudio tweeter designs require a MSP (magnesium silicate polymer) driver market for a progressive, new high-end time-consuming, labour-intensive man- membrane audio system, as it is completely digital, ufacturing process where the fine fabric The exclusive driver membrane is an imme- fully active, and completely high-resolution. diaphragm is shaped into a dome and is diately visible and characteristic feature of It was, and still is, a perfect symbiosis of then treated with a specially formulated Dynaudio loudspeakers. For bass and mid- floor-standing loudspeaker and high perfor- coating. range units, the company uses a proprietary composite of magnesium silicate polymer (MSP), a material that combines low mass, high rigidity, and ideal internal damping properties. Formed in a special manufac- turing process, this membrane is a unique design with the distinctive, geometrically optimised form of the cone further enabling smooth sound dispersion.

Aluminium voice coils A primary Dynaudio driver innovation is the use of pure aluminium wire for voice coils. In comparison to the more commonly used and much heavier copper alternative, aluminium allows for more windings and extraordinarily large diameter coils that remain extremely light. By using aluminium instead of copper for the coil in a bass driver, it is possible to effectively double the voice coil’s diameter without increasing its mass. Due to the thermal properties of aluminium, cooling of the voice coil is The Focus XD series introduced completely lossless, digital 24bit/192kHz transmission from source to dramatically improved as well. speaker. In combination with the equally light

74 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary voice coil former and powerful magnet the Dynaudio driver are also a result of the distorting the amplitude of transients) can materials used in Dynaudio driver designs, innovative and solid basket construction. be utilised. cone excursion is much more controlled Often in promotional literature, the and the driver follows the music signal from High quality 1st order crossovers impression is given that the use of filters with the amplifier with a remarkable sense of Dynaudio was a pioneer in terms of the a high slope (12 to 24 dB per octave) is a dynamics and accuracy. effects of phase and transient response. quality feature of a loudspeaker system. This Along these lines, another Dynaudio spe- may have some validity when using drivers Center magnet system cialty would be 1st-order (6 dB per octave) of standard construction and a narrow By using lightweight aluminium voice coils crossover networks. Dynaudio’s research frequency range. Here, crossovers with a in its drivers, Dynaudio can utilise the bene- showed that most drivers exhibit serious high slope may help to maintain a smooth fits of an extra-large coil positioned outside faults quite close to the crossover frequen- frequency response. But on the other hand, of the magnet (Dynaudio’s Center Magnet cy for which they were designed, and that the higher the slope of the filter, the worse System). The Dynaudio center magnet systems featuring the commonly-used very the pulse response of the drive unit will be. system yields a compact yet powerful driver steep (2nd, 3rd and 4th order) crossover Since music consists of dynamic signals system. slopes yielded undesirable side effects on with many pulses and few pure sine waves, Its strong suit is the alignment: with the transient and phase response. reproduction suffers from filters with a high magnet positioned inside the voice coil, a Dynaudio devoted a great deal of slope. larger and more homogenous magnetic field research into the smoothing of its drivers The ultra-linear frequency Dynaudio can be utilised, with less magnetic radiation far outside the range for which they were drivers enable the company to primarily em- from the inner magnet. This exceptional actually developed, specifically designing ploy first order filters. Even if this requires technology has the further benefit of them to remain clean and free of distortion highly optimised drive units that are difficult symmetry, since the use of two magnet for several octaves outside of the crossover and expensive to manufacture, the superior rings above each other enables a totally frequency so that the advantages of grad- transient response and overall musicality symmetrical pole piece design, making the ual filters (maintaining the correct phase confirm that it is worth the effort. driver coil induction constant in any voice throughout the frequency range and not Only the highest quality components, coil position. This results in an extremely selected for their sonic properties, are precise and symmetric voice coil movement utilised in Dynaudio crossovers: carefully for exact signal reproduction – even at wound pure OFC (oxygen-free copper) higher volumes. air-coils, select capacitors, and tempera- ture-stable ceramic resistors. Another Vented magnet system Dynaudio area of expertise is impedance Dynaudio tweeters, mid-range and bass correction, making a perfect combination drivers benefit from venting of the otherwise possible with virtually all amplifiers. nearly sealed compartments between the magnets and diaphragms. The Dynaudio DDC: Dynaudio Directivity Control center magnet system reduces the reflec- The distinctive driver symmetry with two tion surface behind the woofer cone, while mirrored drive units is an unmistakable the extremely rigid die-cast aluminium characteristic of the Dynaudio directivity baskets are optimally shaped to further control (DDC) technology. eliminate air turbulence and resonance. After years of development experience with Dynaudio professional studio monitor Die-cast aluminium frame baskets loudspeakers, it became clear that many A loudspeaker driver consists of many recordings are of superb quality but, due different moving parts: a magnet powers a to listening room acoustics, the potential voice coil, which moves the diaphragm. The of these recordings could not be fully membrane is supported in a flexible assem- experienced. In particular, reflections from bly, surrounded by a supple rubber ring. In floor and ceiling boundaries interfere with a order to perform in a controlled manner, all faithful, realistic sonic reproduction because of these parts must be housed together in a of distortions and added time delays. highly rigid frame: the driver basket. With DDC, Dynaudio has created a Dynaudio primarily utilises low-reso- technology that effectively reduces these nance, highly warp-resistant baskets made effects. The vertical symmetrical drive unit of die-cast aluminium. Due to the stiffness of array and elaborate crossover topology this non-magnetic material, the basket can reduce the energy dispersed to the floor be designed with aerodynamically formed and ceiling by approximately 75 per cent. ribs to reduce air compression behind the The controlled vertical dispersion makes the moving membrane. Another advantage is loudspeaker far less dependent on the room its long-term resistance against thermal, and much less influenced by positioning as mechanical or other external influences. compared to conventional designs. For many years, Dynaudio was the only DDC is not simply arranging the drivers manufacturer to consider aerodynamic in a symmetrical array. For DDC to succeed, improvement of the driver basket. The every single detail – from each drive unit to Evidence Platinum, the culmination of Dynaudio’s extraordinary endurance and completely the crossover – must be individually tailored extensive research unvarying sound quality characteristics of and optimised for this concept. With two

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 75 tweeters, two mid-range drivers and, de- quality of a Dynaudio loudspeaker can be up a high-end audio system, with greatly pending on the model, two or four woofers, fully experienced. increased clarity and detail as a result. each drive unit complements its identical Because Dynaudio designs its own drivers, counterpart in frequency response and Wireless the digital processing can be optimised to phase relationship in such a manner that a Dynaudio is the frontrunner in bringing utilise the full potential of each individual carefully defined dispersion characteristic is wireless technology to high quality sound driver, and deliver a higher dynamic range achieved. systems; effectively forcing high-end audio from a given speaker size. This intricate matching is repeated once into the new millennium. again for each loudspeaker pair to work The Xeo and later Focus XD systems Active speakers together in tandem. DDC is an impressive combine true high-end performance Dynaudio has many years of experience example of the innovative Dynaudio meth- with the convenience of a multi-room, with active speaker systems, for both odology for loudspeaker design. multi-source wireless delivery system. professional and home use. Most speakers With a lossless transmission, the signal is incorporate a passive crossover filter, which Dynaudio fine-tuning delivered, from any type of input source to separates the audio signal for each driver. It is not just technology that sets a Dynau- the speakers in full detail, without the need In a passive system there is a significant dio loudspeaker apart from conventional for running wires across the room. As the loss of efficiency because of the loss in the offerings. It is also meticulous fine-tuning. wireless transmission is latency-free, the crossover components. Every Dynaudio model is fine-tuned in system can be used with video sources With an active system the speaker in- extensive, time consuming listening tests. without worrying about lip-sync issues cludes a separate power amplifier for each Dynaudio even developed its own amplifier, or other artefacts. Dynaudio has pushed individual driver, and the crossover takes the Arbiter, solely for this task, to ensure high-end audio to a completely new level of place before the signal reaches the power that they are not restricted by any one connectivity and convenience. amplification. This highly increases the manufacturer’s design. efficiency and dynamic range, and keeps Extraordinary power reserves, a Digital the clarity and detail of the signal intact. In frequency bandwidth at the edge of what While Dynaudio is known for its many virtues combination with the advantages of digital is technically possible, the exacting use of in traditional speaker building, it is staying processing the active system unleashes absolutely sonically accurate components at the forefront of high-end audio thanks the full potential of each driver, with no filter and circuits, and a unique power supply to major investments in digital processing. between the amplification and the driver. that remains completely free from mains DSP based crossovers allow for advanced noise are just a few qualities of Dynaudio’s processing of the audio signal to maximise Extended Dynamic Range = 24 bit/192 ultimate amplifier development. both the dynamic properties as well as the kHz The true sound quality of a loudspeaker dispersion characteristics of the speaker. With the Focus XD Dynaudio introduced can be judged using this virtually priceless Dynaudio takes this approach one step a speaker system that is designed to fully reference amplifier. After a Dynaudio design further, and utilises fully digital amplification utilise the potential of high-resolution audio: has been fine-tuned, it is subjected to the in combination with DSP crossovers. This all the way up to 24 bit/192 kHz tracks. Arbiter. Only after passing this most difficult eliminates several of the components and The digital signal processing of the Focus test is it ensured that the authentic sound conversions that traditionally have made XD runs at full 24/192 resolution; all the

Timeline —

1978 1983 1986 1989 1991 1999 Dynaudio launched In 1983, the original The Contour is possibly In 1989, Dynaudio in- For nearly two de- The Evidence is the the Model 100, which Dynaudio Conse- one of Dynaudio’s most troduced Crafft, its first cades, the Confidence culmination of years of is the first model with quence is introduced recognised loudspeak- ultra high-end compact has been one of the knowledge, research, completely in-house to the market. The er series. The Contour monitor and to this day, most acclaimed high- and development that developed and manu- Consequence eventu- established Dynaudio Crafft is a sought after end loudspeakers in brought to life many factured woofers and ally became one of the worldwide and included classic. The success of the world. But most im- innovative audio tech- tweeters. best-selling high-end successful models like Crafft helped found the portantly, it introduced nologies. loudspeakers to date – 1.3, 1.8, and 1.3 SE. Dynaudio Professional an unusual compound and it is still an icon. segment. base and the legendary Esotar tweeter.

76 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Constantly questioning the status quo in the pursuit for perfection

way through the DSP crossover to the fully technologies that have propelled Dynaudio high fidelity audio. This can be accomplished digital amplification circuits, without down and its products into a leading position by producing simplistic audio systems that sampling the signal to lower resolution. within the high fidelity audio industry. Many make the listener forget about everything Due to the lossless nature of the crossover of these technologies and products remain other than the music experience, as prod- and amplification circuits, the Focus XD the industry-standard to this day. ucts become wireless and connected. keeps more of the dynamics and detail of However, with a legacy that actively However, for Dynaudio, increased con- high-resolution sources intact compared to questions what has become the norm, the venience is not the only hurdle to overcome. other systems. company continues its pursuit of creating The company strives to continue its legacy the ultimate musical experience and the goal of revolutionising audio by faithfully recre- Future focus is simple: every new technology should leap ating every note recorded. The dream is a — into the future and revolutionise high fidelity digital input with lossless properties capa- Innovation has always been part of Dynau- audio; having produced the best products ble of reproducing the music at its highest dio’s DNA; constantly questioning the status available will never become a reason to slow resolution: to not create sound at all, but to quo in the pursuit for perfection. This for- down. For Dynaudio, the next barrier to tear reproduce the music, as it was recorded in ward thinking has brought about innovative down is how to increase the convenience of the studio or concert hall. ■

2002 2002 2007 2012 2014 2014 Dynaudio introduced The Special Twenty- Sapphire marked Xeo was the world’s The Limited Edition With the Focus XD, the Confidence C2 Five incorporated the Dynaudio’s 30th anni- first wireless high-end Contour continued Dynaudio brought and C4 with their best technologies versary with its char- loudspeaker, and it a tradition filled with about a digital rev- innovative cabinet and from the Evidence into acteristically ‘sapphire’ marked the beginning refined technology olution in high-end front baffle design that a compact monitor shaped cabinet and of a new era in high- and selected wood audio: fully active, fully featured the reflection design and marked selected wood ve- end audio. veneers ensuring the digital, and specifically reducing DDC tech- Dynaudio’s 25th neers. legend lives on. designed for high-res- nology. anniversary. olution audio.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 77 THE HISTORY OF Jabra

78 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Jabra’s heritage in communication goes back to 1869. What started out as The Great Northern Telegraph Company is today a global leader in intelligent audio solutions from conversation to music.

It would be nearly impossible to imagine ing, which would eventually establish a Erik Petersen and Svend Falck-Larsen. how Jabra could produce its products telegraphic connection between trade hous- Their business concept was to adapt the without using dynamic speakers. On a es in the Far East (China and Japan) and new FM technology invented by the British yearly basis, Jabra typically uses more than the rest of the world. On October 20, 1870, Navy during WWII and use it for FM radio 15 million speaker units in the company’s the Telegraph Company landed the very first communication. In March 1948, the sub- various products. submarine cable in Hong Kong using the sidiary STORNO (STORe NOrd) was es- When engineers at Jabra talks about a frigate Tordenskjold, placed at GN’s dispos- tablished. By the 70’s STORNO had by far ‘12’ speaker, they are usually not referring al by the Danish government. Just a few outgrown the telegraph business in terms to a speaker with a 12 inch diameter, but years later, on January 1, 1872, GN opened of turnover and counted 1,794 employees. rather 12 mm. The reason behind this is the worlds’ first telegraph connection from Although more or less forgotten today, back that most speakers in Jabra products are Northern Europe, via Siberia, to Japan and then STORNO was up alongside brands like used in a headset or a set of headphones Hong Kong. This connection to the Far East LM Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens. In 1976 where the typical speaker size is between remained at the core of the business well STORNO was sold to General Electric, and 6mm-40mm. Apart from the apparent size into the beginning of the 20th century, along the funds from the sale were reinvested in difference compared to conventional loud- with other networks in Europe. the Danish hearing aid company; Danavox. speakers, the design of the speaker unit The First World War would naturally have Danavox was the starting point of the two and its enclosure is also inherently different. a large impact on the telegraph business. remaining subsidiaries in GN today: GN A headset or a set of headphones are With the potential of another large scale war Resound and GN Netcom. usually acoustically coupled to the ear using in 1939 and the uncertainty of GN’s future, some form of ear cushion. As a result, the director Bent Suenson realized the need to GN Danavox - The first headset and the acoustic impedance load on the diaphragm change the company’s business strategy. birth of GN Netcom of the speaker will often be dominated On his initiative the investment strategy went The first headset developed in GN was by the acoustic input impedance of the from saving the fortune in cash and national the Stetomike 808, launched in 1980. It ear rather than the radiation impedance bonds, to investing in diversification. One was developed using the knowledge and seen in loudspeakers. People also have of the initiatives was to acquire the Danish engineering expertise of micro loudspeak- different ear shapes and sizes, and a good manufacturer of dry batteries A/S Hellesens, ers and microphones used in Danavox. headphone design needs to account for thereby taking the first step. The Stetomike 808 would become a very this variation in order to deliver a consistent As predicted, World War II had an enor- successful product, launched at exactly sound across all types of ears. On top of mous impact on GN’s telegraph business. the right time. The early eighties saw a this, various psychoacoustic effects are at After the war, many telegraph lines were de- rapid increase in the number of call-centers play, which affects our perception of sound stroyed and needed to be rebuilt. Even this worldwide and with them came a rise in the and music when using headphones. All posed a potentially dangerous task, with the demand for headsets. In 1986 the market- these factors need to be taken into account ever-present risk of sea mines. The political ing and production of the Stetomike 808 when designing the speaker-transducer and landscape had also changed drastically. was moved from Danavox to an individual its enclosure. GN managed to reopen the connection to company called GN Netcom. Russia and Japan in 1946-1947, but was Good comfort and high quality are key unable to re-establish itself in China with features for headsets that are worn for The history the new political situation. With less income many hours or for a full working day. The — from the East Asian connection, it was once properties of the dynamic loudspeaker Telegraph Lines - The Early Days 1869- again time to consider new business areas. can be exploited to aid in the design 1947 of headsets with low acoustic output GN Store Nord started out as The Great Storno impedance. This reduces the need for a Northern Telegraph Company in 1869. It In 1947, managing director Bent Suenson tight seal between the headset and the ear, was established on the initiative of C.F. was approached by two young engineers; otherwise known in other products of that Tietgen by merging three regional telegraph companies: The Danish-Norwegian-English Telegraph Company, The Danish-Russian Facts Company name Main audio product types Telegraph Company and the Norwe- GN Netcom, brand name: Jabra Headsets, headphones, speaker- — phones & portable speakers gian-British Submarine Telegraph Company. Head office As a company, GN predates the inven- Ballerup, Denmark Main markets tion of the dynamic loudspeaker, but the Worldwide for both consumer business of GN has always revolved around Established in year and professional markets communication, and transmitting and re- 1869 Great Northern Telegraph ceiving (sound) signals, so one could argue Company, 1986 GN Netcom Number of employees that this path was already set back then. 950 In 1870, the Great Northern Telegraph Established by Company embarked on an era of pioneer- C.F. Tietgen

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 79 time. Headsets like the GN Netcom Profile to incorporate music players, the boundary munication device for conference calls. As took advantage of this, and the result was between the consumer headset for it only supported USB, it was designed for a stable design with good sound quality communication and a music headphone use with the various IP telephony platforms and wearing comfort. This type of acoustic started to disappear. It led to products that that emerged during the 00’s. The follow-up design has been carried on in the genera- supported both communication and music version Jabra Speak 510 included a battery tions of headsets to follow. listening, and even consumer products as well as Bluetooth connectivity, making Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, GN Net- primarily focused towards music. it possible to connect the speakerphone to com continued the development of head- The professional office headset has mobile devices as well. sets and communication devices aimed also been through a transformation in Even though this was the first attempt mainly at the professional markets; typically recent years. New ways of working in the from Jabra at making an office speak- call-centers and offices. The hands-free office have changed the needs of the pro- erphone, it became a very successful communication offered by using a headset fessional user, and what a headset should product. Within the personal speakerphone enabled users to freely use their hands support. An office headset today will of category, the Jabra Speak 410/510 have during a telephone conversation and type course still need to support communica- managed to hold a firm position in the glob- on a computer during a call. As the market tion but also various other functions such al market, and more than one million units grew, the range of products was further as: listening to music, active noise cancel- have been sold so far. It is a good example diversified due to specific customer needs lation, interfacing to an array of different of a solution where premium sound quality, and the environments they were used in: devices; laptops, telephones and mobile form, portability, functionality, and an intui- monaural or binaural style (for listening with devices. Some products are also used ‘on tive user interface are united in a product. only one or both ears), open and acousti- the go’ or when working from home. cally transparent headsets (for awareness After the acquisition of Jabra, con- to the surrounding environment), or closed sumer products were marketed using the headsets (for shielding out noise and priva- Jabra brand, with professional headsets cy). Wearing styles would also vary from the still branded as GN Netcom. As the overlap classic headbands to small ear hooks that between the products offered to consum- would not interfere with the hairstyles of ers and professionals increased, and in the user. Dynamic loudspeakers of different order to simplify market communication, sizes and properties served them all. the decision to market all products under the Jabra brand was made in 2009. Going wireless In 1987 GN Netcom made an announce- Iconic products ment to its shareholders. GN Netcom — would invest in a development project GN Profile called “Cordless Headsets”. With the use Speaker Design: Low Acoustic Output Jabra Solemate of wireless technologies such as DECT, Impedance, 23mm Speaker. Speaker Design: Two 3/4” Soft Dome the wireless headsets would eventually The GN Profile was launched in 1988, and Tweeters, One 2” mid/woofer with passive become a reality with products like GN was the first headset from GN Netcom de- radiator, 9 w amplifier. 9020 or GN 9120, but it would take some signed with low acoustic output impedance. The Jabra Solemate was introduced in time. The first products were launched in This acoustic design had many advantages. 2012, and was a wireless speaker mainly the beginning of the 21st century. “Cutting It was leak tolerant, which means that the aimed for playing music. It was the first the cord” extended the hands-free conve- inevitable variation in the leak in the cou- time Jabra released a portable music nience and allowed the user to leave their pling between the ear and the cushion of speaker aimed at the consumer market. desk and move around the office without the headset would have limited impact on Compared to many earlier Jabra products, interrupting the conversation. the frequency response. As this leak typi- the Jabra Solemate sported an array of The announcement of Bluetooth tech- cally varies from person to person, due to colorful variants and was mainly targeted at nology in the summer of 1998 triggered a different ear shapes, a leak tolerant design a younger audience. This is also apparent new era for GN Netcom. Already in Sep- will assure a consistent frequency response in the playful nature of the industrial design, tember 2000, GN Netcom presented the across different ears. inspired by something truly rugged and world’s first Bluetooth headset approved to The GN Profile was the product that portable; the sneaker. the Bluetooth standard – the GN Netcom would establish GN Netcom as a headset It is truly a portable speaker in the 9010. It was launched approx. two months brand known globally, and was deployed in sense that it features a robust rubber ahead of its competition. many call centers around the world. Headsets for the increasingly popular mobile phone market opened a new poten- Jabra Speak 410 tial for consumers, and in 2000 GN Netcom Speaker Design: Closed Back, 2” Speaker. acquired one of the largest suppliers of The Jabra Speak 410 was in many ways hands-free devices for mobile phones in unique. It was the first time Jabra produced the US: Jabra Corporation. a loudspeaker for the office environment. The introduction of consumer products Given the context it would probably be with the Jabra brand formed a fast growing correct to refer to it with the term used in range of products: headsets for mobile the telecom industry, ‘speakerphone’, rather phones. First corded, and later cordless than a loudspeaker. Although the product using Bluetooth. As mobile phones be- supported music playback over USB, it came more and more capable and started was primarily intended for use as a com-

80 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Compared to many earlier Jabra products, the Jabra Solemate sported an array of colorful variants and was mainly targeted at a younger audience. This is also apparent in the playful nature of the industrial design, inspired by something truly rugged and portable; the sneaker.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 81 coated design and only weighs approx. 600 (20 Hz-20 kHz). It also connects via both offers the combination of wireless music grams. The goal of the design was a prod- USB and 3.5mm jack, so it is possible to and smart features such as the biometric uct similar in size to the soft drink bottle. connect to various portable devices, as well heart rate monitors that combined with The Jabra Solemate was soon followed up as laptops with USB. Needless to say, it the Jabra Sport Life app can be used for by a smaller version (Jabra Solemate Mini) naturally supports two-way communication motivation to improve sports performance and a larger version (Jabra Solemate Max). on both interfaces. and workouts. It also features a ‘Busy Light’ indication Jabra Evolve 80 on the earpiece. If you are on a phone call, Speaker Design: 40 mm speakers. the light turns red, indicating to your sur- The Jabra Evolve series headset launched roundings that you are on a telephone call in 2014, introducing new technical features and not available to talk. The light can also aimed towards supporting new ways of be turned on manually to indicate that you working in the open plan office. During the are busy and do not want to be disturbed. development of the Jabra Evolve series, a global study of thousands of office workers in various work situations was undertaken in order to find the right value proposition. The learnings resulted in an office headset that was different in many ways compared to Future focus previous headsets from Jabra. — It is the first Jabra headset with a At the core of Jabra lies communication circumaural fit, meaning a fit where the and good audio quality, and this will also ear-cushion rested on the area around the remain the focus in the future. Most of ear rather than on the ear itself. It is only Jabra’s products are “accessories” in the available in a stereo version, or what is sense that they need to interface with typically called ‘duo’ in the telephony world. other devices when used. This includes Stereo or two earpieces are necessary to Jabra Sport Pulse telephones, smartphones and other mobile get the full advantage of ‘active noise can- Speaker Design: 6mm speakers devices, computers and laptops running cellation’ (ANC). ANC blocks out and can- The Jabra Sport Pulse is part of Jabra’s various types of software as well as support cels background noise, making it possible intelligent sports audio range. The Jabra of various wireless technologies. to fully concentrate and not be disturbed by Sport Pulse was released in 2014, and Therefore, Jabra views its products as noise and conversations in the surrounding was the world’s first wireless headset with part of a solution, and the vision is to “be a environment. a heart rate monitor. The ear is often not leader in intelligent audio solutions, trans- Music listening is also supported in all considered for pulse measurement, but re- forming people’s lives through the power aspects of the product. When listening to search revealed that the thin skin layer and of sound”. What this means, aside from music there is no low-end compromise, and plenty of blood flow in the ear actually make making great audio and communication you can enjoy the whole frequency range it an ideal place. The Jabra Sport Pulse devices, is a focus on solutions that bring

Timeline —

1869 1948 1979 1986 1988 2000 GN Telegraph Com- The subsidiary The first headset in GN GN Netcom is created The GN profile is The worlds’ first certi- pany is established STORNO is is launched. as an independent launced, using a low fied wireless Bluetooth on the initiative of C.F. established, and GN entity that will focus on impedance speaker headset is launched by Tietgen. A few years starts to produce developing headsets design. GN Netcom. The US later the first telegraph hardware for FM radio for telecommunication. company Jabra Cor- connection between communication. poration is acquired Northern Europe and into GN Netcom. Japan/China is estab- lished.

82 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary “The development of the world is dependent on communication”

– C.F. TIETGEN (1829-1901) FOUNDER OF THE GREAT NORTHERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY

greater value to the users by enabling them the open office has resulted in an increase in real-time during a workout. When to hear more, do more and be more. To in noise levels. By developing a headphone exercising, it is possible to be updated successfully accomplish this Jabra needs that incorporates ANC, Jabra can provide on distance, heartrate and pace and be to understand the customers’ present a solution to the present open office noise motivated if you are slower than your target situation, predict future needs, and identify challenge as part of our headset offering. or your set training intervals, based on heart how Jabra can incorporate and use new Another good example of enabling the rate measurements. In the Jabra Sport technology in the products to enhance the user to do more is the Jabra sports audio Coach Wireless, accelerometers are used user experience of using the products. portfolio. These products are developed to count steps or repetitions. The product is An example of this is the active noise specifically for runners and fitness lifestylers optimized for cross-training, with coaching cancellation (ANC) described earlier in who want to listen to music while training. directly via the headset and the Jabra Sport the Jabra Evolve 80 headsets. One of the The Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless enhances Life app. recent changes seen in many large corpo- the user’s training experience beyond that At the heart of everything Jabra does, rations is the transition from smaller office of just listening to music with the Jabra there is a need for good speakers to deliver rooms with a few people in them, to large Sport Life app running on a smartphone, premium quality audio in Jabra products. open offices. In many cases, the change to it is possible to monitor training progress ■

2004 2006 2009 2009 2014 2015 Jabra launches its GN moves to the All headset opertations The Jabra Pro 9400 is Jabra Sport Pulse The Jabra Eclipse first Bluetooth in-car headquarter in are united and a professional wireless combines wireless mu- is launched. It is the Speakerphone, the Ballerup, and builds marketed under one headset that can sic and smart features lightest headset ever Jabra SP100. a ‘state of the art’ brand: Jabra. connect to the various such as motion sen- produced from Jabra. acoustic lab facility. phone types in the sors, biometric heart office; desk phone, rate monitors and the mobile and softphone. Jabra Sport Life app.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 83 THE HISTORY OF Libratone

84 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Libratone has pioneered the wireless speaker market with an iconic line of speakers that give consumers the freedom to enjoy music the way they want it. Consumers can stream music however they like, via smartphone, PC or tablet – throughout different spaces in their homes or out in the world.

The history homes or out in the world. And they can do aim to provide listening experiences – we — so stylishly – and without sacrificing sound want to inspire you to create your own. The electromagnet part of the speaker quality. With our speakers, we enable you to hear was invented in the early 1860s. Although music however, wherever and whenever you its invention was a technical triumph that The cornerstone: Creative intelligence want.” replaced oversized horns, it took 40 more Kristian Krøyer, one of Libratone’s original years to develop the knowledge of acous- designers, says they achieved their original The Beat begins tics and materials that went into the modern line of speakers by focusing on three In 2010, Libratone launched its first product, speaker. Remarkably, little else has changed distinct areas: Beat, at IFA in Berlin. “The Beat had all the since that time. Speakers have remained 1. Cutting-edge technology – They creat- design and acoustic attributes we were relatively true to the original speaker design, ed their signature FullRoom™ acoustic going for, but it wasn’t truly wireless,” with electromagnet coils that quiver the technology, which disperses sound Krøyer admits. “Still, we were very excited air and send sound waves in a certain waves in multiple directions giving because we had been working for a year direction. listeners a fuller, richer listening experi- perfecting our almost-wireless product, Although the innovation has withstood ence wherever they are in the room; which was pushing the then-available tech- a century, lifestyles have changed radically, nologies to the limit. And there was nothing especially in the way we listen to music. We 2. Smart Scandinavian design – They else like it on the market. Unfortunately, two no longer spend evenings tethered to the revolutionised the form factor, trans- hours earlier, Apple launched AirPlay and sofa in the sweet spot where two speakers forming the traditional hard black box suddenly the game had changed.” are strategically aimed. We live for our into a soft, curvy, living object of design; Krøyer and his tiny team spent the music and want it to follow us wherever we next year persuading Apple to allow them go – from room to room, to back yard and 3. Exceptional user experience – They to integrate AirPlay into their products. By beyond. We demand flexibility from a single created flexible, user-friendly wireless September 2012, the Libratone Live and speaker instead of a heavy, stationary fixed speakers that stream via almost any Lounge, featuring Airplay, were launched to pair – and we want enough power to fill a device and can be personalised accord- great fanfare, again at IFA. room with rich, exquisite sound. ing to 21st century listening habits and “We were amazed by the attention we preferences. received with the launch of the Live and Liberators of sound Lounge. Back then, we were still just 5 Founded in 2009 by three Danish entre- Today the company still aspires to operate guys, and we had no marketing budget. But preneurs, Libratone has always existed to within the elusive area where technology, great design is in itself great advertising, do one thing: fundamentally change the design, and user experience meet. They and we quickly realised the products were listener’s relationship to sound by creating call it Creative Intelligence and they use it marketing themselves.” exceptional sound experiences. The found- as a mantra for challenging conventions. By Christmas of 2012, Libratone had ers knew right from the start that the only “By combining all three domains and giving a double spread in Wallpaper, the iconic way to do this was to free the listener from each its due importance we can take the design, interiors and fashion magazine. the constraints of cables. At the same time, audio industry into the future,” says Krøyer. Soon after, the company began raking in they imagined rescuing the speaker from The name Libratone is a combination numerous awards and accolades for both the hidden corners of the room and making of ‘liberation’ and ‘tone’ and according technology and design, including multiple it the centrepiece of the home – both to to Krøyer, it describes perfectly what the Red Dot and CES awards – and Apple improve the listening experience and to company is all about. “We are on a contin- became official partners. integrate the speaker elegantly in with the ued mission to liberate sound through the home’s décor. Audiophiles in their own right, performance of our products. We don’t only the founders were also staunchly dedicated to achieving the best possible acoustics with the richest, fullest sound. And they Facts had faith that by focusing on creating great — Company name Main audio product types sound experiences, designing the right Libratone Consumer based, HiFi & design products would follow naturally. speakers These three entrepreneurs went on to Head office pioneer the wireless speaker market with an , Denmark Main markets iconic line of speakers that give consumers Global the freedom to enjoy music the way they Established in year want to. Consumers can stream music 2009 Number of employees however they like, via smartphone, PC or 100+ tablet – throughout different spaces in their

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 85 Distinct fabrics experts partner with Libratone to evolve to create SoundSpaces perfectly suited to One of Libratone’s most important their colour range. working, relaxing, and entertaining. hallmarks is a distinctive fabric finish that “We rely on colour experts to help us With the launch of SoundSpaces, gives the speakers a tactile craft quality, sharpen our shade and fabric ranges, so Libratone is again pushing the limits of instead of a hard industrial look and feel. that we can offer our customers the most technology while quantifying and qualifying “The idea was to put a warm friendly touch confident and current colours,” Krøyer how people interact with sound. Taking to an electronics product and make it relate explains. “It’s a difficult process to interpret multi-room audio to an entirely new portable aesthetically more to interior design than to the past and present colour trends in order level, SoundSpaces is designed to suit the technology,” adds Krøyer. to forecast what will inspire consumers elastic lifestyle of today’s consumers. Classic Libratone products are covered tomorrow. But we feel it’s imperative that in premium-quality organic Italian wool our colours reflect the changes in customer The elastic lifestyle produced in an important textile and fashion preferences, seasons, and trends.” “The elastic lifestyle” is a phrase coined by centre of Tuscany, where they have been Scandinavian trend institute The PEJ Group. producing wool since the 12th century. In SoundSpaces emerge CEO Louise Byg Kongsholm explains: 2015, the company introduced its signature In 2015, Libratone launched its unique “Today our lives are less compartmentalised Cool Weave fabric, which is a technically SoundSpaces concept. SoundSpaces than they were just ten years ago. Work and complex, three-layer fabric that allows inspires listeners to create their own Sound- leisure merge, house and garden merge, sound to penetrate it cleanly and beautifully. Spaces by streaming music, podcasts, family life also involves adequate personal “We chose the Cool Weave mesh fabric movies and more in any space across their time, and the home’s rooms flow together for its unique open structure and sound home with Libratone speakers. The concept and are used for various purposes. The filtering properties,” says Krøyer. “We like is enabled by Libratone’s SoundSpace Link elastic lifestyle represents both the tangible its trendy, breezy look and feel – and how it which lets listeners connect and combine and intangible ways our lives have become catches light in interesting ways and reflects their speakers, via WiFi and Bluetooth, in much more stretched and flexible to help us colours so brilliantly. We think it’s an excel- any configuration and control them from experience more – both inside and outside lent fabric to add to our collection.” anywhere with the Libratone App. of our homes.” SoundSpaces offers users a friendly Kongholm explains that ubiquitous Stunning colours and flexible listening experience. Without technology is driving and influencing the From the beginning, Libratone has always any hassle, they can quickly link several elastic lifestyle. “We have become accus- called on a rich universe of colours to speakers to share sound with a group, and tomed to technology that makes life simpler. amplify the design impact of the speakers. they can just as easily unlink the speakers Out of this, we have developed a need The fabric covers of all Libratone speakers to play a single speaker and keep the for environments that can be twisted, ex- are interchangeable and available in a wide sound contained to one room. With an panded, and adjusted to different everyday palette of both fashion and décor colours. entire ecosystem of speakers, the options situations. The elastic lifestyle requires that The design industry’s most seasoned colour are endless. It’s very quick and seamless the elements in our home are functional, flexible, simple, and above all, they need to help us create the perfect mood for every situation.” Libratone CEO Jan McNair says Sound- Spaces is a response to this important megatrend. “As the elastic lifestyle illustrates, today’s consumers expect their sound to be ever-present, portable and flexible – and stationary multi-room technology does not fulfil this. SoundSpaces is a flexible listening solution that lets you connect up to 6 speakers via WiFi and place them anywhere in any room and move them around as you wish. It’s the most flexible listening experience on the audio market, and we are proud to provide it.”

The next generation of ZIPP Along with SoundSpaces, 2015 also saw the launch of the Libratone ZIPP and ZIPP Mini – two sleek redesigns of the iconic ZIPP Classic. Based on the same powerful, FullRoom™ acoustics and Scandinavian design, the next-generation ZIPPs can link together, so consumers can tap in-to the freedom and flexibility of SoundSpaces. Featuring both WiFi and Bluetooth connec- tivity, the new ZIPPs are ideal for streaming anywhere in the home – in the bedroom,

86 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary “The ZIPP was designed to be the first true centrepiece speaker”

– KRISTIAN KRØYER DESIGNER, LIBRATONE

bathroom, back yard and beyond. The opportunities are endless. The ZIPP Classic also served as inspi- The next-generation Libratone ZIPP “The ZIPP Classic has always been our ration for the follow-up products, the ZIPP (100 W) and ZIPP Mini (60 W) speakers also best-selling product,” says CEO Jan Mc- and ZIPP Mini, released in 2015. Geared feature Spotify Connect and Apple Music Nair. “Nevertheless, we see the new ZIPP toward a younger, more global audience, compatibility, an intuitive Touch interface, speakers as our most focused and refined the next-generation ZIPPs are designed for streaming and storage of up to five Internet achievement to date.” ultimate portability and flexibility. stations directly on the speaker, speaker- phone capability, 8-10 hours’ battery life Iconic products Cutting-edge technology and can be configured and controlled via — — the free Libratone App. The iconic ZIPP Classic Technology is the driver The ZIPP and ZIPP Mini are available Over the course of its short history, Libra- Technology has always been the key driver in two versions: The standard edition com- tone received a multitude of prestigious to Libratone’s success. Although the sleek bines a durable white base with the fresh awards. But no product was as well received Scandinavian design is what initially catches and stylish Cool Weave fabric; The sophis- as the Libratone ZIPP Classic, launched the eye, Libratone’s patented FullRoom™ ticated Copenhagen edition combines a in 2013. It blew the competition away and acoustic technology is what catches the ear strong aluminium base with a soft Italian received excellent reviews, from CNET, and draws consumers in for a deeper, richer wool cover. Both feature interchangeable Wired and What Hi-Fi? among others, for its sound experience like no other. covers and are available in a range of fash- stylish design and superb sound quality. ion and décor colours. The Libratone ZIPP was the first to Behind FullRoom™ With the next-generation ZIPPs, setup, offer a 360° speaker. Krøyer explains: “The Traditional stereo setups require multiple streaming and sharing have become even ZIPP was designed to be the first true speakers, all arranged very precisely easier. Libratone set out to liberate users centrepiece speaker. We imagined it as a and aimed at one particular spot. With from the typical maze of apps, downloads portable design piece that you could literally FullRoom™ technology, sound radiates and non-compatibility issues – and they place on the table at a dinner party and it from the source, disseminating, enveloping did just that. When friends come around, would be an integral part of the décor and and encircling the listener. No longer are they can easily link their smartphones to a the ambiance. At the same time, we wanted audiophiles tethered to the one spot where ZIPP ecosystem or customers can connect the sound to be rich and lush and enjoyed the dual speakers meet – now they can their ZIPPs together to create an impromptu by everyone equally, no matter where in the wander freely around their home enjoying sound system no matter where they are. room they were seated.” the nuanced sound that follows them.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 87 FullRoom™ disperses acoustic waves, control panel and adds another quick and the audio market, Libratone has identified at a full 360°, that reflect off the walls to easy method of controlling the speaker and secured a unique market position that evenly distribute the sound. High-end without the need for a secondary device. attracts consumers seeking superb sound components for digital signal processing Both the Libratone App and Touch interface quality, flexibility and portability. “Con- and digital amplification deliver crystal-clear are designed to enhance the customer sumers demand the freedom of a portable highs that reach every corner of the room, experience by giving the customer multiple speaker, but they don’t want to compromise creating a faithful reproduction of the unique ways of interacting with their speaker. sound quality,” says Libratone CEO Jan recorded work. The acoustic quality that McNair. “We’ve managed to deliver inno- FullRoom™ delivers has shattered all no- SoundSpace Link vative wireless speakers that tick all the tions of what wireless speakers are capable Libratone speakers allow listeners to create boxes. Our ecosystem of portable wireless of. And the FullRoom™ experience can be their own SoundSpaces™ – and listen speakers, perfect for at home and on-the- customised with the Libratone APP, which however and wherever they want, with one go, are easily integrated, personalised and matches the settings of the speaker to or multiple speakers, inside or outside. rearranged to suit all the unique moments of the specifications of the room. SoundSpace Link is the feature on our customers’ lives.” Libratone speakers that lets users The Libratone App and Touch create SoundSpaces with two or more A significant brand shift interface speakers. 2015 marked a major milestone for The Libratone App is designed to Introduced in 2015, Libratone’s Libratone. After significantly investing in be the central control hub for next-generation ZIPP products, a technological and aesthetic redesign, all Libratone speakers. Users including the ZIPP Mini, are the next-generation ZIPPS were tailored can simply download the enabled with SoundSpace and ready for a truly global audience. With app for free from App Link. With two or more the successful launch of the new ZIPPs, Store or Google Play and SoundSpace Link speak- Libratone was ready to make the transition use it to configure and ers and a WiFi router, from a small Scandinavian niche brand to a control their Libratone users can create their leading global audio brand. speakers. The Libratone own personal Sound- McNair explains, “Prior to 2015 we were App contains all the Space speaker group. a premium niche brand geared towards information consumers With a single touch of the a sophisticated, affluent audience with may need about their speaker’s Touch interface, minimalist design sensibilities. What we’ve speakers, from setup and they can quickly and easily become is a significant global brand with a customisation to playback and link their speakers. They can also younger, more diverse audience. We aim to volume control and even support. link them using the Libratone App. be a leading audio brand in Asia and cer- They can also communicate and interact tainly in the top five in Europe and the US.” with Libratone through the app. Future focus In order to make the next-generation In 2015, the Touch interface was — ZIPPs more attainable for a younger launched on the ZIPP and ZIPP Mini. The A promising, dynamic future audience, McNair says, it was important Touch interface is the speaker’s physical Swimming against the current of most of to make them more affordable. They were

Timeline —

2010 2011 2012 As the first Libratone product on the market, The The Libratone Lounge was the company’s first The Libratone Zipp was the company’s first truly Libratone Beat launched the company’s funda- soundbar, designed to enhance the viewing ex- portable 360° wireless speaker, dispersing sound mental mission to combine exceptional user expe- perience through exceptional sound while acting in all directions. The Zipp has continuously earned rience with superb acoustics and smart Scandina- as the central sound source for the room. As ‘best-in-test’ reviews and has won numerous vian design. Built before the availability of AirPlay, users can stream to the Lounge from virtually any awards for both design and technology, including the Beat was not truly wireless. After establishing a device, no additional speakers are needed. With the International CES Innovations Design and relationship with Apple, AirPlay was later integrat- a distinguished look and feel, more like a piece of Engineering award, and multiple Red Dot awards. ed and the Beat evolved into the Libratone Live, furniture than a piece of HiFi, the Lounge proved launched in 2011. that soft Italian wool pairs perfectly with any flat screen TV and enhances the décor of any room.

88 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary able to do that with the help of their private investment partners in China. “With their help, we invested in our own technology platform, so we no longer need to rely on third-party ODMs (original design manufac- turers). We’ve also secured larger-volume high-quality production in China.” Libratone has also opened R&D facili- ties in Beijing to support and complement their R&D team in Denmark. The company’s headquarters remain in Denmark.

The road ahead With the future of the audio industry looking very dynamic, McNair says it’s an exciting time to be leading a company like Libra- tone. “Although the smartphone is such an integral part of music streaming right now, I think in the future, consumers will prefer to keep their phone free and stream directly to their speaker. I also think wireless portability will be a growing trend and consumers will increasingly look for great sounding Bluetooth-enabled headphones and other portable speaker options. At the same time, music and other content sources will continue to multiply and consumers will want the freedom to stream from as many sources as possible.” As Libratone heads into the future, armed with its intelligent streaming plat- form, FullRoom™ acoustic technology and iconic, fashionable design, the company intends to interact more with its global audience, grow that audience exponentially and become a significant audio force on the international market. ■

2013 2014 2015 An evolution on the 360° theme, the Libratone The Libratone Diva took the soundbar to a chic A technological and aesthetic redesign of the Loop took the company’s signature FullRoom™ new level with a slimmer shape and curvier lines. classic Zipp, the Libratone Zipp and Zipp Mini sound, curved lines and soft fabrics and made Boasting extremely powerful FullRoom™ sound introduced the company’s signature Cool Weave them wall-mountable. A stylishly versatile form and seamless streaming, the Diva was the first fabric and SoundSpace Link. SoundSpace Link factor, the Loop can also stand on a shelf or table Libratone product to integrate Bluetooth® tech- links together more than one Zipp, so users can and makes an excellent accent to any décor. nology. In 2014 the Zipp and Loop also became create their own SoundSpaces by streaming available with Bluetooth integrated. music, podcasts, movies and more in any space across their home with Libratone speakers.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 89 THE HISTORY OF Podspeakers by Scandyna

90 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The story of Scandyna spans five decades. The company is founded in 1965 by Peter Hasselriis. Over the next five decades Scandyna is dedicated to producing high-quality speakers with natural sound reproduction for a discerning audience.

The history — Scandyna – the beginning In the first decade, Scandyna produces the DYNACO A-25 shelf speaker, and the Scan- dyna 3000 and 4000. In the mid-1990s, the company introduces the iconic MiniPod design loudspeaker to a wider audience of audio and design enthusiasts. The MiniPod is well on its way to becoming a modern classic with its 20th anniversary this year (2015), loved for its futuristic, still relevant design and its natural sound quality.

History and highlights In 1965 Peter Hasselriis establishes Scan- dyna. Prior to this he has been an Export Manager at B&O. The Scandyna company starts by importing products from the US, but soon the business is turned around, and instead of importing from the US, the company starts to export from Denmark to the US. The first products are the DYNACO A-25 speakers. In 1969 the company has 200 employ- ees. The AV receiver named Scandyna 3000 is developed. Right after it comes the Simon Ghahary is an English born artist, brand architect and lifestyle engineer from the United Kingdom A-45 speaker, providing the company with known primarily for his unconventional speaker designs. a complete product range. The DYNACO A-25 speaker is voted “Best Speaker” in the US, and sales go sky high. world-famous Nautilus series at English “The shape of sound inspires me. I first In 1970 the company establishes speaker producer B&W. At this point, the began to visualize sound as being alive. My Scan-Speak speaker production at Hørning parallel stories of Scandyna and the Pod- desire was to create forms that embody this (in Jutland, Denmark) with expected sales speakers emerge and take their first steps concept. For me, the speaker is not only of 200,000 units per year. Between 1970 together into history and out into the world. playing a technical function. It was more like and 1975, Scandyna has a market share of an instrument. As an instrument that was 20% in Denmark, with over 50,000 receivers Simon Ghahary and shaping sound as capable as all musical instruments. Like sold, and amazing sales of more than 1.7 Simon Ghahary (born in England on 12 May a window granting access to the outside million of the popular DYNACO A-25 model. 1972) lives close to the B&W manufacturing world, speakers are a voice for our own In 1990 Peter Hasselriis begins selling plant. Simon approaches audio product musical choices.” speakers and speaker components to two design as an art in itself, inspired by nature, – Simon Ghahary major British speaker manufacturers, technology and art. Bowers & Wilkins and KEF. This leads to a long-term relationship with Bowers & Wilkins and some of their key staff members. Facts — Company name Main audio product types The Podspeaker era – from square boxes Scandyna/EET Group A/S Loudspeakers to shaping sound After spending a number of years as a Head office Main markets successful component supplier to manufac- Birkerød, Denmark Scandinavia, Europe turers KEF and Bowers & Wilkins, Scandyna enters the market with the highly acclaimed Established in year Number of employees MiniPod, designed by Simon Ghahary and 1965 5-9 Lawrence Dickie – both of whom play a Established by significant role in the development of the Peter Hasselsriis

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 91 The Pod’s design seeks to create In 1992 Ghahary founds Blue Room From fibreglass to ABS plastic a speaker capable of achieving perfect Loudspeakers, which is then integrated into In the first instance, at B&W, the Pods sound quality while at the same time B&W Loudspeakers, championed by Robert are made from fibreglass. They are very challenging the traditional, square standard Trunz. This move makes the global release expensive and are mainly sold (under the that dominates loudspeakers at this time. of Ghahary’s Pod designs possible. Blue Room logo) to a few audio and design Convinced that the ideal way of transmitting The HousePod wins the European enthusiasts who are willing to pay the price sound waves naturally is via round cabinets Image and Sound Association (EISA) (approximately DKK 12,000). When Scan- without flat surfaces and sharp edges, the Award 1995–96 for audio design, which dyna takes over the production in 1998, Pod range is an antidote to the convention Simon Ghahary accepts on behalf of Blue the Pods are manufactured in ABS plastic of square, box-type enclosures. Room in Berlin. This is a magnificent start and some improvements are made. This In 1991 Simon Ghahary designs the for B&W Loudspeakers and secures cult makes it possible to reach a lower price of Podspeaker (initially called the HousePod) status for changing the face of the domestic approximately DKK 4,000, which people based on the idea that loudspeakers hi-fi market. The Pods have really become in general who are interested in music and perform better in a rounded form than in a an antidote to the convention of square, design can afford. square box. A chance encounter and sub- box-type enclosures. They spearhead a sequent friendship with Bowers & Wilkins revolution in audio design, the effects of Jaguar Racing Green, Apple, Friends and engineer Laurence Dickie (who pioneered which can still be seen today. Madonna the Nautilus speaker) leads to the 1993 In 1995 the first MiniPod is born. When Scandyna takes over the production, release of his first Podspeaker range. The first MiniPod cabinets produced are it becomes possible to produce the MiniPod Ghahary manages to design the entire sem- moulded in-house in the workshop facility in different colours at a reasonable price. inal Pod range, which includes the MiniPod, at B&W Loudspeakers. The expense and For a while, the MiniPod turns Jaguar Bass Station, CinePod and MicroPod. time involved does not allow the potential of Racing Green – the Jaguar importer in the mass production, and so the original Mini- Netherlands orders 190 MiniPods. Later on, Pod begins its life as a relatively exclusive even a limited-edition transparent plastic product. Only 4,000 units are made, at a MiniPod is made, which is very popular in price of DKK 12,000 each. combination with Apple Mac computers at this time.

92 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Imagining two MiniPods joined together is the starting point from which Simon sculptures the form.

In 1996, Blue Room Loudspeakers Laurence Dickie. Imagining two MiniPods fashionable leather products, a project is separates from B&W, and it becomes an joined together is the starting point from born to create a unique pair of HousePods independent entity in 1997. The MiniPod which Simon sculptures the form. The covered with leather, intended as a gift for is reborn after production is moved to MicroPod is born in 2001 and is originally Madonna. Unfortunately these speakers go Scandyna in Denmark – using high-stiff- conceived as a complete home cinema missing during a film shoot in Denmark and ness, recyclable ABS plastic. A number audio solution. The initial ideas are based never make it to the Queen of Pop. of improvements are made to the general around the shape of the MiniPod. When the Apple MP3 iPod and iPod functionality, and the new MiniPod model Mini are selling very well in 2005, Apple becomes a reality. The Sputnik spikes takes Scandyna to court because of the use fixing mechanism, the wall bracket, and of the term “MiniPod”. However, the court experimentation with a spectrum of colours rules that Scandyna is allowed to sell pro- and finishes, including transparent plastics, ducts under the “MiniPod” name as long as are now possible. the company does not launch an amplifier In 1998 the Bass Station is born. With under this name. the prospect of competing in a cinema set- up, it is apparent that the MiniPod needs some extra bass extension, and therefore a new design is called for. The ancient form of a percussionist’s drum inspires the Bass During the 1990s, Scandyna gains a lot Station. The sub bass driver sits horizontally of attention from the MiniPod being shown on top and vibrates like a drum skin, con- in the television sitcom “Friends” and is ducting sound through the cylindrical body also gifted a lucky break with UK band of the subwoofer cabinet to the bass-port The Grid (Richard Norris and Dave Ball) horn positioned underneath. with multiple white Pods filmed for a music When Scandyna celebrates its 40th video, “Swamp Thing”. It happens like this: anniversary in September 2007, the Simon Ghahary receives a call from Think, company has produced more than 100,000 the London-based design and PR company, MiniPods. requesting he put together as many white In the years that follow, the Drop (2007, Pods as he can fit in a truck. David Roberts designed by Graham Allen), the BigPod and Simon Ghahary split a shipment (2012), the SmallPod (2012, Bluetooth 2011, destined for export and race to London Airplay 2013) and the MiniPod BT (2013) are with everything they have. The Pods are added to the Podspeaker range. scattered throughout the studio and filming As of 2011, Peter Hasselriis is no longer begins. It is shot in a day and they travel involved in Scandyna. Bent Hovendahl (for- back to Brighton late in the evening. mer owner of Eltax and the Tangent brands) Over the years, the Podspeakers are Released in June 1994, “Swamp and Halberg Capital take over the company. sold on the Scandinavian market through Hi- Thing” by The Grid is a monster of a tune. In this period, the audio business is shifting Fi Klubben’s chain of shops. Hi-Fi Klubben It reaches number three in the UK charts from analogue (passive) loudspeakers to starts selling the HousePod in 1995. When and is in the Top Ten for eight weeks. Pods almost exclusively active loudspeakers, and Podspeakers are reintroduced to the Scan- also appear on both of The Grid’s album so the company incorporates amplifiers dinavian market in the year 2000, 16 Mini- covers. The video plays everywhere, and and focuses on updating the technology to Pods are sold in Denmark in the first month. the exposure is priceless. streaming technology with Bluetooth and This marks the beginning of a partnership At this time the original roster of colours Airplay. Also, the production moves from between Hi-Fi Klubben and Scandyna. is just black, white and blue, so Simon Denmark to China. In 1999–2001, the CinePod joins the starts to experiment. Through a team-up From the 90s until today, the Podspeak- Pod range. Simon Ghahary once again with Erisbian Garbs of Brighton, a duo of ers are featured in several films and in many works closely with acoustic engineer eccentric and highly talented designers of lifestyle and design magazines.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 93 In June 2015, Scandyna is acquired Its high performance and its unique and Similarly, the timbre does not suffer from by the Danish distribution company EET sculptural design make the MiniPod one of the use of plastic, while the bass is natural Europarts. The company’s ambition is to the world’s most exceptional speaker icons. and generous. With its speed and respon- further expand the success of the Pod- The MiniPod comes with Sputnik spikes. siveness, this speaker shows undeniable speakers throughout Europe and worldwide The MiniPod range receives the Plus X dynamic qualities.” via EET Europarts’ wide distribution Award for design in 2005. network. Peter Hasselriis is pictured here In 2015, the MiniPod MKIII receives the CinePod visiting the EET Europarts headquarters in distinguished Diapason D’Or 2015 Award in CinePod is a stylish centre speaker for Ballerup, Denmark, in the summer of 2015. France. Diapason is one of the finest French surround sound. Designed to be used in He is holding a Racing Green MiniPod. awards for Hi-Fi products: the Minipod expanding or creating a multi-channel audio MKIII gets 6 out of 6 stars and wins the system, the CinePod is the voice box of Diapason D’Or Award 2015. the Scandyna family. The most important Diapason says: “Designed by the same loudspeaker in a home theatre system, the engineers as the famous B&W Nautilus, centre channel is responsible for around with which it shares the same bold design 70% of any movie soundtrack, so it needs and internal load, this speaker boasts to be capable, agile and responsive. advanced technology. The third-generation In 2005 the CinePod is honoured with a MiniPod benefits from improved speaker Plus X Award for design. drivers and crossover. The bass is taken care of by a 6-inch Kevlar membrane, treble by a 1-inch soft dome tweeter. It stands on aluminium feet. Their light weight could cause concern, but it is not a problem. The MKIII MiniPod wins with evidence. Phase, depth and width are of staggering precision. Iconic products — MiniPod MKIII The Drop The MiniPod MKIII is a stylish speaker for The Drop is a drop-shaped speaker for both stereo and surround sound. A true de- both stereo and surround sound. It features sign icon, and the “Pod model” that starts the same design principles as the other it all. The MiniPod is one of the world’s “Pods”, yet in a different form. The Drop’s best-recognised loudspeakers. Since its rigid cabinet offers different mounting launch in the early 1990s, the MiniPod has options, making it one of the most versatile set a benchmark for what can be achieved loudspeakers on the market. As well as when moving away from conventional box conventional desk-top or book shelf mount- designs. ing, the Drop’s unique “hanging” bracket

Timeline —

1965 1970 1991 1995 1998 2000 Peter Hasselriis estab- Scandyna establishes Simon Ghahary de- The first MiniPod The BassStation is Hi-Fi Klubben re-in- lishes the company Scan-Speak speaker signs the Podspeaker is born, and Hi-Fi born. troduces the Pod- Scandyna. production in Hørning. (initially called the Klubben introduces speakers in Denmark, House Pod). Podspeakers to the Norway, Sweden and Scandinavian market. The Netherlands.

94 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary makes it ideal for those who want the same its 150 watt class D amplifier and 250 Future focus Scandyna sound performance but from a mm long throw drive unit creates more — product that can be suspended from the emotions than most. It reproduces deep, Podspeakers for the modern generation ceiling. The Drop is ideal for those who wish clear notes that can be both subtle, as part Even though Danish company Scandyna’s to make a statement in both appearance of a symphony, or impressive, as part of a history goes back to 1965 and includes the and performance. movie soundtrack. As a perfect companion overwhelming success and iconic status for any of the Scandyna loudspeakers, the of the Podspeaker range in the 1990s, BassStation will integrate into any space Podspeakers continue to impress hi-fi and enhance the sound performance for a enthusiasts with their unique design and truly compelling listening experience. impressive sound. What surprises most The BassStation is honoured with a people is the fact that Podspeakers were Plus X Award for design in 2005. designed back in the 1990s. The goal then was to develop high-quality speakers with MicroPod SE a unique design that people could afford to Scandyna MicroPod SE speakers are buy. The mission has been accomplished, compact speakers for stereo and surround. and the results are still astonishing. They are suitable for both two channel The company behind the Podspeaker stereo and home theatre surround sound brand today, EET Europarts, will continue to BassStation applications. The MicroPods are full-range breathe new life into the Podspeaker range, The BassStation is a subwoofer for both speakers and can be used on their own. and to ensure that the speakers match the stereo and surround sound. The Bass- They can also easily be matched with a needs of the modern generation. The digital Station is emotive and always underpins subwoofer for added bass presence. Micro- audio era for streaming services is growing, any sound system. The BassStation with Pod SE speakers come with aluminium as are the new concepts of multi-room and “Sputnik” spikes or can be wall mounted interoperability between brands and plat- using the optional wall bracket. forms. The Podspeakers’ functionality and In 2006 the MicroPod SE receives a performance will change accordingly and will Plus X Award for design. follow this trend, but the core focus on iconic design with great sound will stay the same. EET Europarts hopes to bring the brand and history of Scandyna and Podspeakers great success in the years to come. EET Europarts believes that the design is signifi- cant enough to remain iconic as a modern classic that will continue to be relevant to a lifestyle and design oriented global audience. ■

2001 2007 2011 2012 2013 2015 The MicroPod is born. The Drop is designed Peter Hasselriis leaves The BigPod and the The SmallPod Airplay Scandyna is acquired by Graham Allen. the company and SmallPod BT 2012 are and the MiniPod BT by EET Europarts and Bent Hovendahl and launched. are launched. MiniPod MKIII receives Halberg Capital takes the distinguished over the ownership of Diapason D’OR 2015 Scandyna. Award.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 95 THE HISTORY OF PointSource Acoustics

96 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary In 2009 PointSource Acoustics was founded by engineer and R&D loudspeaker expert, Carsten Tinggaard. Since then, PointSource Acoustics has taken huge steps towards being the world´s most accurate and fastest sample production lab for loudspeakers.

The history — PointSource Acoustics owner, Carsten Tinggaard, has 17 years of experience in loudspeaker research and development. This includes High-End tweeters, midrange drivers, complex woofer designs and platforms from the small 1.5” mini full-range drivers to the larger 15” subwoofers.

The founder of PointSource Acoustics Carsten Tinggaard studied Engineering at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and later at the Technical University of Den- mark (DTU) between 1992-2000. In 1998 he finished his Bachelor of Acoustic Engi- neering at SDU, and thereafter he applied for a job in Mexico with the intensions of becoming an underwater acoustic engineer. Life turned out differently and instead he travelled to Spain where he worked with Gert Christensen (left), Knud Thorborg (middle), Carsten Tinggaard (right) - Copyright © Brüel & Kjær speakers and acoustics solutions. In 1999 he returned to Denmark and took the 8 Master´s degree courses in acoustics avail- ship and name to Tymphany and between PointSource Acoustics - a new beginning able at DTU while working as a freelance 2005 and 2009 it endured more changes. The shut-down of the site came acoustic consultant. The factory in Karlslunde was shut down. very unexpectedly but it opened up a new Education and theories alone are not Production was moved partially to Jutland opportunity for Carsten Tinggaard to start sufficient knowledge to generate great and the rest to China where Tymphany his own company named PointSource sound solutions, so between 2000 and built a state-of-the-art manufacturing site Acoustics. The vision was clear: Point- 2009 Carsten Tinggaard gained the prac- in Panyu, Guangdong. A new R&D site Source Acoustics should help clients by tical core expertise that forms the basis of was also established in Taastrup (20 km filling the huge gap between the conception PointSource Acoustics’ expertise today. from Karlslunde) where Carsten Tinggaard and product realization. Often, potential In 2000, he landed a job at Peerless in became Chief Engineer, responsible for clients asked: “How fast can you make a Karlslunde, Denmark working as an Acous- the development of all three Danish loud- sample matching the specification?” It thus tic Engineer. Those were the great years, speaker brands: Peerless DK, Vifa DK, and became a mission for PointSource Acous- when the factory used its own tools, treated Scan-Speak. tics to build and develop the world´s most the raw materials, and manufactured all The R&D site in Taastrup had grown accurate and fastest sample lab. speaker parts in-house including the final to include a strong team of more than 20 It is indeed a good start to have great assembled drivers. Numerous acoustical people, covering R&D, QA, and Sales. But ideas, know fundamental theory, simulate experiments were carried out by Carsten due to the global financial crisis end 2008, for best results, and create 3D CAD models Tinggaard, leading to hard-core theoretical Tymphany decided to shut down the R&D to visualize what words cannot cover. How- discussions with the very experienced site early 2009. ever, without fast execution in converting grand old man within in the loudspeaker industry, Knud Thorborg. In 2003 Carsten Tinggaard became the Facts Peerless’ Product Manager under Danish — Company name Main audio product types Sound Technology (DST) where he teamed PointSource Acoustics Loudspeaker driver designs. up with Gert Christensen, today Product Acoustical, mechanical and elec- Manager at M&K Sound. Together Knud Head office tromagnetic measurements. Thorborg, Carsten Tinggaard, and Gert , Denmark Christensen designed many drivers for the Main markets audio industry. All three played an important Established in year Europe and USA role in the Danish loudspeaker industry 2009 Number of employees throughout those years. Established by 6 In 2005, the company changed owner- Carsten Tinggaard

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 97 ideas, simulations, and CAD drawings into a in the most precise and accurate way. company from a completely different producible and playing loudspeaker, no one The home garage of 20 m2 was quickly industry? Carsten Tinggaard set himself can sit down, relax and enjoy the music. remodeled into an office space. A generous high standards: it had to be a Danish company, System Audio in the nearby town company and it had to have the similar The name “PointSource Acoustics” of Roskilde lent out an extra 20 m2 where degree of recognition in its own industry. During the start-up years of 2009-2011 it Carsten Tinggaard could build his first In other words, it had to have “the Danish was very important to develop a robust anechoic chamber. label” and have solid marketing and sales business model that could grow the As projects were few, his focus con- functions. Such a partnership would allow company even in tough financial times. It centrated on creating a robust process. PointSource Acoustics to focus on the R&D was important the company name was not Robustness, where the business would side and the development of its specialised limited to Hi-Fi, Home Entertainment, in- be less affected by global and individual core competence. wall, lifestyle, PA, automotive, etc. A “point markets’ ups and downs, then became The Danish furniture industry was an source” in the theoretical world is identified part of the company’s business strategy. ideal match and a new working relationship as an ideal sound source (a point in space). The first years were therefore dedicated to bloomed between PointSource Acoustics Any calculated wave propagation in air developing a consultancy service, covering and Montana Møbler A/S. This marked the begins with an ideal point source. Such the core expertise of PointSource Acoustics beginning of the creation of a new series a concept intended to include all kind of by making internal procedures and universal of loudspeakers whose goal was to be industries needing ideal acoustics solutions. templates. elegantly concealed within the Montana With this thought in mind, the company With this setup, the focused strategy furniture and out of sight. name was born “PointSource Acoustics” soon began to produce results, resulting The invisible integration of high quality (PSA). in an increase in consultancy work. This audio, a clean look, and no visible cables covered varied industries and areas of - all the essential ingredients to win the Long term strategy and robustness the acoustic field and with very different approval of having a powerful sound system The first years (2009-2011) were very chal- applications. Even though the tasks and in a modern household. lenging: cash flow was low; projects were applications were completely different, the Due to increased Montana production few and with no lab facilities, the consul- company’s core expertise elements could there was a pressing need for more space, tancy service was limited. But the long term respond to the challenges. so PointSource Acoustics rented a further mission and strategy remained clear - to 100 m2 in Carsten Tinggaard’s home village. build up a world-leading sample lab with The Cooperation with Montana Møbler It was the first step in the direction of the most sophisticated measurement equip- Then a question came to mind: why focus what became possible for PointSource ment that could objectively quantify and solely on the traditional loudspeaker Acoustics in the 21st century: to re-es- evaluate all kind of transducer performance industry? Why not create a link with a tablish loudspeaker assembly production in Denmark. To complete the Montana loudspeaker assembly in Denmark it was essential for PointSource Acoustics to en- sure high speaker quality and to guarantee 100 % outgoing quality control.

Unique combination of research, accura- cy, practical diagnostics, and operational know-how PointSource Acoustics aims to constantly improve the sound quality of loudspeakers. There is a drive to run new research projects, not for the sake of research itself but to go beyond the complexity of the loudspeaker and to better understand how to convert research into practical improvements. Such improvements should enhance the beauty and joy of listening to reproduced sound. This can only be achieved through cutting edge research and highly accurate measurement equipment to identify and quantify the subjective sound improvements. In 2011 PointSource Acoustics invested in the Klippel analyser to be able to mea- sure the large signal non-linear behaviour of the speakers and the different distortions as harmonic, difference tone and multi tone. A highly accurate laser was selected and integrated to measure the driver parame- ters. Having the Klippel analyser, objective Production of 4x6 middle loudspeaker PointSource Acoustic. measurements of large signal non-linear

98 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary behaviour could now be supported and combined with the distortion measurements from the 2pi anechoic chamber facilities.

A huge step In 2013 space became an issue for the company again and with three different locations it was time to make an important decision. In September 2013 PointSource Acoustics moved into a new laboratory facility of total 304 m2 in Roskilde. The location was one big room but within a month new walls were set up to create office space, conference room, glue lab facilities, sample lab facilities, new 2pi an- echoic measurement chamber, workshop, assembly and power test facilities including nice stock and packing facilities. The new environment was a catalyst to keep the momentum around developing more accu- rate measurement methods and investigate the root causes of complex behaviour in loudspeakers. In 2014 this led PointSource Acoustics A fully-automated glue machine designed and constructed to fulfil the high requirements for a sample to design and construct a velocity driven build. Force Factor measurement equipment to measure, verify, and control all kinds of magnet systems and their non-linearities. It processing where the input and output are sample build and the measurement results became possible to gain knowledge about constantly been compared. PointSource are so accurate that the loudspeaker mea- the flux modulation based on measure- Acoustics has an internal database where surements in the data bank are now used ments. Morten Halvorsen, a student from measurement data of approximately 1200 with great success to simulate and estimate the DTU, decided to do his Master thesis built samples has been collected over the the new loudspeaker parameters that match in cooperation with PointSource Acoustics years. The data is statistically managed and the client specification. Since its foundation and the results were presented on AES the results are constantly compared with in 2009 PointSource Acoustics had made convention 138 in Warsaw in spring 2015. actual simulations to be able to predict the many steps in order to build up a robust In August 2014 Morten Halvorsen finished loudspeaker parameters within a 2-5 % company. Investments in highly advanced his Master in Acoustics and was hired by deviation from the real built sample. It has measurement and simulation equipment, PointSource Acoustics. become another powerful and efficient tool developing and creating its own glue It turned out to be a powerful measure- in the design phase when clients need to machine and Force Factor measurement ment tool that supported the other mea- speed up the time-to-market timeframe. machine, and continuously improving the surements in the lab, such as an advanced To ensure correct data from the sample internal procedures and templates. Thus, curve fitting method to fit measurements to build is transferred back into the database, PointSource Acoustics has taken a huge the loudspeaker model at higher frequen- it is important to control the assembly pro- step towards being the world´s most accu- cies. This method was developed in close cess. Here again, much attention is given to rate and fastest sample production lab. collaboration with Knud Thorborg who structured procedures, precision, accurate frequently visited the PointSource Acoustics glue amount and placement, practical expe- Iconic products lab until the age of 86 years. rience and know-how about the individual — With the above described measurement parts and their strengths and weaknesses. Montana by PointSource tools it became possible to separate a At the time, a fully automated glue The brand name ‘Montana by PointSource’ loudspeaker’s three fundamental elements: machine suitable for the requirements of is a unique outcome of two well-known the electromagnetic, the mechanical moving PointSource Acoustics was not available on Danish industries that un-traditionally have structure, and the vibro-acoustics of the the market. Without it, the reproducibility, teamed up: the Danish furniture industry loudspeaker. The practical hands-on experi- precision and accuracy of the sample build and the Danish loudspeaker industry. Both ence together with separating the elements was not possible. industries are famous for their expertise, has proved to be an outstanding combina- Consequently, in 2012 PointSource design, and high levels of quality. Together tion, leading to accurate driver diagnostic of Acoustics designed and constructed they created the Montana Sound concept. the root cause and fast problem solving. their own glue machine with the accuracy The Montana Sound modules have needed to assemble loudspeakers with high been designed for storing Hi-Fi systems Loudspeaker prototype and sample build accuracy and high reproducibility. It worked and electronic equipment. PointSource To achieve a healthy knowledge bank of fine but went through several upgrades to Acoustics has developed three different loudspeaker simulations, it is necessary improve flexibility and faster operation. In loudspeaker sizes and one Montana Sound to match simulations with the actual built May 2015, the glue machine was finally Unit amplifier - all specifically designed to driver. It is a self-feeding closed loop that completed and today it is an integral part complement the Montana modules. The can be compared with adaptive signal of the loudspeaker build procedure. The stable foam pads between speaker and

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 99 furniture ensure no mechanical contact; impedance curve, before building a proto- coil dynamic motion. the top and bottom mounting plates work type driver. To obtain a result as close as possible as a vibration killer of box resonances In the last couple of years, PointSource to the real world, PointSource Acoustics and the 10mm gap at the bottom is part Acoustics has invested additional resources imports mechanical parameters such as of an acoustic-optimized resonator for to increase the knowledge of the many mass, damping, and non-linear compliance extending bass response. Here there are complex phenomena in motor systems curves into the simulation. The company no compromises. Superb sound quality, such as saturation, eddy currents, stray is now in a position to simulate excursion, perfect integration with Montana´s shelving fields, and flux modulation. This includes harmonic distortion, intermodulation distor- systems, and compatibility with various investment in motion solvers and 3D solvers tion, and multi-tone response long before a types of wireless streaming. for MagNet and the acquisition of a dedi- physical sample is built. In 2010, the first loudspeaker (4x6 cated FEA super computer, optimized to run From the very beginning PointSource mid-size) was launched. Shortly after came highly complex FEA simulation scenarios. Acoustics has been working closely with the smaller size 2x4 speaker and in 2013 This includes 2D simulation with symmetri- the Technical University of Denmark, DTU. together with the launch of the Montana cal axis speakers or with any shaped driver PointSource Acoustics has been invited to Sound Unit came the big and powerful 6x8 in 3D, fixed voice coil positions with any give guest lectures, to supervise student loudspeaker. In parallel with the consultancy given signal and even simulations of voice projects and participate in technical dis- services, the Montana by PointSource cussions with PHDs and professors about speakers and the Montana Sound Unit drivers, system design, and acoustics in (MSU), there is another branch of Point- general. Source Acoustics: a long-term investment In spring 2014, PointSource Acoustic basis closely related with the strategy of supervised a Master´s thesis on the topic building up a robust and solid company. of ‘Flux Modulation in the Electrodynamic Loudspeaker’. The thesis covered simu- Cutting-edge technology lations and a measurement study of the — voice coil generated flux modulation. The Since the foundation of PointSource simulations were carried out on the FEA Acoustics in 2009, one of the key visions super computer, where the generated flux of the company is to be a global leader in was simulated, both with the voice coil fixed motor design simulation and relating that to in position and moving dynamically. The the real loudspeakers. In order to achieve simulations showed how the eddy currents this vision, PointSource Acoustics made and the skin effect caused phase shifts and its first investment in a highly advanced 2D amplitude changes of the flux modulation Static and Transient license for Infolytica´s and how the generated flux modulation FEA simulation tool MagNet. This enabled travelled into the iron parts of the speaker PointSource Acoustics to simulate force like a wave propagation, thus demonstrat- factor non-linear curves and optimise the Flux lines and B field simulated in MagNet. ing that the motor system has a memory working point for the magnet and electrical and depends on previous states.

Timeline —

2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 At the very beginning, End of 2009, the FEA January 2010, Point- April 2010, January 2011, Point- With both the Klippel education, experi- magnet simulation tool Source Acoustics PointSource Acoustics Source Acoustics analyser and more ence, knowhow and MagNet from Infolytica officially created the expanded it’s invested in the Klippel traditional ways of networks were all was implemented. It relationship with the production facilities analyser to add ad- measuring the driver there but with zero lab was to simulate static furniture company area to 100m2. The vanced measurement parameters, it was facilities. We started and dynamic response Montana Møbler A/S. new facilities were tools to the consul- possible to investigate building our first 2Pi with the transient The first products mainly for speaker tant-driven research driver problems from anechoic chamber at solver incl. THD, 2nd were launched at the assembly and testing and development side different measurement System Audio. and 3rd har. Koelnmesse 2010 the Montana Sound of the company. angles. speakers.

100 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Future focus • Continue to build a strong bridge — between simulations and actual driver PointSource Acoustics team will continue measurements in order to more intelli- to optimize and improve its skills and gently determine the driver specifica- knowledge to become the fastest and most tion, T/S parameters, and non-linearity accurate sample lab. A solid fundament before building the sample. This also is established and essential equipment includes improving loudspeaker models ensuring accuracy and efficient execution to fit the real world loudspeaker be- will be implemented with constant focus on haviour more precisely. improving procedures and templates. In this way our clients will see their new product • Expand with focus on new material ideas accelerate though the complete research. Develop its own measurement speaker development phase and reduce methods and build the necessary mea- time-to-market. surement equipment to ensure highly accurate material properties. Simulated AC changes of the B-field. September 2015, the company invested in a 3D printer. This enables the team to build prototypes rapidly. The machine fitted • Expand the company’s prototype facil- ities with advanced production tools, To verify the simulations, PointSource in to PointSouces Acoustics’ goal of acting fixtures, and gauges that will enable the Acoustics modified its own, internally quickly, enabling the team to design and team to make small pilot production developed Force Factor measurement build the clients’ driver samples and print runs and maintain the close relationship machine to measure the generated flux from parts for internal investigations. between research, development, and the voice coil under blocked voice coil con- The future focus of PointSouce Acous- production. ditions. Comparing the measurements and tics is to: the simulations showed a good consistency • Continue to develop the already strong • Focus on developing new Montana in the flux modulation. This thesis work relationship with universities, especially by PointSource brand products in has given PointSource Acoustics a deeper the Technical University of Denmark and collaboration with Montana Møbler A/S understanding of the complex electro- its acoustics department. Help students to continuously expanding the public magnetic behaviour of the electrodynamic maintain the intensity of studies and knowledge about Montana Sound. driver. New student projects in collaboration support in making their Master thesis or with the DTU and PointSource Acoustics PhD in collaboration with PointSource Finally, in expanding its R&D, sample lab are underway to get even deeper into the Acoustics. and production facilities, PointSource understanding of flux modulation and its Acoustics hopes to create more Danish effect on motor system performance. • Continue to improve its core expertise in jobs. 2D and 3D transient magnet simulations using Infolytica tools to do any type of ■ advanced motional magnet simulation.

2012 2012 2013 2013 2014 2014 With the accurate and The measurement In May 2013 a new PointSource Acoustics A Static BL(x) The next big step was advanced simulation facilities were Montana Sound moved into new R&D measurement to invest in a highly facilities, followed the expanded with the speaker named “6x8 facilities with office equipment based on advanced 3D MagNet demand for a more Klippel vacuum Big” and a Montana space, conference constant velocity was Simulation tool from accurate sample build. test chamber for Sound Unit were room, sample lab, 2pi constructed. It was Infolytica and a super An in-house automat- micro speakers and developed. A new anechoic chamber, designed to measure, computer to support ed glue station was Pascal Audio 2400W quality audio brand assembly line, power verify and control all the heavy processing designed and con- amplifiers for high- was born: “Montana test, workshop and kind of non-linearities capability needed. structed. powered power test. by PointSource”. storage. in magnet systems.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 101 THE HISTORY OF Quali-Fi

102 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Quali-Fi is a small Danish company specialized in producing full-range loudspeakers in advanced cabinets made out of sustainable materials and with high quality craftman ship. The listener’s experience of music is unique in its detail, nuance and three-dimensional perspective. The beauty of the cabinets provides a similar visual experience.

The history supplier. Turntables were evaluated and studios, large concert halls staging large — Garrad 301 was chosen and then Shure productions such as musicals. The history of Quali-Fi is rather long pick ups. Gormsen designed high end When the public was exposed to such and winding, an attempt to explain it will be plinths and through SME they got in contact an experience of sound, they started asking made in the following paragraphs. Suffice with Radford and consequently also had a for more. This led to major discotheques to say, Quali-Fi’s focus has always been on top end amplifier in the program. Quali-Fi investing in Quali-Fi systems with JBL providing the customers and listeners with also managed to get an agreement with speakers, and eventually consumers started an extraordinary experience of music at the upcoming Dolby company. This noise to flock around. an affordable price. Today this is primarily reduction technology spread like wildfire in In 1973 JBL was sold to Harmon reflected in Quali-Fi’s line of loudspeakers all the Scandinavian recording studios. Kardon, and business relations deteriorated. built with full-range drivers and beautiful Later Quali-Fi got JBL loudspeakers In the end Ole Brøndum left the company non-resonant cabinets made in sustainable through a contact Ole had acquired in the to pursue other avenues and Quali-Fi bamboo. The beginning however was much USA and the product lineup was pretty descended into more ordinary consumer more colourful. complete and business became serious. product, but that – as they say – is another And this connection with JBL proved to story. Early days be the most important one with regards to Quali-Fi was founded by Ole Brøndum i loudspeakers. The JBL loudspeakers were Fast Forward 1963 – almost by coincidence. From his already well established in the professional Ole Brøndum and Kurt Nielsen met in the early childhood Ole had a passion for sound field as the stage sound systems for early 2000’s around other business initia- classical music. Inspired by his father – a the leading bands. tives, and discovered a common interest if radio amateur and inventor – he ventured After a while Quali-Fi got permission not passion for good musical experiences. into experiments with tube amplifiers and to build cabinets locally in Denmark Kurt Nielsen – an engineer in electronics loudspeakers with significantly better per- and assemble the speakers here - the and acoustics – had since the early seventies formance and reproduction of the coveted products were the JBL S99 Athena, JBL built loudspeakers, mostly with various full music, than the equipment on the market in Lancer 99, and Lancer 101. Under the range units and using various horn designs, the day. strict supervision of JBL quality control the which was the craze of the day. 30 years Somewhat later after being stationed in manufacturing of cabinets for these models later he had picked up the interest again with the USA by the Danish Navy, the American was approved - all in Danish design looks a vision of recreating some of the original Hi-Fi equipment had made a lasting im- and finish. This immediately gave a boost to simplicity in design and clarity of sound as in pression and raised the bar for reproduction the Hi-Fi sales. the great speakers of earlier times. of especially opera and heavier orchestral Sales increased further when several Kurt became aware of some important works. performing musicals such as Hair and Jesus facts: During his studies as an electrical Christ Superstar and groups such as The • Recent theoretical models and develop- engineer and with a wife equally hooked on Savage Rose were equipped with Quali-Fi ments in loudspeaker design including musical perfection, Ole conducted constant gear. Later Quali-Fi supplied a large part of new computer software that could listening sessions and experiments with the European market with JBL speakers. simulate loudspeaker cabinet designs amplifiers, loudspeakers, and turntables. Quali-Fi almost became synonymous with unprecedented precision. One lodger – Gormsen, an architect and with high-end Hi-Fi in the seventies, supply- designer – introduced the then revolutionary ing installations to many Nordic recording • Through a project in the third world pick up arm SME being presented in Co- penhagen in 1963 at an exhibition for British design. SME were seeking distributors, Facts Ole and Gormsen decided to try for it. As — Company name Main audio product types company name they chose Quali-Fi - a Quali-Fi Full-range loudspeakers in combination of quality and Hi-Fi. SME an- bamboo cabinets swered later that Quali-Fi had been chosen Head office and they were very proud of that. A year Egtved, Denmark Main markets later they learned that they had been the Europe only applicant. Established in year This was the foundation: SME tonearms 1963 Number of employees 4 were the first products on board. But more Established by was needed to become a high end Hi-Fi Ole Brøndum

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 103 the many qualities of bamboo became Iconic products Mozart – slim and discrete apparent. Cross-ply bamboo material — The Mozart loudspeaker is a throw-back to exhibit very little resonance, which Quali-Fi is a small company and has devel- the seventies where the company Epicure makes it an ideal acoustic material for oped a relationship with suppliers, staff and Products Inc. (“EPI”) had great success with loudspeaker cabinets. distributors that allow the company to move their Micro Towers. Being impressed by the very quickly and produce new designs in Markaudio Alpair 7 unit’s three-dimensional • Markaudio from Hong Kong were small series at reasonable prices. Here is a sound stage Quali-Fi wanted to create a discovered. They had developed list of landmarks in the product line: beautiful product that took up less space completely new ways of making both than the Bach speaker. suspension and cone design of loud- Bach – reaches to the sky The result was Mozart. With its tall, speaker units. Design and construction The Bach loudspeaker is a special, slender appearance it blends into the room of speaker units have taken a quantum rediscovered design. As in so many other in an elegant way and become a piece of leap forward in terms of achievable aspects of life, the secret is actually sim- furniture or even art in its own right. Mozart frequency area, propagation of sound plicity. The Bach cabinet is a special variant is wider than it is deep, unlike most modern and, reduction of distortion. of a TQWT (Tapered Quarter Wave Tube). It speakers. It is possible for it to be placed consists of a long conical horn with a fold up against a wall taking up a minimum Kurt built the first prototypes of the Bach at the bottom and the horn opening facing amount of space. loudspeaker with the now legendary Alpair upwards. The speaker unit is placed at a The design is a so called “end-loaded 7 full range unit from Markaudio and precise distance from the closed end of the TL”; a transmission line that ends in a port. brought it to Ole, who was amazed at the horn to reduce resonances. The port is built the port into the cabinet detail and the sound stage these little units This cabinet has some very special itself, first of all because it looks better could produce. In early 2009 the ideas qualities that make some listeners hold this than a traditional round plastic port and organized into a shared vision of creating one as their favorite. The sound fills the secondly, because this type of port provides a series of loudspeakers with sustainable room in a very special way, and the bass is a higher acoustic resistive component in the design and uncompromising sound quality. extraordinarily open and very precise. Many port, which produces a more dry bass than Quali-Fi was re-born. people have compared the sound from this a traditional round port. All Quali-Fi speakers are designed type of cabinet with the sound coming from The front of Mozart is chamfered at a 45 based on the same consistent principles: a so called Open Baffle, which has a large degree angle. Aesthetically this presents a fan base among music appreciators, be- unique expression that exposes the refined • Clarity and detail are priorities – Qua- cause of its open and seemingly effortless structure of the bamboo. However, there is li-Fi designs are with full-range units to sound image. also an acoustic reason for softening the avoid compromises in filters. Cabinets The Bach cabinet uses the listening edge: it diminishes the diffraction of the mid are produced in rigid, non-resonant, room actively – in order to get the best re- range and Alpair 7’s excellent three-dimen- sustainable bamboo for minimum sult Bach must be placed in a corner or up sional qualities are demonstrated at their coloration of sound. against a back wall. The corner or the back very best. wall works as the continuation of the horn. Mozart is as good as Bach at providing • Simplicity and sustainability are prior- It excites the room’s vertical resonance in a nuances in the mid range area. The bass is ities – no-nonsense visually appealing very different way. dry and precise and percussion instruments designs that can be produced easily, at The design was rediscovered in 2005 by are exact and well-defined. There is a good affordable prices with as little negative Terry Cain, a cabinetmaker from the United balance between form and function with impact on the environment as possible. States with an interest in speaker designs. Mozart, and the sculptural effect of the tall, The simple and clean lines of the This cabinet soon got its nickname BIB slim cabinet is appreciated by most. Mozart cabinets are combined with full-range (Bigger is Better). Quali-Fi changed some was designed in collaboration with David drivers of the highest quality. parameters through computer simulations Dlugos from Planet10 Hi-Fi in Canada; to reduce standing resonances in the horn. he had the original idea for construction; • Music lovers above all others – The Quali-FI adapted it to the Alpair 7 and the purpose is to bring the original record- bamboo design. ing venue as close as possible to the listener. That includes great impulse handling, no phase distortions and a sophisticated three-dimensional sound. Lovers of music have somewhat been left orphaned in the current MP3 audio and home cinema market. Quali-Fi is here to provide an alternative.

The philosophy behind Quali-Fi designs is a mixture of old principles, developed by sound pioneers in the first half of the 20th century and the latest technology in software, simulation, speaker, and cabinet design with a touch of sustainability added.

104 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Chopin – the chubby little brother The Händel Family was discovered that extra bass extension Chopin is a Mozart with a different form Modern simulation software provides and amplification could be extracted from factor. Quali-Fi was asked for a design that opportunities to the cabinet designer that the Alpair 12P with a special mass-loaded could be placed in a more traditional way, previous generations did not have, for semi-conical horn. in a bookshelf or on a speaker stand. The example combining a transmission line and The Haydn family was born. So far it result was the Chopin. a horn. It has been tried before, in the fifties, only has one member, the Haydn 12 Horn. by Electro Voice with their Aristocrat. It outperforms the Händel Horn in bass The Händel family of speakers is de- reproduction in volume - the jury is still out veloped from scratch by Quali-Fi. The idea on the question as to which one provides came from listening to older transmission the better impulse characteristics. Inherent line speakers and noticing the precision and in the Haydn design is also a reduction of clarity of the bass. Much of the experience mid-range resonances that make voices of the lower octaves of musical reproduc- slightly clearer and closer to the original tion depends on the impulse characteristics recording. of the speaker. The listener’s experience is not just about the frequency response but just as much about how the pressure wave develops in the first 10 to 20 milliseconds. After some computer simulations it became evident that the Markaudio speaker Wagner – drama for all your money units are ideal for variations of transmission Every company needs to have an outra- line speakers. The speakers are easy to get geous product. For Quali-Fi it is the Wagner a decent bass out of and the TL cabinet - a double-mouth horn of around 200 liters. provides the well behaved impulse charac- It measures 180 centimeter in height and teristics. is driven by Markaudio’s Alpair 12P - an 8” The Händel family comes in a floor unit with extreme dynamic range and detail. standing version called Händel Horns Scott Lindgren from Woden Design in with Alpair 6, 7, 10 and 12 units and for England designed this large double-mouth the smaller Alpair 6 speaker a small stand horn after the Olson-Nagaoka principle, mount cabinet called the Händel Compact. where the horn consists of a series of The Händel Horn is a slim floor stander, rectangular chambers from the speaker unit a transmission line horn hybrid with excep- to the horn opening. Scott put all his expe- tional bass reproduction. Drums and contra rience and creativity into this design, and bass have a serious attack that brings the Quali-Fi worked long and hard on chamber music to life in an extraordinary manner. The Cutting-edge technology sizes and damping the horn in just the right Händel Horn is suited as the main speaker — way to get a natural sound image. in a stereo setup or as the front speaker in a Most of Quali-Fi’s technologies are plain The design with two horn openings home cinema installation. It is ideally placed old common sense. However, a couple of gives a very unique sound image. We are at some distance from the rear and side approaches set them apart and deserves an talking seriously grand music here; this walls. The rear firing horn mouth should not explanation. loudspeaker requires a room of 30-40 be backed completely up against a wall. m2 and a listening distance of four to five The Händel Compact is a small, slim The best full rangers meters in order to sense its full potential. transmission line speaker with an up-firing Quali-Fi started by picking the best possible In a room like that, there is nothing that port. It is suited for wall mounting or as a full range units to be found at an affordable compares to it – independent of price. Nu- book-shelf speaker. Händel Compacts are price, the Markaudio product range. Then ance and sound stage is extraordinary - the also available in high-gloss black lacquer. all of the attention was directed towards the listener senses the original room’s acoustic construction of the cabinets. Quali-Fi have properties in great detail. looked back in history where engineers did not have all the electronics and all the power that are available today. How did they build their cabinets? People like Paul Voigt, Harry Olson, and Paul Wilbur Klipsch have been great inspiration.

The Hayden family Some customers wanted deeper bass than the Händel Horn 12 can provide, and Wag- ner is for many people out of the question for obvious reasons. Through simulations it

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 105 Simulation and experimentation Several good software packages allow very precise simulation of cabinets. Quali-Fi learned to master a few of them. The Markaudio speakers have very tight produc- tion tolerances, therefore the designs can be pushed to the limit It is not necessary to make bland cabinets that will sound OK with anything. It is amazing to see how little it sometimes takes to tweak a design to produce extra bass or remove an irritating standing wave. The simulation leads to experimenta- tion, committing to saw dust. With experi- ence you know how to re-enforce cabinets if necessary to prevent resonances. The last stage is typically a listening session with various levels of damping tried out. Regu- larly, Quali-Fi invites people with critical ears to review new products. After that, the product is being prepared for production. The skilled craftsmen at Kirkegaard Design in Billund, Denmark, Bamboo is a near perfect acoustic material without resonances. It is also aesthetically very pleasing with a work with Quali-Fi in streamlining designs warm glow and silky smooth surface when treated with bee’s-wax. to minimise labor costs in production. Production of loudspeaker cabinets in Denmark has nearly disappeared, but with care it is still possible to be commercially in the world with qualities that are similar a tensile strength that is higher than steel competitive. Close collaboration between to hardwood. There are more than 1.000 and can - unlike the exotic hardwoods - be everybody involved is crucial for commer- different bamboo species that can survive harvested without harming the living plant. cially viable production of small batches. under most different growth conditions. The bamboo boards that Quali-Fi The plant is fully grown within three to five use for cabinets are produced of many The fabulous bamboo years, which makes it ideal for replanting in small bamboo strips glued together in The story about bamboo deserves its own exhausted forest areas. several layers. This together with the built in section. The basic material in Quali-Fi Some species can grow very large with strength and sturdiness of bamboo assures cabinets is bamboo. poles that are over 40 meters high and superb stability and resistance against Bamboo is the fastest growing plant almost 30 centimeters thick. Bamboo has resonance. This is the first prerequisite for

Timeline —

1963 1970 1973-2009 2009 Quali-Fi is started by Ole Brøndum. Quali-Fi is at its peak in the market. The dark ages. Quali-Fi decends Quali-Fi is reborn by Kurt Nielsen. Many high-end products are dis- JBL Cabinets are produced for the into consumer products. Kurt Niel- A relationship established with tributed to the professional market, European market. Large stage pro- sen experiments with horns and full- Markaudio and bamboo cabinet gradually consumers flock to Qua- ductions like Hair and Jesus Christ range units at a small scale. Everest construction developed, Bach is li-Fi. Superstar use Quali-Fi equipment. is produced in limited numbers. created.

106 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary building excellent speaker cabinets. Several independent measurements have proven that bamboo really provide extraordinary qualities in this area compared even with the much revered birch plywood. The natural warm color and structure of the bamboo fits well with the slightly retro taste at the present time after a time of sterile black-and-white being in fashion. Quali-Fi always uses carbonised bamboo; this means that the bamboo has been heated. The natural sugar in the bamboo has now become brown, caramelised. It takes experience and care to work with bamboo boards; the saw blades have to be ultra-sharp as not to fray the edges; the same goes for the router. Bamboo is a grass with long fibers and not a tree. The finishing is not that hard; it is easy to sand the bamboo boards and it creates a silky smooth surface – but it has to be done with The new Alpair 7P and 10P are some of the most detailed speakers available, independent of price. With care in order to get a uniform look. great source material expect extraordinary musical bliss. All Quali-Fi cabinets are given a finishing treatment with organic beeswax that protects the surface and brings out the bamboo’s natural warm colours and Quali-FI is expanding the latest Haydn don’t do much good for delivering the lower beautiful structure. Based on this, Quali-Fi family with coverage for smaller Markaudio octaves of music. Currently, open baffle made bamboo the characteristic of its units, starting with the Alpair 7P and a new designs are work-in-progress. These speak- product line. version of the Wagner is on the drawing ers produce extraordinary dynamic impulse board. But other than that it will mostly characteristics and are not available as Future focus be incremental improvement of existing commercial products in the market. A series — designs. of products based on this principle will be Quali-Fi’s focus is right now on expanding Quali-Fi have had several sub-woofer launched, once again with focus on the its presence in more countries, reaching products and discontinued them being music lover - in this case whoever wants to more music lovers. There is a lot more dissatisfied with musical performance. They sense the punch of the upright bass or the market potential for the products than is are fine in home cinema solutions for re- bass drum like in live performances. currently exploited. producing earthquakes and jet-fighters, but ■

2010 2011 2012 2015 Mozart, Chopin are created with Wagner is developed. And sales The Händel family is created com- Markaudio has introduced paper the help of international experts, pick up in Sweden. Different solu- pletely from scratch by Quali-Fi. based units, and they are slightly they become the bread and butter tions for woofers are evaluated, but Some cabinets are produced in different. The Haydn family is in- products of Quali-Fi . Sales start mostly they are disappointing. MDF, but abandoned as bamboo is troduced in response, they provide internationally. far superior. A Markaudio drivers are superior bass experience. supported.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 107 THE HISTORY OF Scan-Speak

108 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary Scan-Speak’s history links into the long and proud Danish loudspeaker development and manufacturing tradition.

The history The Symmetrical Drive Moving north — During 1973 Ragnar Lian invented and In early 1977 Dantax in acquired Before day one patented the Symmetric Drive (SD) motor, the remains of Scan-Speak. The foundation of Scan-Speak was laid in which consists of placement of copper caps Scan-Speak’s production equipment the 1960’s when Ragnar Lian, a Norwegian on the polar part in order to minimize the and inventory was moved from Hørning to student at Århus Teknikum (Aarhus Engi- currents of Foucault (eddy currents). The Pandrup in northern Jutland. Oskar Wrønd- neering School) and Ejvind Skaaning, a copper is positioned and dimensioned so ing who started at Scan-Speak in Hørning local machinist and scooter dealer, joined that the inductance variation of the driver in 1973 as a Quality Engineer was hired by up around a business called Quality Sound coil motion becomes symmetric. The Sym- Dantax and put in charge of moving and Research (QSR). metrical Drive was an important discovery re-establishing Scan-Speak at Dantax’s QSR’s and Skaaning’s reputation led as it controlled the eddy currents and facility in Pandrup. After the transition to a groundbreaking relationship with reduced inductance in the speaker driver, Wrønding continued as Head of Product Scan-Dyna and Dynaco. This ultimately resulting in lower distortion and it allowed Design, Development and Production and led to a large quantity of speakers being for easier design of good crossovers for later on he was Technical Manager. Scan- ordered that became the famous Dynaco/ drivers due to the flatter impedance curve. Speak’s sales and administration were Scan-Dyna A-25. Skaaning’s striving integrated into the Dantax organization. towards perfection drove him towards Fast expansion The inclusion of the much bigger in-house driver development and manufac- In the early 1970s Scan-Speak registered Scan-Speak into Dantax led to a very large turing to be able to customize the drivers to brand names that it used for its own line of expansion of Dantax’s business. exactly the needed specifications instead speaker systems. Due to the sales success of accepting compromised solutions with of its own product range and the A-25 Iconic products off-the-shelf drivers from external manufac- speakers Scan-Speak grew quickly and by — turers. 1973 it employed 200 people at its facility in During the period 1978 to 1984 several new Hørning south of Aarhus. models were developed including the now Kick-off The rapid growth of Scan-Speak famous 18W woofer with paper cone. February 1st, 1970 Skaaning founded required additional funding and resulted in In 1985 a new tweeter, the D2010, was Scan-Speak with the purpose of manufac- a change of ownership. The primary owner born. This was an improved version of the turing drivers for the Dynaco/Scan-Dyna of Scan-Speak became David Hafler who D2008 which now had been on the market loudspeakers. Ragnar Lian and the Dane, also was a majority owner of Ortofon. The for almost 15 years and needed a successor. Mogens Hvass, were hired to develop and mutual ownership led Ortofon into selling The new and old versions appeal to different start driver manufacturing at Scan-Speak, Scan-Speak built speaker systems branded customers and both models continue in first for the A-25 and later for other loud- Ortofon in parallel with its famous pick-up Scan-Speak’s current product line. speakers. The business was successful cartridges. The market demanded products and grew fast and by 1972 already had 40 In May 1975, Scan-Speak’s shares with new technology and a different employees. were taken over by Fonofilm Industri A/S, visual appearance and in 1987 Scan-Speak the parent company of Ortofon. Although launched new versions of the 18W and Creating a product line the production was running well, and with a the 21W woofers with membranes in In addition to the 1½” D3806 tweeter good margin, this change seemed to draw semi-transparent Polypropylene that had and the 8” woofer that had already been a lot of money out of Scan-Speak and the a milky white appearance. These products designed to fit the Dynaco/Scan-Dyna company went into bankruptcy. were popular for many years and continued A-25 speaker the team of Skaaning, Lian, The liquidation of Scan-Speak caused in production until the new millennium. and Hvass develop a 4½” midrange, a 10” the end of Skaaning’s involvement in Scan- woofer, and the ¾” dome tweeter D2008 in Speak who up until this point had been in Burned down to the ground – and then the period of 1971 to 1974. Both tweeters charge of product development together again - in slightly modified versions - continue in with Ragnar Lian and Mogens Hvass. After the Scan-Speak Hørning factory Scan-Speak’s current product range. burned down in the mid 1970’s no one

Facts Company name Main audio product types — Scan-Speak A/S Loudspeaker transducers as tweeters, midranges, woofers Head office and subwoofers. Videbæk, Denmark Main markets Established in year Europe, North America, and Asia 1970 Number of employees Established by 45 Ejvind Skaaning

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 109 still are in Scan-Speak’s current product offerings.

New product development In 1992 a young creative Engineer, Lars Goller, started as R&D Engineer at Scan- Speak after holding positions at DALI and Vifa. From the start it was clear that Goller often saw things in a different way and often challenged the traditional ways of making loudspeakers. In his first year Goller invent- ed and patented the second generation Symmetrical Drive, consisting of 3 copper rings placed in specific positions in the magnet system. In the early to mid-1990s a range of tweeters based on Lian’s D2905/9000 were developed. A top version featuring SD-2 Symmet- rical Drive and a large waveguide faceplate was launched in 1995 and became the icon- ic -9900 Revelator tweeter that at its time was regarded as the best tweeter available. These tweeters continue to be offered in Scan-Speak’s product line. Goller invented the linear spider that is a key element in Scan-Speak’s Low-Loss- Linear Suspension which became one of the prime features in most of Scan-Speak’s woofers. This technology enables the suspension to have the same tension during the entire cone excursion allowing the woof- ers to have the same sound characteristics at low volume as at high volume. In 1997, based on another Goller idea, the first Revelator mid-woofer with sliced thought that such a thing would occur Acquired by Vifa cone was introduced. Cutting a number of again, but after more than a decade in In the 1980s Videbæk Højttalerfabrik A/S slices of uneven length and angle through Pandrup, it happened again. (Vifa) under Magnus Nesdam’s management the cone paper and then applying glue to In 1987 the factory burned down to the was very successful and a strong driving the slices eliminated cone breakup modes ground. The fire took everything; the entire force in the Danish audio industry. which meant a huge improvement in sound building, all manufacturing equipment, Nesdam envisioned a great synergy quality. inventory and technical instructions, etc. between the Vifa brand and the more The next development was Ring New machinery was purchased and a high-end Scan-Speak products and in 1989 Radiator tweeter technology which was new suitable location was found in Aabybro Scan-Speak was acquired by Vifa. co-developed with Vifa and resulted in in northern Jutland. To Scan-Speak’s credit In 1991 Scan-Speak moved to Videbæk Scan-Speak’s R2904/700000 tweeter that only 2 months later speaker models were and even though Scan-Speak did not move took high frequency reproduction to a whole delivered to customers and after only 5 in with Vifa there was a certain amount of new level and once again made a Scan- months, all existing products were again in integration and many of Vifa’s more indus- Speak tweeter famous for being the best stock. trialized ways of doing things were adopted, available at the time. especially regarding documentation, pro- Kevlar cones duction line setup and administration. Moving in with Vifa In 1988 Scan-Speak launched a line of In the late 1990s the company’s name was drivers with an in-house manufactured Lian’s final effort changed to Vifa/Scan-Speak to signal the Kevlar membrane. The major benefit of In 1990 the D2905/9000 tweeter was mutual ownership and close relationship using Kevlar as material is the ‘low distor- launched as the last Scan-Speak product between the two brands. tion’ due to its high stiffness and good inner designed by Ragnar Lian. It was a 28mm In 2000 Peerless was acquired and damping. dome tweeter that with its characteristic merged into Vifa/Scan-Speak. The resulting The line of drivers became popular fast sticky dome filled an important gap in Scan- combined company changed its name to and many customized versions were made Speak’s product range as the company until Danish Sound Technology (D-S-T). That for several of Scan-Speak’s high-end cus- then had not had a dome tweeter in the same year Scan-Speak moved from its own tomers. Several of these ‘Kevlar woofers’ popular 1” size. This tweeter became one location into a new extension of the Vifa are still produced today for various OEM the best tweeters of its time and laid the factory making the merger complete. customers. groundwork for many tweeter designs that

110 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 111 American adventure and had spread its activities to a larger pleasant listening experience. In 2005 D-S-T was acquired by the Silicon part of the old factory where the Tymphany The beryllium diaphragm was very Valley start-up company Tymphany, which manufacturing previously had been done. expensive and required special precautions had invented a special type of subwoofer. during manufacturing adding even further Tymphany was in need of manufacturing Discovery line to the costs, which was a concern before facilities and an established customer base. Also in 2009, shortly after the management launch. In 2010 when the D3004/664000 During this time Scan-Speak operated buyout, Scan-Speak launched a new line beryllium tweeter was launched all concerns as an autonomous division within Tymphany. called Discovery which targeted a more were proven wrong when it sold 10 times Later, as the years went by Tymphany’s volume based segment of the high-end as many as the most optimistic predictions business grew and its own manufacturing audio market. From the start the Discovery within its first year. It has become among was moved out of Videbæk to China. line included a full range of drivers from 1” the top 3 selling Scan-Speak tweeters. tweeters up to 12” subwoofers. Illuminator line For many years Scan-Speak’s research Beryllium diaphragms engineers had worked on developing a Since its start Scan-Speak has always pre- new under-hung motor design that showed ferred tweeters with a soft diaphragm, with promising results. It was decided to use only a few exceptions like the -9800 alu- this design, Symmetrical Drive magnet minium dome tweeter from the late 1990s. system SD-3, for a new product line that A market survey in 2009 showed that a was launched in 2008/2009. This Illuminator significant part of the market preferred hard line became Scan-Speak’s new top product diaphragms and nothing could convince line. them to use a soft dome tweeter. The Illuminator woofers offered a unique With this in mind it was soon decided construction and its design differed greatly to develop a new tweeter with a hard from how woofers traditionally had been diaphragm and in line with Scan-Speak’s Large woofers build. In addition to the SD-3 the design legacy it had to be the best hard dome It had long been Scan-Speak’s desire to included several new technologies including tweeter that could currently be built. make larger woofers in very high quality, a special lightweight paper sandwich cone Samples of all kinds of hard diaphragms in and in 2010 Scan-Speak moved forward that with its stiffness and inner damping different materials were acquired; tweeter with a new larger woofer platform that provided a very precise and distortion free samples built, tested and evaluated; one became the 32W 13” Revelator woofer, sound reproduction. material stood out from the crowd and featuring a patented foam filled sandwich The 2008 financial crisis was hard on showed excellent results in every aspect; it cone, a large and powerful Symmetrical the loudspeaker industry and Tymphany’s was the beryllium diaphragm! Tweeters with Drive motor system with a 3” voice coil. operations suffered dramatically. As a result beryllium diaphragm had a wider frequency The 32W was so much bigger and Scan-Speak was split off and sold to the range extending significantly above 50 kHz, different from any previous Scan-Speak local Danish management in April 2009. At had very low distortion and had outstanding product that it not only required develop- this time Scan-Speak had 35 employees sound; detailed, precise, transparent, and a ment of the product itself, it also needed a

Timeline —

1970 1973 1977 1988 1990 1995 February 1st Ejvind The groundbreaking Dantax acquires the Scan-Speak launches Scan-Speak moves The highly regarded Skaaning establishes motor design - Sym- production equipment, a line of drivers with into new facilities in ‘Revelator’ tweeter Scan-Speak in Hørn- metrical Drive - is patents and rights to in-house manufac- Videbæk after being D2905/990000 was ing. Two products are invented and patented the Scan-Speak brand tured Kevlar mem- acquired by Videbæk launched and broke launched the first year, by Ragnar Lian. and moves the pro- branes. This product Højttalerfabrik A/S the ground for what an 8” woofer and the The ¾” dome tweeter duction from Hørning line became very (Vifa) the year before. later became Scan- 1½” tweeter D3806. D2008 is launched. to Pandrup in northern popular. Speak’s largest and Jutland. most successful product line.

112 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary completely new production setup. local Danish management continuing its products have been used by most high-end After 2 years of development the more than 40 years history of Danish devel- brands worldwide as well as Scan-Speak’s 32W/4878 was launched in 2012 and it opment and manufacturing. products have and still are the preferred immediately got a lot of attention with brand for many DIY speaker builders several high-end speaker brands having Future focus around the globe. a need for this product and immediately Over the years many audiophiles have also Scan-Speak will continue with its focus they started designing products to include used Scan-Speak loudspeakers for custom on high-end loudspeakers for discerning it. Today Scan-Speak’s woofers are used built audio systems in their cars and a audiophile customers within the home and as the deep bass unit in some of the most growing interest led in 2010 to the launch car audio segments and its commitment exclusive home audio speakers. of a few speaker systems designed for to constantly delivering products of the car use. Scan-Speak will be expanding its highest quality level. Scan-Speak’s constant Cutting-edge technology range of aftermarket auto loudspeakers in search in making the best loudspeaker — the coming years. drivers available will carry on within the Several of Scan-Speak’s technologies were Since its inception Scan-Speak has frames of the company’s core values; cutting-edge when launched, including: focused on high-end loudspeaker transduc- Customer focus, Quality, Co-operation, and • Symmetrical Drive magnet system ers for home audio loudspeaker systems for Flexibility and Scan-Speak’s manufacturing • Kevlar woofer and midrange cones demanding audiophiles. The Scan-Speak will proudly continue in western Jutland. • Low-Loss-Linear Suspension ■ • Sliced woofer cone • Ring Radiator tweeter • AirCirc Magnet system • Beryllium dome tweeter Future focus — Current ownership April 1st, 2014 Scan-Speak was acquired by Eastern Asia Technology (HK) Limited which is a fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Technologies Holding Limited (KYET). KYET was established in 2011 as a group of com- panies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE stock code: 5225) and is an offshoot of an original group of companies that were formed in 1971. Scan-Speak operates as an indepen- dent company in the KYET Group under

1997 2000 2005 2008 2010 2013 The unique sliced Scan-Speak moves to Launch of the AirCirc After several years’ Continuing on the Launch of Scan- woofer cone is its current location in tweeter with a new research and devel- AirCirc design and Speak’s largest and invented and first Videbæk, getting more style of motor system opment the revolu- a new exotic Beryl- most powerful pro- implemented in the space and direct ac- featuring 6 neodymium tionary Illuminator line lium diaphragm the duct; the 13” Revelator 5½” Revelator woofer cess to one of the in- magnets and an open is launched, taking D3004/664000 tweeter subwoofer featuring that also includes the dustry’s best equipped motor structure. midbass drivers to is launched, and soon a patented sandwich second generation R&D facilities which a new level with its became one of the cone, 3” voice coil and Symmetrical Drive. includes 2 large an- astonishing design best selling Scan- Symmetrical Drive. echoic chambers. and technology. Speak tweeters.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 113 THE HISTORY OF System Audio

114 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary System Audio is the only loudspeaker brand founded by a musician. Ole Witthøft played in a band and was surprised that ordinary speakers did not sound natural. So he decided to build his own.

The history — The year is 1984. Here System Audio is launching its first speaker. An amazed press write that “this loudspeaker sets new standards”, but the speaker was not only created through a fascination with technol- ogy. It was created through a love for the music. Today about 20,000 SA speakers are manufactured every year and there are 25 different speaker models in the range. They are exported to 41 countries and are aimed at people who appreciate design, art, experiences, and, of course, music. Ole Witthøft’s background as a musician means that System Audio works in a different way than other loudspeaker companies. The sound experience comes ahead of all other properties and SA are among the only brands that have a sonic brand: a sound that is characteristic for all the brand’s speakers. System Audio is also known for its design. The philosophy is that the speaker Ole Witthøft is the first musician who founded a loudspeaker brand. is a piece of furniture that should be beauti- ful enough to deserve a central place in the user’s living room. This is also where it will Each of the 3 categories contains 6-9 of sound that grabs the listener and holds sound the best. elements that an SA loudspeaker must their interest in enjoying the music. The company’s name contains the word be designed in accordance with. It is In fact, it can be a relief to turn it down. “system” because in 1984 Ole Witthøft about such things as the durability of the Ole was among the first to use the word discovered that good speakers must be products, the materials in relation to the “musicality” in connection with the sound designed in accordance with a variety of environment, manufacturing tolerances and of speakers. This was to find a term that meaningful concepts that relate together. A of course: the sound. describes the speaker’s ability to entertain system. the listener with a living sound quality. Among the most important is assessing The idea of assessing speakers from the Concepts with meaning the “musicality” in the speakers musicality of the sound elevates the user The system giving its name to System Audio When Ole Witthøft began to be interested experience to the most important thing in consists of elements that are essential for a in speakers in the 1980s, it was because as the product. The user experience comes good loudspeaker. All SA speakers are there- a musician he could not find any speakers before the speaker technology. And working fore created from the same basic principles. that gave him the sound experience he with speaker design is therefore more than You can call the system a design handbook. knew from live music. All speakers can just developing technology. There are a total of 25 elements in the create sound, but it is certainly not all kinds system. These are divided into three general categories: Facts • Sound. The sound should bring the — Company name Main audio product types listener closer to the artist System Audio A/S Active and passive loudspeakers

• Integration. Products should work in Head office Main markets the home, from an acoustic, electrical, Roskilde, Denmark Europe, Asia and design perspective Established in year Number of employees • Quality. The solutions must be 1984 13 long-lasting Established by Ole Witthøft

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 115 Important DNA arose by chance experienced. So System Audio started to became a success. It was the first family of In the early 1980s Ole Witthøft built his test the speakers on real people. speakers from Audio System where each speakers in his parents’ basement. The Quite early in the lifetime of the com- model had a number explaining where it recipe was simplicity in both the technical pany, users were engaged to contribute belonged in the program. A model name architecture and the design. There are major to product development by acting as test ending in 5 or 10 is a small compact model, challenges to building speakers when it pilots. Input from users helps to answer while loudspeakers ending in 30 or 50 are comes to the development process, but some of the questions that arise in a devel- floor-standing models. also from the craftsmanship. opment process where a given technology In the beginning, System Audio sold is to be employed. Reviews from test pilots Controversial speaker with expensive about 1,000 speakers each year. They were can help to determine if the technology is cables all built in the basement of his parents’ villa perceived as valuable to the user, or if it is The 905 was a great success in Germany in a suburb of Copenhagen. Some of the actually only worth something on paper. and the discerning German market de- first speakers had a design, which simply manded a compact speaker where there had fabric all the way around the cabinet Iconic products is no restriction on cost, but instead used and with a smooth acrylic plate on top. — the maximum creativity in every detail of The design was originally conceived as an The first speaker that put System Audio the product. The result was the System inventive way to solve the craftsmanship on the international map was the tiny 905 Audio 5010 signature. The first speaker challenges in providing the speakers with model. It is not much bigger than a shoe- that System Audio built in real wood. The a sufficiently neat finish, but the simple box, and visually does not attract too much loudspeaker employed specially developed design actually became an iconic symbol attention. But the tiny 905 loudspeaker speaker units in an almost solid cabinet, of simplicity. And so design became part sounds much bigger than it is. In just and the small speaker is complemented by of the DNA of System Audio. But greater six days at an exhibition in London, the internal connections with expensive cables challenges lay ahead. company signed export contracts with 20 from the American brand Nordost. countries and System Audio’s international Ole Witthøft designed a speaker stand Committed users are vital for product adventure began. The small 905 model was especially for the 5010 signature. It raises development part of the 900 series, which was the first the speaker to an ideal listening height and With the sound as the focal point, it is family of speakers to win international rec- at the same time exhibits the speaker as a not enough to use measuring equipment ognition with good test results worldwide. visible object in the room. Work on the 5010 to ensure that the products are good. In the early 1990s, the 900 series was signature helped to expand System Audio’s Measurements of acoustics are of course not a genuine technological innovation, but expertise in how to create a big sound from essential, but there is no way that human its captivating sound quality made review- a relatively small speaker. experiences such as musicality, presence, ers everywhere prick up their ears. In the atmosphere, and nerve can be captured by annual CES in Las Vegas it was awarded The company concentrates on sound measuring equipment. These have to be the “Best Sound at the Show” and the 905 In the years leading up to the millennium, System Audio found its identity as a company. The future required flexibility and focus on the product characteristics that make a real difference to the user, and so production of less essential components was outsourced to specialist companies. Electronic assembly was outsourced along with a number of less important functions, and previous thoughts about such things as producing one’s own speaker units or cabinets were set aside in favour of qualities that make a real difference to the user. Development work was now prioritized, and all resources were given over to building up expertise about the sound. And this gave results.

Computers are used to simulate and develop sound One of the first tasks was to find out whether there is an acoustic connection between speakers that we like the sound of. To put it another way: Is it possible to find certain characteristics of good speakers? Can these characteristics be used in the development of future speakers? Using a mass of data from the speak- ers, you get a list of the important proper- SA talent. It is the first speaker to use storytelling in the design. ties and so-called targets can be prepared for the sound. This was the birth of a sonic

116 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary SA saxo. The financial crisis creates a new family of loudspeakers.

brand. The database was gradually built Product of the Year. The model has since first speaker with a real name and it was up as more experiences were put into the been the basis of many new generations of put into the world with a mission. It was to system. You can say that the personal taste speakers from System Audio. show that consumers interested in design of hundreds of test pilots is as a guide in also wanted to buy good speakers. Design the search for the best sound. There was Iconic loudspeaker to mark the new people had been neglected for years and also an investigation into which sound char- millennium only had clumsy-looking loudspeakers to acteristics of the speaker can make people System Audio launched into the new choose from. At that time a wall-mounted tap their foot to the music. This is behaviour millennium with the new SA2K, a compact speaker was not at all interesting for a so- that is closely related to the feeling of being speaker with a number of innovations. The called serious Hi-Fi enthusiast. There were involved in the music. vision with the speaker was to demonstrate stories circulating that it was acoustically that it is possible to create big high-quality unwise to hang a speaker on the wall and it A bold move against the tide sound from a relatively small speaker. It took was not accepted for serious Hi-Fi enthusi- In 1996 the floor-standing speaker System 5 years to develop SA2K and it ended up asts to have wall-mounted speakers. Audio 1070 was crowned Product of the being called a “Masterpiece” and “World- In the real world, SA talent was a suc- Year and this marked the beginning of a class” in the international test magazines. cess. Thousands of design-interested music new era. This was the first computer-aided lovers took to the speaker and it became loudspeaker created with sound character- New name in 2003 the longest-living product in SA’s portfolio istics that the tests pilots like. In 2003 the launch of four new loudspeaker with sales in line with Danish design But the project was not easy. families (the 500, 1500, 700 and 1700 se- classics. The sound has been upgraded Studies showed that loudspeakers with ries) marked the transition to the SA name. three times, but the design has not changed a controlled sound radiation are perceived Until then the speakers were called System since its launch in 2005. as being more true to life, in comparison to Audio, but now the brand name was It is the first speaker to use storytelling speakers where no work was done on the changed to the simpler SA. The path to the in the design. Seen from the front, the sound radiation. Therefore there was a lot of new name was a long one with many inter- speaker depicts a typical Danish sunset. work done on sound radiation on the 1070 nal reflections, but one day it dawned on The open skies. The calm sea. The SA model, which can be seen in such details as the people at System Audio that for years brand is the sun. the special construction where the tweeter they had been calling their own products is located between two woofers. SA, so why not just make the name official? Two floor-standing speakers create his- The challenge is that commercially it The four new speaker families launched tory does not make sense to work with sound along with the new name were a complete Two of the most ambitious floor-standing radiation when it comes to the technical collection of all the experiences from the speakers saw the light of day in 2007. The specifications. This is because loudspeaker SA house and at the same time a new and SA ranger and SA explorer were built of manufacturers are not obliged to provide important step was taken. specially developed parts and designed information about the speaker’s sound using extensive computer power to simulate radiation. Only few consumers will discover SA talent. A provocation to the estab- and perfect the sound. Many test pilots the speaker’s particular strength. So it lished industry tested the speakers during the development came as a great help that 1070 was named In 2005 SA talent was launched. It was the phase and know-how about sound radiation

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 117 and wave guides was used in the most Mantra. The recipe for successful advanced form. Both speakers used knowl- development edge from the millennium speaker SA2K and The four speaker families that were the product names tell in their own way that launched in 2003 were due a replacement there is something special going on here. in 2010. The replacement had been a long SA ranger shows its confidence by being time coming, and for 7 years Ole Witthøft shaped like an exclamation mark. Both mod- had gathered ideas for new speakers in a els were successful in all markets and SA desk drawer. Now the drawer was full. explorer was crowned Speaker of the Year. The essence of the development process is evolution. The idea is to build The financial crisis creates a new family on ideas that work. A speaker such as of loudspeakers the SA mantra 50, for example, borrows Towards the end of the 2000s, several technology for the woofers from its more international markets were affected by the expensive predecessor, SA ranger. The financial crisis, resulting in declining sales. structure that controls the sound radiation is System Audio decided to prepare itself for an eighth-generation evolution of the design hard times. Therefore they launched the that has roots back in the other speaker speaker family SA saxo. The speakers are a models that also bore the number 50 (for study in efficiency and manufacturing tech- example, SA 1250, 1550, 1750 and 2050). nology. The goal was to create a series of The Mantra models subsequently won six speakers for the economically minded music stars, and were the Test Winner, Best for lover, without compromising the values that Price and Best in Test in a number of tests are the basis of the System Audio brand. all around the world. The name of the saxo family includes an ambiguity. For Saxo referred to the The world’s first loudspeaker to be abbreviation System Audio X-over with the developed in an open forum meaning “to cross over the crisis”, but the In 2012 Ole Witthøft opened the doors and person Saxo is also known as a historical invited readers of Denmark’s largest science personage in Denmark. He was the first magazine The Engineer to an open develop- to write down the history of Denmark. ment process that should end with a com- SA saxo was given a tremendously warm pact world-class loudspeaker. The goal was reception and took up all available capacity to spend one year developing the speaker at System Audio. In fact, there was a failure in an open forum. It had to surpass SA2K, The SA mantra family uses reduction as a design philosophy both internally and visually on the to communicate the fact that the saxo which in total took 5 years in the making in a loudspeaker. Simplification of details is thought to family’s success was partly due to a further traditional closed development process. optimize the user’s experience. development of the wave guide. The project was set up as a blog with the name Speaker Q113 and engineers in

Timeline —

1984 1989 1993 1995 1996 2000 Ole Witthøft founds Design is part of The loudspeaker The development of The speaker 1070 is A completely different System Audio with the System Audio speak- model 905 puts System Audio as a selected as Product loudspeaker sees the idea that good speak- ers as it is the design System Audio on the sonic brand takes off. of the Year. This is a light. SA2K is an inno- ers should be based that gives the speaker international map and Test pilots are used to great achievement vation that provides on a number of con- the opportunity to be begin exporting to 20 test the speakers to as it is created with inspiration for many cepts. A system. placed on a visible markets. identify how people sound at the centre. upcoming speakers. location in the room, experience good where it will also sound. sound the best.

118 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary acoustics, mechanics, electronics, etc., tremendous rate, but instead of quickly found its way into the SA saxo loudspeak- could voluntarily participate in the project launching a lot of inexpensive loudspeaker ers. DXT is a kind of wave guide which uses and make new discoveries. 110 engineers products, Ole Witthøft and the SA team three so-called diffraction rings to give the participated and the project tasks and decided to go the opposite way. That is, loudspeaker better sound radiation. It is results were shared in full transparency on spending time on creating a simple but also well recognized through proven research the blog. The first result was the speaker SA relatively expensive speaker product. that the sound radiation is essential for the pandion 2, which was placed in the cate- The philosophy works. The first wireless sound quality. DXT is a technology that gory “Absolute Spitzenklasse” in a German SA speaker was crowned Loudspeaker of helps speakers fill the room with sound. It test magazine. the Year and was honoured (among other has a Danish patent. things) for its sound quality and high stan- SA pandion 30. Named after the osprey dard. Thus System Audio found a winning Pandion is the Latin name for osprey. The formula, and just one year later launched loudspeakers from the open development yet another wireless speaker, which was project bear this beautiful name because crowned Loudspeaker of the Year in 2015. they (like the bird) find nourishment from many different directions. SA pandion Cutting-edge technology 30 is no exception. It was developed by — Danish engineers in a community that The wave guide. Simplification towards openly shared the knowledge that arose in better sound the project. The open collaboration led to Having learnt from experience about the several new discoveries and SA pandion great importance of sound radiation for the 30 is among the first speakers developed perceived sound, at the beginning of the with the help of trained testers from new millennium System Audio took a new DELTA SenseLab. Almost all of the speaker step. This was the so-called wave guides, a parts are produced by specialist Danish bowl-shaped ring that fits around the tweeter Future focus companies and the design appears simple, diaphragm. It aims to control the sound — functional and original. radiation, so the user experiences the sound System Audio is the only speaker brand as cleaner and more nuanced. It was of great founded by a musician. This means that the Wireless speakers named Loudspeaker significance for System Audio to build its sound is central to the business and not just of the Year experience with wave guides, which became something that is measured and calculated. In 2013 the first wireless speaker from clear a few years later. First the established It is a valuable experience for the users. SA was unveiled. It had been 4 years in industry had to be provoked a little. In the future there will be a greater use of the making and the electronic part of the mobile speakers, but there is also a need speaker was developed in close cooper- DXT. A further development of the wave for the content and authenticity that only ation between System Audio and a major guide really good speakers can provide. SA will international electronics manufacturer. Diffraction eXpansion Technology is the set the standard in both areas. Wireless music playback is growing at a name of the patented technology which ■

2007 2009 2010 2012 2013 2015 SA ranger is launched The wave guide is The speaker families’ The world’s first open SA presents its SA pandion 30 is and together with the further developed and aura and mantra are development project first active speaker, launched. This is SA explorer it is the given the name DXT. presented as the best (Speaker Q113) is the wireless SA a floor-standing first SA speaker that examples so far. started by Ole Witthøft saxo 1 active. It is speaker from the open uses wave guides as in the news magazine subsequently crowned development project, well as a design that The Engineer and after Loudspeaker of the with 110 volunteer controls the sound three months wins Year. engineers taking part radiation. the Bording Prize for in the development Digital Media. work.

The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary — 119 120 — The Danish loudspeaker 100 year anniversary