Galaxy Audio: By 1977, Superior Sound, operated by Brock Jabara and his partner Jim Pearce, had already logged eight years in the concert sound business. Banks of their cavernous black boxes flanked the stages of concert halls and arenas all over the country, providing sound for Aretha Franklin, The Bee Gees, Asleep at the Wheel, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, Jean Luc Ponty, James Brown, and countless others. When Superior Sound outfitted a show, they supplied the equipment and the personnel. If something wasn't right, Brock and Jim heard about it then and there, they were the ones manning the board.

Superior Sound was on the road with Mike Finnigan, a noted side man (Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills and Nash) who was launching a solo career. Being from the same city (Wichita), Brock and Jim and Mike went way back. But that didn't stop Finnigan from complaining on stage anytime something in the mix failed to meet his standards. Sometimes in mid song he'd stop just to gripe, "I can't hear the monitors!" Brock and Jim were like survivors of a shipwreck, stranded on their mixing console island in a sea of rowdy concert goers with the main attraction berating them from the stage. "I can't hear myself! Turn up the (bleeping) monitors!" Even with 100 watts of power being pumped into each of the two massive floor wedges positioned next to Finnigan's keyboard, every night was the same, "Turn up the monitors!" The boos and catcalls began to have a decidedly negative effect on the crew's morale.

The challenge was to produce a monitor that could be head above any din. During a mid-tour break, Brock directed speaker builder Larry Schneider, at Superior Sound's Wichita shop, to cram 5-inch drivers four abreast in an enclosure that could fit atop a keyboard or microphone (mic) stand.

Back with the tour it was business as usual except for a single change in the on-stage monitor array. One channel, 350 watts, of a Phase Linear 700, was alotted to the skinny plywood cabinet that rested about three feet from Finnigan's face. The house lights dimmed. Midway through the first set the point at which Finnigan would customarily begin his nightly tirade about the inadequacies of the sound system, he paused to ask, "Could you please turn down the monitor?"

The guys from Superior Sound knew they were on to something. Still, a few bugs remained. Overloading the speakers with eight or nine times as much power as their drivers were designed to handle sometimes produced surprising results: like the time one of the prototypes caught fire (actually burst into flames) during a show. Occasional pyrotechnics notwithstanding, the world's first personal monitors were an immediate hit with the musicians who used them. It was obvious that with some refinement the new products could fill a long standing void in the marketplace. Superior Sound began to metamorphose from speaker rental company to speaker manufacturing company. Galaxy Audio was born.

Galaxy's first order of business was to ask our original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to construct drivers capable of handling significantly heavier power loads than the 10-watt models then being used. The OEM added features usually found on much larger drivers: nonferrous and heavy-duty . With improved power handling capacity two drivers could do the work of four, and the size of the cabinet could be reduced by half. Performance and quality were further enhanced when we began manufacturing our own drivers. Later, cooling (a process whereby a metallic emulsion is used to speed the dissipation of heat from the voice coil) was adopted, a change that resulted in an increase in the 5-inch driver's power handling capability from an already impressive 60 watts to 100 watts. That made it possible for each 8 pound HOT SPOT to easily accommodate (get this) 200 watts. A new word was introduced into the English language, "SPLOWT," speaker's splowt states the relationship between its maximum SPL and its weight. The HOT SPOT boasts one of the world's highest splowts: 19.8 bB!

The material being used to build the cabinets had its own limitations (other than flammability). Plywood HOT SPOTS looked like the kind of stuff being cranked out in countless garages and basements. Cheap copies began to turn up all over the place.

The second generation HOT SPOTS were reinforced with Fiberglass, which made them more airtight, infinitely stronger, and nigh unto impossible to bootleg. After Fiberglass came molded ABS plastic and the trapezoidal shape that gives the present day HOT SPOT its distinctive profile.

Today more than 225,000 HOT SPOTs are in use.

RØDE Microphones evolved from the Freedman Group of Companies, established in 1967 by Henry and Astrid Freedman, after immigrating to Australia from Sweden. Freedman Electronics was a pioneer in the Australian audio industry for the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of a diverse range of audio products. Loudspeakers, amplifiers, custom electronics and microphones were all a part of the company's expertise; all of which took place within the confines of the small but unique Australian market.

Ongoing microphone research and development within Freedman Electronics, both in the laboratory and in the field, would later drive the ambition to design and produce superior microphone products.
In 1990, the decision was made to produce and market the first RØDE microphone.

Before the explosion of the home recording market, there were very few established and respected manufacturers of professional recording quality (condenser) microphones. Those previous 'market-leaders' produced premium product that also carried a premium price.

RØDE Microphones evolved from the Freedman Group of Companies, established in 1967 by Henry and Astrid Freedman, after immigrating to Australia from Sweden. Freedman Electronics was a pioneer in the Australian audio industry for the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of a diverse range of audio products. Loudspeakers, amplifiers, custom electronics and microphones were all a part of the company's expertise; all of which took place within the confines of the small but unique Australian market.

Ongoing microphone research and development within Freedman Electronics, both in the laboratory and in the field, would later drive the ambition to design and produce superior microphone products.
In 1990, the decision was made to produce and market the first RØDE microphone.

Before the explosion of the home recording market, there were very few established and respected manufacturers of professional recording quality (condenser) microphones. Those previous 'market-leaders' produced premium product that also carried a premium price.

RØDE Microphones evolved from the Freedman Group of Companies, established in 1967 by Henry and Astrid Freedman, after immigrating to Australia from Sweden. Freedman Electronics was a pioneer in the Australian audio industry for the design, manufacture, installation and servicing of a diverse range of audio products. Loudspeakers, amplifiers, custom electronics and microphones were all a part of the company's expertise; all of which took place within the confines of the small but unique Australian market.

Ongoing microphone research and development within Freedman Electronics, both in the laboratory and in the field, would later drive the ambition to design and produce superior microphone products.
In 1990, the decision was made to produce and market the first RØDE microphone.

Before the explosion of the home recording market, there were very few established and respected manufacturers of professional recording quality (condenser) microphones. Those previous 'market-leaders' produced premium product that also carried a premium price.
Broadcaster “The Master of the Airwaves”
Precision 1" Condenser Microphone.
Classic-ll
Top-of-the-line Dual 1” Condenser Studio Valve Microphone.
K2 “It cant be done…”
Precision Variable Pattern Dual 1” Condenser Valve Microphone.
NT1-A “Why Pay Less”
The Worlds Quietest Studio Condenser Microphone. NT1000 “Pure Performance”
Ultra Versatile 1” Studio Condenser Microphone.
NT2-A “The Legend Continues”
Multi Pattern 1” Condenser Microphone.
NT2000 “Explore, Control, Create…”
Seamlessly Variable Dual 1” Condenser Microphone.
NT3 “Versatile & Dependable”
Studio and Location Multi Powered 1/2”Condenser Microphone.
NT4
X/Y Stereo Multi-Power Studio and Location 1/2” Condenser Microphone.
NT5 Matched pair (also available as a single)
2 Acoustically 1/2” Cardiod Condenser Microphone.
NT6
Compact Condenser Microphone
NTG-1
Directional Condenser Microphone.
NTG-2
Dual Powered Directional Condenser Microphone.
NTK “Teds Tube Mic”
Multi Award Winning Class A Dual 1” Condenser Microphone.
S1 “Why Compromise”
Live Performance Super Cardioid Condenser Microphone.
VideoMic
DVCam Directional Condenser Microphone.

Klein und Humel North America:

"Our task is to reproduce sound with such accuracy and transparency that we capture the very essence of the original performance in all its fine detail - this is what we understand as 'fidelity'."

Company founder Walter Hummel, 1935
Horst Klein + Walter Hummel.

The current state of technology in the recording and reproduction of sound is at a very high level today thanks to tireless efforts of a handful of pioneers. This relatively small group of researchers and innovators, all of whom were continually striving for sonic perfection included Horst Klein and Walter Hummel. In 1945 they courageously founded a company that was exclusively dedicated to the perfect reproduction of sound.

Empirical Labs Inc. (ELI), designs and produces professional audio equipment and software. This includes equipment used in recording studios, live sound, broadcast studios and other audio production facilities etc. We also make software for digital signal processors. Most of you are here because you have heard about or used our Distressor. This product, which is our first hardware product, was designed in 1994, tested and revised for several years, and released in early 1996. The Distressor is the first in a series of audio products from ELI that will offer original features, ease of use, long product life, and a very musical audio path.


Empirical Labs was started in 1988 and functioned mainly as a recording studio and electronics consulting firm. The founder, Dave Derr, was also employed at the time by Eventide as an audio engineer. Dave was part of the core design team for the H3000, H3500, and DSP4000. His experience at Eventide proved valuable for his later work. While working alongside Ken Bogdanowicz and Bob Belcher (both now at Wave Mechanics), Dave was exposed to great engineering and the modern world of digital signal processing (DSP).

distressor, fatso, lil-freq

Radian Audio Engineering: Bringing together a unique combination of features designed specifically for live performance sound applications and performing musicians, Radian MicroWedges have become a tremendous success in North America, Europe and Asia in just over one year of production. Co-designed by Radian Audio and Rat Sound, a California-based sound reinforcement equipment rental company, and manufactured by Radian to the company's usual rigorous standards, the compact, low-profile MicroWedge is to be found on high-profile tours and in demanding installations worldwide ...