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Kenneth L. Kantor |
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Kenneth L. Kantor is an audio designer and businessman who co-founded the Now Hear This (NHT) speaker company.
Psychoacoustics (the human perception of sound) were of particular interest to Kantor, and this became the underpinnings of much of the design work he has done for several companies.
In 1986 Kantor co-founded and became executive vice president of Now Hear This (NHT), a successful speaker company, based on "Focused Image Geometry", a fundamental new psycho-acoustic technology. He played a key role in formulation of the business, marketing and product development efforts. Other designs include the SuperZero, the first affordable, high end bookshelf speaker according to Stereophile ; [1] the industry's first complete, matched home theater system; and a patent for in-ceiling loudspeakers that dramatically improved off-axis frequency response.[ citation needed ]
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce recorded music to achieve high sound quality, typically in a quiet listening space and in a room with good acoustics.
Bose Corporation is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its home audio systems and speakers, noise-canceling headphones, professional audio products, and automobile sound systems. Bose has a reputation for being particularly protective of its patents, trademarks, and brands.
Marantz is a company that develops and sells high-end audio products. The company was founded in New York, but is now based in California.
Henry Kloss was a prominent American audio engineer and entrepreneur who helped advance high fidelity loudspeaker and radio receiver technology beginning in the 1950s. Kloss was an undergraduate student in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but never received a degree. He was responsible for a number of innovations, including, in part, the acoustic suspension loudspeaker and the high fidelity cassette deck. In 2000, Kloss was one of the first inductees into the Consumer Electronics Association's Hall of Fame. He earned an Emmy Award for his development of a projection television system, the Advent VideoBeam 1000.
Naim Audio is a British hi-fi manufacturer based in Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. The company was founded in 1966 in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, it was acquired by Sound United, a holding company who owns several other audio brands.
Cambridge SoundWorks was a Massachusetts-based consumer audio manufacturer and retailer.
Acoustic Research was a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that manufactured high-end audio equipment. The brand is now owned by VOXX. Acoustic Research was known for the AR-3 series of speaker systems, which used the 12 in (300 mm) acoustic suspension woofer of the AR-1 with newly designed dome mid-range speaker and high-frequency drivers. AR's line of acoustic suspension speakers were the first loudspeakers with relatively flat response, extended bass, wide dispersion, small size, and reasonable cost. The AR Turntable remains a highly sought vinyl record player.
Audio ResearchCorporation ("ARC") is one of the oldest manufacturers of high-end audio equipment still in operation. The company was known to be a pioneer at advancing state-of-the-art audio reproduction in the 1970s, and for re-introducing the vacuum tube as the primary active amplification device. With the help of reviews in audiophile publications such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, it solidified its position as a well-respected audio manufacturer. Many industry observers consider the founder, William Zane Johnson, as one of the true originators of the entire concept of high-end audio as it exists today. As audio critic Jonathan Valin put it: “Where would the high end be without William Zane Johnson. . . ?” and “As with so many of my generation, he and his creations are the high end to me – and always will be."
Eminent Technology is an American audio electronics company based in Florida, established in 1983 by Bruce Thigpen. Their first product was an air bearing straight-line tracking tonearm for phonograph playback, and was the first implementation of a captured air bearing for tonearm use. It was followed by a more advanced version of the tonearm.
NHT Loudspeakers, often colloquially referred to as NHT Audio, is an American loudspeaker and audio component company based in Benicia, California. The company was founded by Chris Byrne and Ken Kantor in December 1986.
Nelson Pass is a designer of audio amplifiers. Pass is vocal that listening tests remain valuable and that electrical measurements alone do not fully characterize the sound of an amplifier. Pass holds at least seven U.S. patents related to audio circuits.
SpeakerCraft is an American manufacturer of custom-installed audio/video and home theater products based in Petaluma, California. Founded in 1976 by Edward Haase, Ken Humphreys, and Eugene Humphreys, the company evolved from a retail stereo store and original equipment manufacturer to a designer and installer of custom audio systems. Over the years, SpeakerCraft has developed proprietary technologies such as AIM, TIME, WavePlane, and MODE, and has produced more than 1000 products, including architectural speakers, subwoofers, and control systems. The company has experienced significant growth and multiple ownership changes, including its sale to Nortek, Inc. in 2004. SpeakerCraft is recognized for its innovative approach and quality products, despite some criticism regarding cost.
Jensen is a consumer electronics brand with a history that dates back to 1915 with Peter L. Jensen's invention of the first loudspeaker. Over the years the Jensen family of brands has grown to include Jensen, Advent, Acoustic Research (AR), Phase Linear and NHT Loudspeakers in the United States and Magnat and Macaudio in Germany. In 2004, Audiovox Corporation added the Jensen portfolio of brands to their mobile and consumer electronics lines. In 2015, Dual Electronics Corporation acquired Jensen, however Audiovox maintains its selection of Advent-branded car audio/navigation head units from its line.
Edgar Marion Villchur was an American inventor, educator, and writer widely known for his 1954 invention of the acoustic suspension loudspeaker which revolutionized the field of high-fidelity equipment. A speaker Villchur developed, the AR-3, is exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution's Information Age Exhibit in Washington, DC.
KEF is a British company specialising in the design and production of a range of high-end audio products, including HiFi speakers, subwoofers, architecture speakers, wireless speakers, and headphones. It was founded in Maidstone, Kent in 1961 by a BBC engineer named Raymond Cooke (1925–1995). In 1992, the Hong Kong-based Gold Peak Group acquired KEF, and GP Acoustics, a member of Gold Peak, now owns the company. KEF continues to develop and manufacture its products in Maidstone, Kent, UK.
Acapella Audio Arts is a German manufacturer of loudspeakers, and one of the oldest hi-fi manufactures in Germany. Acapella Audio was founded by Alfred Rudolph and Herman Winters in 1978 in Duisburg, Germany. Acapella is famous for its heavy horn-loaded speakers that are able to reproduce the whole audible sound spectrum. Other signature characteristic for the products of the company is the widely utilized plasma tweeter technology.
The LS3/5A is a small studio monitor loudspeaker originated by the BBC for use by outside broadcast vans to ensure quality of their broadcasts. The speaker concept set out transparent and natural sound as the goal, and the achievement of the result is widely acknowledged.
Spencer Hughes (1924–1983) was an English audio engineer who worked at the BBC research department in the 1960s. He founded Spendor to manufacture loudspeakers incorporating results of his research.
Spendor is a British loudspeaker manufacturing company founded in 1969 by audio engineer Spencer Hughes (1924–1983) and his wife Dorothy. It is located in East Sussex. The name was derived from the first names of both.