The story of Electro-Voice is a classic American success story. Over
the course of time, EV has grown into one of today's dominant forces in
the design and manufacturing of leading-edge products for audio
professionals. It is recognized the world over as a leader in audio
technology. From its humble beginnings, the company has evolved. Some
of its "milestones" are: 1927 The company was founded by Al Kahn and
Lou Burroughs in the basement of the Century Tire and Rubber Company in
South Bend, Indiana as Radio Engineers. 1930 Kahn and Burroughs develop
a public address system for Knute Rockne, the football coach at Notre
Dame University. Rockne uses the system to address his team during
drills on 4 adjacent fields. He calls the system his "Electric Voice."
1934 EV invents the hum-bucking coil, allowing microphones to be used
close to lights and other electrical devices without hum. This design
element is still used by nearly every company today. 1940 Electro-Voice
introduces the noise-cancelling microphone to the military, which
revolutionizes tank and aircraft communications. In the aftermath of
World War II, the company is awarded a Congressional Citation for this
important contribution to the war effort. 1954 EV introduces Variable-D
microphone technology, a means of minimizing the up-close bass boost
inherent in single-D directional microphones. Variable-D improves vocal
intelligibility for live sound, recording and broadcast applications.
1957 EV invents the stereo magnetic phono cartridge. 1963 EV receives
an Academy Award---the first ever for an audio product---from the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of the
642 Cardiline shotgun microphone. This product significantly advances
the quality of sound on film. 1970 EV becomes the first company to
widely adopt the philosophy of Australian physicists Thiele and Small
and use vented low-frequency enclosures. Enclosures built using these
criteria have deeper bass response and lower distortion than horn
designs and higher sensitivity than sealed systems. 1974 Electro-Voice
develops constant-directivity (CD) horns, which allow a loudspeaker to
maintain its coverage angles over a wide frequency range with more
uniform sound quality. 1986 EV revolutionizes concert sound
reinforcement by introducing Manifold Technology. Manifold Technology
allows the combining of the outputs of multiple drivers into a single
horn or low-frequency enclosure without destructive interference. The
result is a physical package that is a fraction of the size with much
greater acoustic output capability. 1997 EV invents Ring-Mode
Decoupling (RMDTM), a revolutionary approach to minimizing acoustical
and mechanical resonances in loudspeakers. Speaker systems with RMD
have improved clarity and resolution, especially in the vocal range.
2000 EV introduces VOBTM technology, an innovative mechanical design
that significantly reduces proximity effect and improves vocal
intelligibility in single-D microphones. 2000 EV introduces ClearScan
wireless technology that enables automatic scanning and selection of
UHF channels.
