(Left to right): Eric Welch, Hugh Sarvis, and Norvin Roessing.
Blaze Audio, a manufacturer of professional solutions for commercial audio applications and a subsidiary of Pascal A/S of Copenhagen, Denmark, announces the company’s development initiatives will soon result in the addition of innovative loudspeaker products. “Recognizing that power amplifiers and loudspeakers go hand in hand, the forthcoming loudspeaker products will enable Blaze Audio to offer complete system solutions for a wide range of sound reinforcement applications,” the announcement states.
Blaze Audio’s loudspeaker development efforts are being spearheaded by Hugh Sarvis; a well-known product development engineer whose loudspeaker design efforts have resulted in numerous highly acclaimed products. Sarvis’ experience dates back to the 1970’s, during which he provided sound services to artists such as Wynonna Judd, the band Alabama, and Waylon Jennings. Having accumulated a wealth of experience during this period, he consolidated his focus on loudspeaker design, with the first product—the Max Series—appearing in 1986 under the Woodworx name. For the next several years, Sarvis’ loudspeaker designs assumed integral roles in Super Bowl 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, Super Bowl 1995 in Miami, Florida, along with the 1995 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
In 2001, Sarvis officially debuted WorxAudio Technologies, which was recognized for its V8 line array, the UltraMax Series, along with the X-Series line array system, which employed the 160-degree horizontal dispersion pattern. As the Founder/CEO of WorxAudio Technologies, Sarvis also expanded the company’s presence by developing products for the commercial installation market. In 2014, Sarvis sold his company to PreSonus Audio Electronics of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, whereas Managing Director of the company’s Loudspeaker division, he designed an assortment of PreSonus studio monitors, the ULT series, the Air series, and the CDL series.
As Director of the Loudspeaker Division at Blaze Audio, Sarvis has yet another opportunity to take loudspeaker development to the next level. “Loudspeakers and amplifiers go hand in hand,” he explains. “We currently offer rack mount amplifier and control solutions and, in the coming months, passive and self-powered loudspeaker options will be available. All our amplifier offerings offer high-end DSP featuring FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters along with an assortment of IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) and other filter sets. We also plan to offer updates to our DSP on a regular basis.”
Sarvis is equally enthusiastic about the design facilities Blaze Audio has provided, “I am fortunate to have a complete Klippel system for loudspeaker measuring, diagnostics, and control in our laboratory. We have a laser to analyze both loudspeakers and transducer components. Equally notable, our NFS (Near Field Scanner) has been an amazing tool for analyzing a complete loudspeaker system’s directivity and frequency response over 360 degrees. I can extrapolate data anechoically over any distance. This has been an invaluable design tool. We also have a 3D printer, along with a CNC router for complete product prototyping. This is a state-of-the-art design facility and I have every intention of developing innovative loudspeaker solutions.”
In addition to Hugh Sarvis, the Blaze Audio loudspeaker development team also includes Norvin Roessing, who oversees Mechanical Design and Eric Welch, who serves as the loudspeaker division’s Product Manager. “In addition to the skills and experience both Norvin and Eric bring,” Sarvis adds, “I was very fortunate to have worked with Don Keele, one of the developers of constant directivity horn design. Together, we developed constant beamwidth devices by amplitude shading using the CBT technologies from the US Navy papers. Together, this team has a wealth of experience in loudspeaker development, and I look forward to leveraging this talent to develop the next generation of products.”
Before turning his attention back to the business of the day, Sarvis concludes, “Product development can frequently take a substantial amount of time. In this regard, Blaze Audio has yet another advantage. We recently purchased the intellectual property of WorxAudio from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation—the owner of PreSonus—and plan to continue building some of those key products. I’ve worked on wide pattern control for many years and several WorxAudio products have this feature set so, going forward, we plan to continue with this design concept. That gives us a leg up on what would otherwise be a long development. In summary, we have a lot to look forward to and I firmly believe our customers will be the ultimate winners—so stay tuned!”
To learn more about Blaze Audio, visit the company online at https://blaze-audio.com/.
