Interesting People mailing list archives

IP: RIP, Henry Kloss


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 09:52:38 -0500


From: "Janos G." <janos451 () earthlink net>
To: "jg" <janos451 () earthlink net>
[From Boston Acoustics]

> I just received word that Henry Kloss passed away last night. He was
> one of the great visionaries in this business. At one time I made a
> list of the significant milestones in the development of the audio
> business, and Henry was responsible for developing and commercializing
> more of them than anyone else in our industry:
> 1. The LP record in 1948.
> 2. The acoustic suspension loudspeaker in 1954. Henry designed
> the AR-1, a revolutionary product for its time. Without small high
> performance speakers, stereo never would have become a commercial
> reality, and we probably wouldn't have the significant industry we have
> today.
> 3. FM stereo in 1959.
> 4. The transistor. Although Henry had nothing to do with its
> development, his 3-piece music systems at KLH were the first audio
> products to exploit the much smaller sized electronics that the
> transistor made possible.
> 5. The Dolby B System and the High Fidelity cassette in 1970.
> Henry immediately saw the commercial significance of Dolby and convinced
> Ray to develop the consumer version of his noise reduction system
> several years before he intended to. The hi fi cassette fulfilled
> Henry's vision of a music source you could carry in your shirt pocket
> and play virtually any where. Ho hum stuff today but ground-breaking in
> 1970!
> 6. Large screen television in 1974. Before the Advent
> Videobeam, large screen TV was $50,000+ and not a consumer product.
> 7. The CD in 1982 and the DVD most recently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janos Gereben/SF
janos451 () earthlink net

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