There’s an old dichotomy in many things in technology: power or nuance? Many of us are taken in by power, myself included. Nietzsche said that the world is all about power and he was right. As a young person, I was coerced by the concept of power, so I bought a sports car with a big engine, amplifiers with 500+ watts of power, followed bands that had a powerful sound and of course comic books and superheroes. Superheroes and supervillains are all about harnessing power and energy. Consider any superhero and what you’ll find is that each one utilizes energy in a different way. This is also, interestingly enough, the key to a successful audio system. When I was a little rock ‘n roller and in the “new band every month” phase of my life, we liked power for our amps; Peavy was dependable, affordable power and it worked well for what we needed. As I got older, I became more interested in nuance and finesse whether in audio, cars, music, or anything else. The power vs nuance debate may be a matter of taste as in; do you like Metallica or King Crimson, (yes you can like both and I do). Do you prefer a 2,000 watts per channel amp driving large 4 inch horn tweeters, multiple arrays of mids, and stacks of 18 inch subs, or a 200 watt system driving smaller, precisely tuned monitors? Clearly application matters – is it a stadium, or a home theater, but still there are subjective choices to make in any setting. With myself, it’s been a matter of getting older and appreciating nuance more than raw power; maybe it’s this way for most people. Our company has endeavored to achieve the best balance between power and nuance. This is why we focus on speech intelligibility; it requires power and sensitivity. After years of research and experimentation, we’ve learned quite a lot about how to optimize speech intelligibility; there are several factors. In some cases, in a room with bad acoustics, setting them up in the conventional left-right front of room pairing is worse for intelligibility as opposed to placing one in the middle. Our speakers are aesthetically pleasing so you can put them where they’re supposed to be. The room where an audio system is going must be studied and analyzed. Then the room needs to be outfitted with the right loudspeaker design, including number of drivers per speaker and then optimal speaker placement. The proper amplifier has to be used and programmed based on the acoustics of the room. The type of speaker driver matters – we’ve found that ribbon tweeters have better transient response, transient sounds are important for the brain to understand and decode transition markers in speech. As in any audio system, low distortion is important, we’ve found that our proprietary 3.5 inch mid drivers are best after years of experience. Apologies if I didn’t come up with a winner in the power vs. nuance debate; it’s a combination of subjective preferences and science. We do our best to apply the science in every situation and let that speak for us.

The closing months of 2022 and first few months of 2023 saw fulfilling and challenging projects for Innovox Audio. We have a habit of reaching past our comfort zone and this year is already starting off that way. Late in 2022, we were given the remarkable opportunity to build custom, powered loudspeakers for the incredible Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan, New York. An extensive remodel project commenced after water damage affected the church. Innovox was hired to rebuild tall, architecturally appropriate mid-modern loudspeakers. We were awed, in the presence of an architectural icon like St Peter’s, designed by Massimo Vignelli, to contribute to the project. It’s also worth noting that the church features a renowned jazz orchestra that performs weekly. The amazing speakers we built, along with CB Fisk will far outperform the old system for years to come. In early 2023, we went from the dramatic and modern in NY, to the ornate and traditional in Des Moines, Iowa. Closer to home, we built an incredible sound system for the Basilica of St John, installed by Audio Video Electronics (AVE) of Minneapolis. Combining our new 820 series as the primary drivers and our Microtilt side fill supports, in a special paired configuration, the end result is one of the most effective audio solutions we’ve ever engineered for a house of worship. Just last week, we completed a large order of sub woofers – sixty-five to be exact for AVISPL, (the AV integrator) and Salesforce, the end user. This is another big project with Salesforce, whom we’ve been honored to work with many times and hope to continue to. We look forward to what 2023 will bring and more challenging, outside-of-our-comfort-zone projects that will come with it.

Innovox Announces New High Performance, Hybrid Line Array Series For 2023, Innovox Audio introduces new hybrid line array loudspeakers; the 800 series. These self powered, high performance hybrid line arrays are availabe in two form factors; HLA-8xxxV, (vertical) and HLA-8xxxSxS (side by side). The variations are functionally identical and are offered based on dimensional and aesthetic needs. “We’re really excited to be able to deliver this level of performance in two different form factors”, said Innovox CEO, Chris Oswood. “The 800 series is a graceful, powerful loudspeaker that’s easy to integrate into architecturally significant spaces.” Shipping now.