AUDIO VIDEO ELECTRONICS TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

His dedication and commitment to excellence have earned AVE a long list of deeply satisfied clients and a business that now thrives on referrals. Svärd's critical nature continually inspires him to seek solutions that escape the seemingly inescapable compromises that are inherent to conventional equipment design. Svärd is now an ardent proponent of Danley Sound Lab's patented loudspeaker designs, which practically eradicate problems of phasing, comb filtering, and pattern control that conventional loudspeaker designs simply cannot fix.

"I'm forever on a quest to find the products that have the fewest number of compromises," said Svärd. "Some people will say, 'JBL is good, right?' or 'EAW is the top of the game.' But, from my experience, speakers have inherent compromises that make tuning them arduous and when, days later, you're all done, the conventional system still has tons of problems. For instance, you can live with comb filtering or put in a delay and live with time arrival issues. Or you can tune a system perfectly for one listening position, but as soon as you move either one, it's flawed. So you're forever in a position of 'which sucks less?' That's uninspiring and, with inventive companies like Danley, it doesn't have to be that way."

Svärd explained that Tom Danley fixed the issue of phasing with his patented Synergy Horn technology, as found in Danley's flagship SH-50 full-range loudspeaker. In addition to adding an additional octave-and-a-half to the bottom-end, Synergy Horn technology delivers near-perfect phase response because all the frequencies across the spectrum originate from the same point in space. That means if a Danley SH-50 sounds good sitting in one position, it will sound equally good sitting in a different position. That is, provided the second position is still within the speaker's unusually well-defined beam width, which maintains its integrity well below the frequencies where conventional designs become omni-directional. "While it will take a knowledgeable contractor several days to tune one of the big name systems out there, he still won't be happy when he's done. I can go in to tune a comparable Danley system at 3:00pm and be out of there by lunchtime," laughed Svärd, acknowledging that tuning even a Danley system requires some patience and a great deal of knowledge.

He continued, "Apart from taking much less time to tune, the big difference between a conventional system and a Danley system is that when you're done with the Danley setup, it sounds absolutely amazing. And, importantly, that amazing sound is totally robust to changes in listening position." It's the difference between finishing a job with an uneasy feeling and finishing a job with spirits raised because the system sounds so true to real life.

Svärd has heard the complaint that Danley boxes are more expensive than their competitive equivalents. Although he would argue that the sonic improvements discussed above are more than worth it, in terms of both his own sanity as a integrator and his clients' satisfaction, he also points out that when you consider the cost of the entire system, a Danley system is actually less expensive. "A full-range SH-50 requires only one amplifier channel and minimal signal processing," said Svärd. "Compare that to a bi- or tri-amped conventional speaker and all of its associated processing and it's easy to see that the Danley speaker may cost more, but the amount of equipment that feeds it is reduced by half or two-thirds. Plus, my Danley customers are invariably happy with the job. So once it's done, it's really done. And happy customers give great referrals."

AVE recently completed two Danley church installations. The first, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, was done by Kevin Crow, vice president of AVE and lead designer for Shiloh. Crow knew they needed very good acoustics and a sound system with high SPL capability. Shiloh is a full on gospel church with a large choir, they can run as much as 105dB SPL. The church built the entire 750-seat facility with a shoestring $2.4 million budget. AVE consulted on the acoustics with architectural firm Station 19 and designed and installed the Danley sound system and the theatrical lighting. AVE also pre-wired the building for video, which will be installed after the church raises more funds. An analog Allen & Heath console feeds a modest QSC Basis DSP, which in turn feeds the Lab Gruppen amps that power three Danley SH-50s and a set of subwoofers. Despite its modesty, the system is absolutely 'slammin'' with fidelity and intelligibility that would elude a conventional system of any price.

The second recent Danley job was Rosemount United Methodist Church in Rosemount, Minnesota. AVE helped convert their gymnasium into a"sanctinasium" for hosting more spirited and decidedly louder services than those held in their more traditional sanctuary. Again, AVE built a modest system centered on a Yamaha M7 digital console, QSC Basis DSP, QSC amps, three Danley SH-50s and a Danley TH-112 subwoofer. In addition to a noticeable lack of comb filtering and untouchable clarity, the other-worldly pattern control of the SH-50s kept sound off the highly reflective walls and prevented the room's inherent "gymness" from overwhelming the system's fidelity.

Tom Danley is one of the most innovative loudspeaker designers in the industry today and is recognized worldwide as a pioneer for "outside the box" thinking in professional audio technology. His legendary designs have been utilized in projects ranging from ground zero bombing simulation, jet engine active noise cancellation, and sonic boom generators to critical listening mastering studios, high-end home theatre, and houses of worship around the world.

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