User:Chris-at-Bose

I've been with Bose® since 1980, after finishing my thesis for Dr. Bose. I started in home hi-fi by designing the 201® Series I and 501® Series IV. Ken and I have worked closely together since '87, mostly on Pro projects. I've contributed a lot to Modeler® Design Program and provided much of the vision for the current version (v6.0). I'm also the lead engineer of Auditioner® audio demonstrator technology and the Panaray® 502A speaker array, and I invented the phased-bass-array technology we use in large venues. I spear-headed the design of the first intelligible sound system for the Mosque in Mecca, the largest such job Bose has ever done and one which I consider to be the Mt. Everest of acoustical challenges. I met Hilmar back in '91 and subsequently helped bring him to Bose; although we both worked heavily on 3D audio simulation and DSP, I didn't fulfill my desire to actually work with him until just this last year or so.

I started inventing things with Cliff in '94 when he joined Bose and I learned about horns and compression drivers from the master himself. We also had good times tuning sound systems in arenas and stadiums around the world. I'm also the guy who told him on theoretical grounds that his idea for the line array for musicians was a really bad idea, but fortunately he wasn't listening to me, or none of these miracles would have happened (humbling thought). Cliff built an array anyway and refuted all my technical background with a very simple argument: "listen to this." I was wrong; theory had to be revised to match reality. (This is YOUR strongest argument too, no matter who challenges you, no matter what they think they know.)

So I quickly became a believer and a promoter and successfully advocated for the first use of Bose line arrays at the Universal theme park, "Islands of Adventure." (The outdoor area-wide coverage is almost all Bose line arrays -- 16' tall covering acres of open space.) When Ken and Cliff started honing the product you now enjoy, I acted as a "voice of the audience" by attending early Linemen gigs and giving feedback about what was working in the audience and what was not.

Although I'm in the Corporate Research division, I devote about half my effort toward helping my old friends to develop new solutions for musicians. We have a lot of good things going on in the lab and I look forward to sharing them with you in the fullness of time. And I'm always interested in what ISN'T working for you, no matter how intractable you think those problems may be. Maybe we'll solve them anyway. Although I'm not a musician, (I did study acoustic guitar, but found I had little to offer beyond manual dexterity), nonetheless I hope you'll accept me as one who deeply loves what musicians give to the human race.