lifestyles
HI FI IN LAWRENCE
Kathleen Driscoll / KANSAN
Paul Schmidt, Lawrence resident, works on the inside of a Martin-Logan speaker. The company is based in Lawrence and has clients from as far away as Japan.
Two local companies produce stereo equipment that is sold around the world.
By Jake Arnold
the high-end audio business is boonin' in Lawrence.
The skinny on speakers
Of the 50 or so recognized top-quality audio makers, two are rockin' the world's ears from Lawrence.
A look at how electromagnetic and electrostatic speakers work.
Martin-Logan, Ltd., 2001 Delaware St., makes speakers, and Sutherland Engineering Inc., 619 E. Eighth St., produces amplifiers and preamplifiers
The creators and owners of these two companies had a vision of making beautiful music. They started out as a duet.
Diaphragm
Nathan Olson / KANSAN
Gayle Martin Sanders, an architect, and Ron Logan Sutherland, an electrical engineer, were partners when Martin-Logan was incorporated in 1982 to build a better electrostatic speaker.
I. Electromagnetic
High voltages are applied to the stators, creating an electrostatic field. The field moves a guitar string sound. The design's simplicity makes more pure sounds.
Electrostatic speakers are an entirely different tune than the averagewoofer or tweeter.
"It is like comparing ajet engine to a propeller in terms of performance." Sanders said.
II. Electrostatic
Current flows through the voice coil. Because the coil is suspended in a magnetic field, it moves the cone, producing sound. The intensity of the design limits purity of the sound.
Conventional speakers use cones or domes that must be vibrated by magnetic forces 40,000 times per second. Distortion is created because the cones or domes do not vibrate evenly and because several other complex and heavy components are needed to produce the sound.
. Martin-Logan
Comparatively, electrostatic speakers are simple. A diaphragm, treated to conduct electricity, is stretched within a frame. An electrostatic field is generated around the diaphragm, causing it to move evenly, creating a clean sound with little distortion.
The first electrostatic speaker, built in the 1920s, was as big as a door, and its diaphragm was a membrane of rotting pig intestine covered with fine gold leaf. Even then it produced superior sound to the conventional speakers of the time. However, the technology's commercial applications were limited for the next 60 years because of the necessary size of the diaphragm and the one-directional release of sound.
Martin-Logan has overcome these problems with space-age materials. The diaphragm is a polyester film one half of one thousandth of an inch thick, lighter than air and does not need as much size to produce sound. To overcome one-directional sound, Martin-Logan created and patented the curvilinear electrostatic transducer, a curved, perforated metal sheet on either side of the diaphragm.
"We have harnessed a lightening storm." Sanders said.
It wasn't always so.
Only a handful of companies in the world use this technology to make loudspeakers, and Martin-Logan is the largest in the United States. It doesn't always work.
Their product line includes half a dozen styles ranging in price from $2,000 to $50,000 a pair. Sanders said that they have stopped production of their most expensive speaker. The Statement, but that they had sold roughly two pairs a month.
Martin-Logan started with only two employees. Sanders paid them by the piece because he was working two other jobs and couldn't be there to supervise them. Martin-Logan has grown to more than 30 employees in two warehouses and is looking to expand again.
Sanders feels aesthetics is an important selling point for his product line.
"Historically, engineers make ugly loudspeakers — like a tract." Sanders said.
Sanders uses his architectural training to design speakers that are an asset to a room's decor. Each speaker is handcrafted with an eye for detail. For example, certain parts are sent to North Carolina just to get a special high-quality paint.
Randy Umscheid, chief financial officer, estimates it takes about six hours to make a speaker, and they make about 50 pair a day.
"This is by no means a mass-produced item." Umscheid said. "Hard to imagine it will ever get that way. I don't think that is what Gayle (Sanders) wants."
"If you build the best, people will buy it." Sanders said.
Right now, people are buying it in more than 30 nations. Martin-Logan is selective about what dealers it will allow to handle its product. It only has about 70 dealers in the United States. The nearest is Audioport, 7329 W. 97th St., Overland Park.
Kief's Audio-Video, 2429 Iowa St., sold Martin-Logan but quit due to a marketing disagreement Ed Hawkins, manager of Kief's, speaks highly of Martin-Logan
"It is a very, very fine product, no doubt about it." Hawkins said.
Hawkins said the various companies that man ufacture speaker wires, such as Tara Labs, use Martin-Logan's speakers to test their products.
Hawkins said people would travel from as far as St. Louis because they had heard about Mar-
tin-Logan's speakers and wanted a pair for themselves.
Source: Encyclopedia Americana, Martin Logan
II. Sutherland Engineering
Martin-Logan is just one Lawrence company making waves in the audio world.
Ron Sutherland, owner of Sutherland Engineering, has been into electronics and music since he was a child.
"I would drive my tractor, save money and buy components to build things," Sutherland said.
He helped start Martin-Logan but left early on.
Sutherland immersed himself as a consumer for several years but couldn't stay out of the electronics business forever.
market."
"Businesses get to be personal visions," Sutherland said. "Gale (Sanders) and I had a shared vision for a while, but I found speakers not as exciting."
His first amplifier was a concept piece that he spent years creating. Working in a business with his brother, Sutherland had the time and money to create his dream. Production and marketing were not concerns of his. "It was an exercise to stretch my mind," Sutherland said. "It was how I chose to get my education. It
"I if you can't buy it, make it," he said. "It was so much trouble I decided to start a business."
But it did achieve recognition. It was nominated for an aesthetics award by the Academy for the Advancement of High-end Audio.
but when I clink out? Years ago.
"I can count those I sold like children," Sutherland said.
Priced at $15,000, the C-1000 was not a commercial boom when it came out 2 years ago.
Sutherland designs for simplicity both inside and out. His products have a minimum of knobs and lights and can be controlled by a single-button remote.
"To me, it is a vehicle for touching the music," he said. "I prefer to design for everyone to enjoy, not just your techno wizards."
Simplicity in the internal electrical parts is his key to better music.
"I'm an electrical engineer, and I design circuit
He sells two items besides the C-1000, his prototype. The C-1001, a preamplifier, sells for $9500 and the A-1000, a power amplifier sells for $18,000 a pair. A preamplifier acts as a control center for musical functions, and the power amplifier boosts the power to the sneakers.
paths for simplicity," Sutherland said. "It reduces electronic coloration. The dynamics are effortless. There is no listening fatigue. It opens a window into the music."
Sutherland compares the difficulty in designing a simpler, shorter and cleaner circuit path to writing a short story as opposed to a novel. There is less room to accomplish the necessary function, but it also makes it more direct and forceful.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Now, Sutherland only sells his products on the other side of the Pacific where American highend audio is heavily respected.
"They prefer to deal with Americans because we don't build by committees or market consultations," he said. "Their design style is to please a large market. At the top end it gets to be more of an art. You wouldn't do art by committee."
"With something as simple, you also have to be very critical because there is no place to hide," he said.
Sutherland is very critical about his work. Although he has several employees who work at production, he prefers to do all the final assembly and testing himself.
"I don't have any competitors," Sutherland said. "Someone who appreciates what we are doing can't get anything else like it."
"At the high end of the market, they are willing to pay for exceptional quality," Sutherland said. Only about four companies worldwide produce these products at comparable prices.
His unique design sets him apart.
Sutherland has not lost an appreciation for the art he is working to improve.
"I don't want to be so driven I can't get satisfaction from the product," he said. "When I enjoy it, I just enjoy it. Other times I am an engineer, and I try to improve it."
One man who took delivery of the goods is Gary Berube, an Augusta physician. He had read about the Sutherland amplifier in a Japanese magazine and then came to Lawrence to see it for himself. He was so impressed he bought one and hooked it up to his Martin-Logan speakers that he first discovered while living in Canada.
"I don't care about technology, I want to deliver the goods."
"The they are very reasonably priced compared to other high-end audio that doesn't match it." Berube said. "Once you get over the initial shock, cost isn't that bit of a deal.
"They are a real credit to Lawrence."
.
Cultural Calendar
Exhibition—Art Department will sponsor a Senior Show, Sunday through March 10 at the Art and Design Gallery.
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition—Morgan Gallery will sponsor ceramic sculptors, Friday through April 7, at the Morgan Gallery, 412 Delaware, Kansas City, Mo.
Lecture—"The Illustrated Beatus and Bibles: Medieval Spanish Painting," by John Williams, 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Auditorium in the Spencer Museum of Art.
Exhibition—"The Spirit of Pioneer Women,"11 a.m. Saturday at Kansas City Museum, 3218 Gladstone Blvd., Kansas City, Mo.
PERFORMANCES
Symposium—"Art as a Political Tool," 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Faculty Recital, featuring Richard Reber, 7:30 p.m. Monday at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Doctoral Recital, featuring Steve Erickson, 7:30 tonight at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Student Recital, featuring Mihoko Kosaka, at 7:30 tonight at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Jazz Festival Concert at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Lied Center. Tickets $9, $11 and $13.
Department of Music and Dance present American Bandmasters Association Concert, 7:30 tonight at the Lied Center. Tickets $2 and $4.
Department of Music and Dance presents "The Joy of Singing," 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lied Center. Tickets $3.
English Alternative Theatre presents "Tea," 8 p.m.
tomorrow, Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday,
at Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont. Tickets $5.
University Theatre presents "Dancing at Lughnasa," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets $4, $7 and $.
Renegade Theatre presents "American Airborne," 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Renegade Theatre, 518 East 8th St. Tickets $7.
Missouri Repertory Theatre presents "The Imaginary Invalid," through March 12, at center for Performing Arts, 50th and Cherry Streets, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $14 through $30.
Topeka Symphony Youth Orchestra presents a Spring Concert, 3.p.m. Sunday at White Concert Hall on Washburn University Campus, Topeka, Kan. Tickets $1 and $2.
AUDITIONS
English Alternative Theatre will hold general auditions for "I Stand Before You Naked," from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Hashinger Hall Dance Studio.