EAW’s cofounder and former vice president of strategic engineering will return to the loudspeaker manufacturer just months after the company was bought by RCF.
Kenton Forsythe returns after three years to work part time with EAW’s head of engineering, Geoff McKinnon, and director of product management, Jeremy Forsythe, on “advanced product development”.
Kenton made a name for himself with some innovative and lasting designs for the loudspeaker brand. His mid-1970s vintage BH215 dual 15-inch bass horn became the basis of some of EAW's earliest products. "When we started EAW, we kept on going with some of the designs we had used in our previous company, Forsythe Audio Systems," he said. "We designed the CS-3 for Carlo Sound, an integration of the BH215 dual 15-in low-frequency horn with an MR102 12-inch mid-frequency horn and a Community BRH90 high-frequency horn in one big box. It probably was the world's first integrated, flyable touring rig."
EAW later entered the install market with the KF850. "The KF850 was an outgrowth of those previous designs," explained Kenton. "It was a very good cabinet for its day and was time coherent throughout its full range. The KF850 helped us develop a lot of traction. It was the standard for tours for quite a while, and it got us into the install world."
Kenton continued: "Now we're owned by Arturo Vicari, who also owns RCF and db Technologies. We operate independently but are part of a group of companies, and the technology can be shared amongst the groups. RCF also has really good components that are now available to us."