Kenneth Kantor

Kenneth L. Kantor
Website kenkantor.com
External video
Oral History, Ken Kantor talks about being studious as a kid and finding a way to combine electronics with music, and in doing so finding his passion. Interview date January 27, 2013, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

Kenneth L. Kantor is an audio designer and businessman who helped shape the modern loudspeaker industry through a series of innovative products and technologies. He has been profiled in the New York Times, been a guest on multiple radio and television venues and has appeared in dozens of interviews from Forbes to Rolling Stone.

Psychoacoustics (the human perception of sound) were of particular interest to Kantor, and this became the underpinnings of much of the design work he has done for several companies.

Career

Beginning in 1983 Kantor was director of Advanced research and development for Acoustic Research, at the time the world's largest loudspeaker manufacturer. He introduced a number of innovations, including the adaptive digital signal processor (or ADSP, the world's first digital signal processor room correction system), and the first psycho-acoustically enhanced loudspeaker system, the "Magic Speaker".

In 1986 Kantor co-founded and became executive vice president of Now Hear This (NHT), a successful speaker company, based on "Focused Image Geometry", a fundamental new psycho-acoustic technology. He played a key role in formulation of the business, marketing and product development efforts. Other designs include the SuperZero, the first affordable, high end bookshelf speaker;[1] the industry's first complete, matched home theater system; and a patent for in-ceiling loudspeakers that dramatically improved off-axis frequency response. In 1990 NHT was sold to International Jensen, where Kantor was promoted to Vice President of Technology.

Kantor was a founder, CTO, and Senior Research Fellow for Tymphany Corporation. His principal invention was a driver design that solved performance issues from small form factor speakers targeted at the OEM car audio and television markets.

Kantor founded ZT Amplifiers, a musical instrument amplifier company. ZT uses proprietary DSP and amplifier technologies in a product line it imports from China.

References

  1. ↑ Corey Greenberg (January 1994). "NHT SuperZero loudspeaker & SW2 subwoofer". Stereophile Magazine.
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