Renkus-Heinz
Renkus-Heinz is a manufacturer of loudspeakers and related professional sound reinforcement equipment. Based in Foothill Ranch, California, the firm has a global presence in permanent installations at auditoriums, transit centers,[1] sports venues,[2] houses of worship[3] and musical performance venues[4] as well as in the concert touring industry.[5]
| External video | |
|---|---|
 Oral History, Harro Heinz recalls the radio business right after the war. Interview date September 9, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library |
History
Renkus-Heinz was founded on April 1, 1979 by Harro K. Heinz and Algis Renkus (1937–1997[6]).[7] Heinz had previously been awarded a patent in 1975 for his work on a "Comprehensive feedback elimination system employing notch filter"[8] that was performed while he was employed at Rauland Borg Corporation.[9] Algis Renkus was joined in the new enterprise by his father Jonas A. Renkus (b. 1912) who had worked at Altec under industry veteran John Kenneth Hilliard. The elder Renkus followed Hilliard to Ling-Temco-Vought in the 1960s and joined Hilliard's 1970s consulting firm. Together, Hilliard and Jonas Renkus issued an Audio Engineering Society paper in 1966 detailing their improvement in horn-type compression drivers obtained by incorporating polyimide.[10]
Before joining Renkus-Heinz in late 1979, Jonas Renkus had helped found Emilar Corporation in 1974. Emilar was a manufacturer of loudspeaker components which employed Renkus' patented high-compliance polyimide driver. In 1978–1979, Jonas Renkus worked with Gene Czerwinski at Cerwin-Vega to develop a reliable and efficient high frequency driver.[11] While at Renkus Heinz, Jonas Renkus patented a new triple lamination construction method in 1980. In 1981, the two Renkus men left Renkus-Heinz to assist Emilar which was having trouble staying in business. Harro Heinz remained president of Renkus-Heinz.
While Jonas and Algis Renkus were at Emilar, they began using the patented triple lamination method which had been assigned to Renkus-Heinz. Heinz sued for damages but dropped the case during the hearing.[12]
In 1989 Harro's son Ralph D. Heinz joined Renkus-Heinz to work with Don B. Keele, Jr. and Gene Patronis and further his knowledge of electro-acoustics and horn loudspeaker design. Ralph Heinz eventually became senior vice-president of R&D[13] and patented a method of arraying loudspeakers for better phase coherency in 1994.[14] In 1996, he patented a multiple driver horn which was promoted as the "CoEntrant" transducer, covering both mid- and high-frequency bands in one horn.[15]
Patents
- US patent 4336425, Jonas A. Renkus, "HIGH FREQUENCY COMPRESSION DRIVER AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF", issued 1980-05-06
- US patent 4887298, Robert M. Haigler, "ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT FOR SENSING DISCONNECT OR FAILURE OF A POWER OUTPUT SENSE LINE IN AN AUDIO POWER SYSTEM", issued 1988-06-15
- US patent 5750943, Ralph D. Heinz, "SPEAKER ARRAY WITH IMPROVED PHASE CHARACTERISTICS", issued 1994-02-15
- US patent 5526456, Ralph D. Heinz, "Multiple-driver single horn loud speaker", issued 1996-06-11
See also
References
- ↑ Renkus-Heinz. Auditorium / Transit
- ↑ Renkus-Heinz. Sports
- ↑ Renkus-Heinz. Houses of Worship
- ↑ Renkus-Heinz. Performing Arts / Theatres
- ↑ Renkus-Heinz. Tour / Rental
- ↑ ARX.com. Algis Renkus memoriam
- ↑ Audioannals.com. Companies P-S. Renkus-Heinz
- ↑ US patent 4088835, Harro K. Heinz, "Comprehensive feedback elimination system employing notch filter", issued 1975-05-09
- ↑ Audioannals.com. Biography G–H. Harro Heinz
- ↑ AES E-Library. Development of Horn-Type Moving Coil Driver Unit. John K. Hilliard, Jonas A. Renkus. October 1966.
- ↑ AES E-Library. The Reliability of High Frequency Compression Drivers. Eugene Czerwinski, Jonas A. Renkus. May 1979.
- ↑ Audioheritage.org. Robert Grunberg bulletin board entry Jonas Renkus and his Bowtie horn posted December 28, 2006.
- ↑ AES Los Angeles section. October 2000. A Field Trip to Renkus-Heinz
- ↑ U.S. Patent 5,750,943
- ↑ Sound & Video Contractor. April 1, 1999. Ralph Heinz. The Renkus-Heinz CoEntrant transducer
