Figure A1-1: The Original Murphy-Line-Array 8/16 I
designed in 1980 (MLA 8/16) |
I designed the
MLA 8/16 Line Array System around 1980 when I was working as the Chief
Engineer for Ford Audio in Oklahoma City, OK. I was doing a lot of speaker
design (using Don Keele's calculator method) and developed an interest in linear
arrays of loudspeakers. The prototype seen here was built in the Ford Audio wood
shop where a small number of similar systems (half this height and a more
compact enclosure) were also built. Those systems were used in two long
lines above the dance floor at a large new dance club where the company was
installing the audio systems. The MLA 8/16 system uses eight 8" woofers and sixteen
1" dome tweeters made by Peerless.
Nearly
everyone
who auditions these speakers comes away positively impressed by the
listening experience. They play at any sound level with absolutely no hint
of stress.
The configuration has changed several
times over the last 30 years. In the early years they were bi-amped
with 3rd order Butterworth crossovers at 1.5 kHz. That eventually changed to
6th order Linkwitz-Riley
crossovers. During one period they were used with passive crossovers,
digital delay units and multiple stereo amplifiers for array focusing
experiments.
These speakers
were moved from Oklahoma City to San Diego, CA in 1981 and from San Diego to
Knoxville, TN in 1998 where they remain in use today at my home on Norris
Lake, Tennessee. |
