“We’re working to make the world sound better.”
Since his early teens Nolen Ryba has been an audiophile seeking the best sound imaginable.
Today, he’s with a group of fellow sound enthusiasts delivering on that dream.
Nolen is a Design Engineer on a team of “audio nerds” at Electro-Voice (EV).
They’re delivering on that dream with the giant MTS speakers which offer market-leading output with exact coverage for indoor/outdoor sports and music venues as well as houses of worship.
We’re striving to create a new standard for this kind of speaker.
“We designed MTS to be loud at long distances but still deliver the characteristics of Hi-Fi, especially for music.”
Their ambition required a lot of ideating, design, trial and error, computer modeling and building multiple versions by hand.
“When it's a relatively simple speaker with known technology you pretty much know what you're going to get.
“But with this speaker, there were a lot of variables and innovations that were unknowns.”
Finally, the day came when they elevated it on a truss in their building’s parking lot and plugged it in.
Instantly, they knew they had it.
“It was like, WOW! This is one serious device. We have something to be really proud of here.”
Nolen says making a breakthrough like this takes the right people, leadership, resources and culture all working together.
He’s on a team with the right people who live and breathe audio and have exceptional technical expertise.
He considers the team leader, Andrew Pardoe, to be his mentor and a “Rock Star” in the audio world.
For resources, they have state-of-the-art simulation software, supercomputing and an anechoic sound chamber.
The right culture comes from two sources.
Electro-Voice is a part of the Bosch Communications Systems family of brands, and it has been innovating sound delivery for over 90 years with installed and live sound systems, portable speakers and microphones.
In 1930, the company developed a public address system for Notre Dame’s legendary football coach, Knute Rockne. Rockne called the system his “Electric Voice,” which led to the company name, Electro-Voice.
EV has been there for historic speeches, the first moon landing and performers such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
“At EV audio is a lifestyle. Many of the people here are musicians and audio techs, some of whom are out there mixing music for bands on the weekends.
As with most EV products over the years, the advancements and discoveries made with the MTS loudspeaker system will spread to other products and its teams will keep pushing the boundaries.
From falling in love with audio at age 12 when a cousin showed him his car audio system, to building his own speakers with his dad, to gaining a degree in physics and math from Michigan Tech, Nolen continues to live the audiophile’s dream.
He and others at Electro-Voice work with a passion to make systems that sound bigger and bigger and better and better.
To make the world sound better, their attitude is don’t talk about it. Be about it.