Edgar Villchur
May 28, 1917 – October 17, 2011
Edgar Villchur was an inventor whose 1954 development of an acoustic suspension loudspeaker provided a better bass response while dramatically reducing the size of the speaker than ever before. His invention, the AR-3 speaker is on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Besides high-end speakers, his company, Acoustic Research, Inc. manufactured turntables and other stereo components that he came up with. At its peak, the company owned an impressive 32 % of the United States speaker market. In 2006, Hi-Fi News put him at the top of their list of the 50 Most Important Audio Pioneers. He was also largely credited for bringing the hi-fidelity experience into the home. When he sold his company in 1967, Villchur signed a no-complete agreement, so ironically, he moved into the field of hearing aid research and development. He ultimately created the multichannel compression hearing aid which has since become the industry standard. Edgar Villchur was 94 when he passed away in his home on October 17, 2011.
Thanks to Harold Lepidus for the assist.
Another one of those GENIUS-tech-types like Paul Winchell and Les Paul…! God bless ’em all.
We diefntiely need more smart people like you around.