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In the mid 1960s music was on the move. The growing "rock revolution," and the need to bring its explosion of new musical styles and messages to audiences around the world, demanded an evolution in the technology of touring sound: lightweight, mobile systems able to reproduce the depth and complexity of the music with absolute impact and clarity. Communication had become the critical factor in live sound.

Bruce Howze, a creatively inclined loudspeaker designer working in Pennsylvania with influential bands such as Jefferson Airplane, was keenly aware that 2-way sound systems based on equipment from movie theaters were no longer viable. These had unacceptable limitations in coverage, clarity, and portability, largely due to their massive size, weight, and the lack of midrange output of their loudspeakers, a result of their limited 2-way design.

The Fiberglass Revolution

Determined to solve these problems, Howze came up with an original idea that would revolutionize the technology of live sound. To improve the clarity and coverage of loudspeakers and reduce their weight, he designed and engineered lightweight horns and enclosures from fiberglass, a radically different material for that application. This breakthrough eventually led to the foundation of Community Light & Sound in 1968 and landmark products such as the LMF, a round compression-loaded fiberglass horn driven by a 12" cone that specifically addressed the lack of midrange output. The focus on the importance of the midrange frequencies and use of fiberglass immediately set Community apart from its competitors and became central to its ongoing legend.

Hand-shaping, custom molding and the hand-lamination of fiberglass materials require extra time, care, and attention to detail. This unique process gave the LMF and subsequent designs a significant weight advantage over wooden and die-cast metal horns. More importantly, the natural sound characteristics of the glass fiber composite, coupled with the LMF's precisely formed shape, produced an articulate, detailed sound with increased projection. It also eliminated gaps or "holes" in the midrange frequencies, allowing vocals to be clearly heard and understood.

A decade later, Community was growing into a family of creative audio professionals, a true "gathering of excellence" dedicated to applying new thinking and common sense solutions to live sound in all types of venues. Today, Community uses FRP composites, carbon fiber, polyethylene and other materials to create a wide range of all-weather, all-purpose loudspeakers that excel in any type of indoor or outdoor venue.

Refining Communication in Live Sound

Starting with Howze's ideas as the source, Community's innovations have produced industry-leading products such as the M4 midrange driver, known for its unmatched power and extremely low distortion. The M4 later became one of many Community midrange drivers to use carbon fiber for the diaphragm, a material that provides greater strength without the negative effects of commonly used metallic diaphragms.

One of Community's most unique and influential products, the M4 further refined the concept of a dedicated single component vocal range driver, bringing greater clarity and a natural, intimate sound to the vocals. Commenting on the M4, Howze has said, "People tend to think in terms of extending the bandwidth and getting more bottom, more top. They sort of miss the point that all the information is in the midrange and, if you don't get that right, the rest of it just doesn't mean anything."

Expanding beyond breakthrough efforts with vocal-range, horn-loaded products, Community has become known for a range of unique solutions that make sense. The company was the first to conceive of 3-, 4-, and 5-way loudspeaker system designs now used throughout the industry. This idea allowed us to optimize individual components and significantly reduce distortion in full-range system designs.

Transcending Limitations

Over the years, Community has led the way in providing powerful and articulate full-range sound with exceptional "throw" (projection capability) in massive outdoor and indoor venues. We developed the world's first giant triaxial full-range, weather resistant horn system; the first compact, full-range weather resistant horn system; and the first high quality all-purpose, all-weather loudspeaker system, the WET Series. The design, construction, testing, and effective positioning of these systems allow our clients to not only reproduce audio more efficiently, but actually involve spectators and audience members in the total entertainment experience.

We've designed the clarity, balance and projection of our larger systems into a range of versatile theater and club systems so that musicians and DJs can effectively communicate their music and lyrics with maximum power, deep bass impact and an exceptional response throughout the midrange and upper frequencies. Our permanently installed loudspeaker systems bring new standards of clarity and coverage to schools, auditoriums, houses of worship, and other installations.

In addition to innovative ideas and designs, each of our products is manufactured as part of an exacting procedure to ensure absolute quality. The construction of a Community compression driver is a personalized process, with a number of intricate steps that must be executed by hand with care and precision. Time-consuming and costly, this process provides exceptional control over each component and results in absolute electrical and mechanical efficiency with no compromises in audio performance.

Testing: Our Commitment to Excellence

Scientific testing is integral to our legacy. Over the years, we've developed ways to test and document the spherical propagation characteristics of all loudspeakers; published the coverage patterns of our own loudspeakers; and introduced the industry's first electro-acoustic modeling software. Under the inspired guidance of vice president John Wiggins, Community was the first to apply sophisticated Time Delay Spectrometry (TDS) techniques to the development of signal-aligned loudspeaker systems. Now an accepted technology to maximize system effectiveness, this led to our Wavefront Coherent™ design, featured in Community's electronically-controlled system products.

Dedication to testing lets us evolve and develop entire families of products from proprietary manufacturing methods to produce effective designs that truly excel in a given application. The freedom to experiment with engineering solutions allows us to innovate and anticipate the needs of our growing customer base around the world.

Implementing the Future

Community manufactures most of its components and cabinetry in our modern 100,000 square foot Chester, Pennsylvania facility, near Philadelphia. Centrally located with easy access to transportation facilities, the plant reflects our ongoing commitment to improving and modernizing every facet of production. We've implemented ISO quality standards and acquired advanced computer-controlled precision milling, modeling, molding and production systems, all of which have contributed to a significant annual growth in recent years.

Deeply committed to Chester with a local workforce of dedicated individuals we've trained and developed, Community continues as a growing and diverse "family" of professionals whose commitment to excellence is central to our growth. We believe in an enlightened and responsive way of doing business in a work environment that encourages growth, opportunity, enjoyment, and mutual respect.

In addition to its wide range of loudspeaker systems, Community designs and manufactures proprietary transducers to ensure the excellence of our systems. We continue to allocate significant resources to this area to ensure our position as a leading worldwide producer of professional audio transducers.

Over the years, Community has been recognized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with a series of special Governor's 1st Place Awards for Excellence in the Expansion of World Trade of Pennsylvania Exports Abroad; Environmental Excellence; and Outstanding Achievement in Export Sales. We've also won the President's "E" Certificate for Exports Award presented by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

But these and the numerous industry awards we've earned only enhances the fact that our loudspeaker systems are in the world's leading concert halls, theaters, arenas and stadia. World-class venues such as Atlanta's Georgia Dome, Ireland's Limerick University, Las Vegas' Mirage Casino, Orlando's Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers Film Studios, and the White House in Washington, D.C., to name a few.

More recently, our equipment has been installed in landmark systems such as the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park, Denver's Invesco Mile High Field, and the Gaylord Palms Hotel Convention Center in Kissimmee, Florida. We've also developed special paging systems for the Cape Canaveral NASA Vertical Assembly Building, Space Vehicle Assembly Building, and Press Viewing Stands for the launches.

Community continues to do what we've become known for since Bruce Howze first founded the company. We start with unique and practical ideas designed to bring the highest level of communication to sound reproduction. These ideas then evolve into unique designs manufactured with rigorous and sophisticated techniques, coupled with new proprietary materials and transducers, to achieve superior standards of acoustic excellence. Beyond that, we constantly look for new ways to better develop and provide the finest audio reproduction technologies to the world marketplace.

Community: First in Achievement

First successful fiberglass mid and high frequency horns.
First fiberglass composite loaded midrange horn for touring systems - the LMF.
First large-scale fiberglass bass horn system, used on Elvis Presley's 1971 tour - the original Leviathan.
First testing and documentation of all brands of professional loudspeakers in a free field acoustical environment.
First to publish the coverage patterns of its loudspeakers, setting the industry standard.
First to distribute electro-acoustic modeling software, "The Community Cluster Computer."
First Wavefront Coherent signal-aligned sound reinforcement loudspeaker system developed using Time Delay Spectrometry from Richard Heyser.
First mid-range compression driver (also the most powerful) - the M4.
First carbon fiber diaphragm compression drivers.
First electro-acoustical system to equal the sound level of pneumatic warning sirens.
First pro audio manufacturer with an Internet web site - www.community.chester.pa.us (which later became www.loudspeakers.net).
First passive loudspeakers with internal multi-band, multi-level processing.
First Ferrofluid-cooled professional woofers.
First HF compression driver diaphragm without an outer suspension - the VHF100.
First air-cooled loudspeakers for touring systems - the AirForce.
First to manufacture a giant triaxial full-range weather resistant horn system - the Leviathan II.
First 3-way plus sub cinema loudspeaker system supplied to Paramount's Executive Studio; and Warner Brothers' screening theater, the Clint Eastwood film scoring/mixing room.
First to publish design data and specifications on CD-ROM.
First compact full-range weather resistant horn systems - R Series.

For the new millennium, Community continues to do what we’ve become known for since Bruce Howze first founded the company. We start with unique and practical ideas designed to bring the highest level of communication to sound reproduction. These ideas then evolve into unique designs manufactured with rigorous and sophisticated techniques, coupled with new proprietary materials and transducers, to achieve superior standards of acoustic excellence. Beyond that, we constantly look for new ways to better develop and provide the finest audio reproduction technologies to the world marketplace.