Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) is an American manufacturer of mainly

professional audio Professional audio, abbreviated as pro audio, refers to both an activity and a category of high quality, studio-grade audio equipment. Typically it encompasses sound recording, sound reinforcement system setup and audio mixing, and studio mu ...

reinforcement tools, such as

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...

systems and processors. From 1978-1988 it was located at 59 Fountain Street in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a pop ...

, and subsequently One Main Street in

Whitinsville, Massachusetts Whitinsville is an unincorporated village within the town of Northbridge in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Whitinsville is a census-designated place (CDP) and its population was 6,750 at the 2020 census. Whitinsville is pronoun ...

Corporate history

Eastern Acoustic Works was co-founded in 1978 by partners Kenneth Berger and Kenton Forsythe, who had previously worked together at Forsythe Audio. EAW's first single enclosure system was the CS-3 designed for Carlo Sound in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. It combined a B-215 dual 15-in low-frequency horn, a MR102 12-in mid-frequency horn and a Community BRH90 high frequency horn into one gigantic box, and was the first commercially available horn-loaded single enclosure box system. In 1985 EAW became famous by developing the KF850 loudspeaker system. For many years this system was the standard among loudspeakers used for professional touring shows. With this system EAW gained much of its credibility in the professional audio industry. Carlo Sound and Sun Sound were among the first regional sound rental companies to receive the KF850's. EAW also became well known for creating custom loudspeaker designs for specific projects and applications. Technologies developed for these designs have led to the development of many of EAW's standard products, which are mainly used in professional and commercial sound reinforcement applications, such as concert venues, music and dance clubs, theaters, stadiums, theme parks, and houses of worship. In 2000 EAW was purchased by Mackie Designs, Inc., now called LOUD Audio, LLC. In 2018, EAW was purchased by

RCF audio RCF S.p.A. (formerly Radio Cine Forniture - R.C.F. S.r.l.) is a widely recognized Italian manufacturer of high performance audio products including power amplifiers, loudspeakers, digital mixers and digital signal processors (DSP). History ...

, to be run as a separate entity.

Current People

*TJ Smith, President *James Newhouse, VP of Global Sales

References

External links

EAW website
Loudspeaker manufacturers Manufacturers of professional audio equipment Companies based in Massachusetts Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States LOUD Audio 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions {{sound-tech-stub