Funktion-One is a British

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 " ...

manufacturer based in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England. The company was formed in 1992 by Tony Andrews and John Newsham. Widely known for their distinctive purple cabinets and white axehead drivers, Funktion-One systems have been popularly employed in notable dance music venues across the globe including

Berghain Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in Berlin, and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station.

(

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), Jaeger (

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), Cocoricò (

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), Marquee (

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), The Block (

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), Laura's Shed (

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), École Privée (

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), Smartbar (

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), Colosseum (

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), and Shelter (

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History

The company was formed in 1992 by Tony Andrews and John Newsham, following their departure from Turbosound - a company focused on sound systems for music festivals they had started in 1978. Following eight years of research and development, Funktion-One completed its first major project - designing and installing a sound system for the

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...

's Central Show. Since then the company has built a reputation in installed sound. According to Andrews, the company's name spells "funktion" with a "k" as a reference to 1970s

funk music Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. Funktion-One equipment, installed by Sound Investment Audio, is in use at many music venues in the

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Notable projects

2000: Millennium Dome, London, England Funktion-One were chosen to provide the sound system for the

's Central Show. This was the first official Funktion-One installation, ostensibly the debut of the company's Resolution line of loudspeakers. 2002-2014: Space, Ibiza Funktion-One's relationship with

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

began in 2002, following a recommendation from ''We Love...'' promoter Darren Hughes. After an initial installation on the club's Terrace, Funktion-One systems were gradually introduced to five of the venue's six rooms - including the 2,000-capacity main space, known as La Discoteca. 2003: Cielo, New York, USA Cielo nightclub marked the first US sound installation by Funktion-One. Located in the

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District along ...

of Manhattan, on opening, the main room featured an AX88 double 8" passive loud speakers, Infra Bass Sub Enclosures and F218 double 18" subwoofers. 2004: Berghain, Berlin, Germany

is one of the company's largest installs, and the first in Berlin. At its launch, the sound system comprised four Funktion-One Dance Stacks (consisting of a DS210, a DS215 and three F218), one Double Infrahorn (consisting of two Infrabass, one Doublehorn Extension), and two Resolution 2 for monitoring. The system was installed by Benedikt Koch of Funktion-One Germany, who has stated that - as one of the most powerful club systems in the world - it operates at only 10 to 20 percent of its full capacity. 2018: Volgograd Arena World Cup Stadium Funktion-One Russia supplied and installed a permanent state of the art sound system for

Volgograd Arena The Volgograd Arena (russian: «Волгоград Арена») is a association football, football stadium in Volgograd, Russia. The stadium was one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It also hosts FC Rotor Volgograd. It has a capacity o ...

— one of the Russian World Cup 2018 stadia. Working closely with the Funktion-One design team in the UK, the company specified a system that features 638 Funktion-One loudspeakers and 50 MC2 Audio amplifiers.

Products

• Resolution Series (introduced 2000) • Dance Stack (introduced 2002) - originally designed for Maze nightclub in Miami • Evolution Series (introduced 2015) • Vero (introduced 2016) - a large format touring sound system

References

{{Reflist British companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in England Companies based in Surrey Loudspeaker manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United Kingdom