Renkus-Heinz is a California-based manufacturer of

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 " ...

s and related professional sound reinforcement equipment specializing in steerable loudspeaker technology. Based in

Foothill Ranch, California Foothill Ranch is a master planned community in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 10,899 at the 2000 census. Foothill Ranch was incorporated into the city of Lake Forest, California, in 2000. Prior to that, it was a ce ...

, the firm has a global presence in permanent installations at

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

s, transit centers, sports venues,

houses of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a wikt:congregation, congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for th ...

and musical performance venues as well as in the concert touring industry.

History

Renkus-Heinz was founded on April 1, 1979 by Harro K. Heinz and Algis Renkus (1937–1997). Heinz had previously been awarded a patent in 1975 for his work on a "Comprehensive feedback elimination system employing notch filter" that was performed while he was employed at Rauland Borg Corporation, the company he left to found Renkus-Heinz. Algis Renkus was joined in the new enterprise by his father Jonas A. Renkus (b. 1912) who had worked at Altec under industry veteran

John Kenneth Hilliard John Kenneth Hilliard (October 1901 – March 21, 1989) was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film, and ...

. While at Renkus-Heinz, Jonas Renkus patented a new triple lamination construction method in 1980. In 1981, the two Renkus men left Renkus-Heinz to assist Emilar, which was having trouble staying in business. Harro Heinz remained president of Renkus-Heinz. While Jonas and Algis Renkus were at Emilar, they began using the patented triple lamination method which had been assigned to Renkus-Heinz. Heinz sued for damages but dropped the case during the hearing. In 1989 Harro's son Ralph D. Heinz joined Renkus-Heinz to work with Don B. Keele, Jr. and Gene Patronis and further his knowledge of electro-acoustics and

horn loudspeaker A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an horn (acoustic), acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A common form ''(right)'' consists of a compression driver which produces sound w ...

design. Ralph Heinz eventually became senior vice-president of R&D and patented a method of arraying loudspeakers for better phase coherency in 1994. In 1996, he patented a multiple driver horn which was promoted as the "CoEntrant" transducer, covering both mid- and high-frequency bands in one horn. In 2016, Ralph Heinz was named Chief Technical Officer. In 1999, Harro's daughter Monika Heinz Smetona joined Renkus-Heinz on the administrative team and was named chief operating officer in 2016. She was then named chief financial officer in 2019. In May 2019, Matt Czyzewski joined Renkus-Heinz as president.

Awards

*Rental & Staging Systems Best of Show Award for the ICLive X series *rAVe

ubs UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

The Best of ISE 2019 Award for the DC12/2

References

External links

{{externalvideo , align = left , width = 320px , video1
''Oral History, Harro Heinz recalls the radio business right after the war.'' Interview date September 9, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library
, Audio amplifier manufacturers Manufacturers of professional audio equipment Electronics companies established in 1979 Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Loudspeaker manufacturers 1979 establishments in California

History

Awards

See also

References

External links