Eminent Technology is American audio electronics company based in Florida, established in 1983 by Bruce Thigpen. Their first product was an

air bearing Air bearings (also known as aerostatic or aerodynamic bearings) are fluid bearings that use a thin film of pressurized gas to provide a low friction load-bearing interface between surfaces. The two surfaces do not touch, thus avoiding the tradit ...

straight line tracking tonearm for

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

playback, and was the first implementation of a captured air bearing for tonearm use. It was followed by a more advanced version of the tonearm. In 1985 the company began developing planar magnetic loudspeakers and in 1987 introduced the world's first full range push-pull planar magnetic loudspeaker, the LFT-3. Another of the company's products is the Thigpen Rotary Woofer. Typical subwoofer products are inefficient at producing desired

sound pressure level Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient (average or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure, caused by a sound wave. In air, sound pressure can be measured using a microphone, and in water with a hydrophone ...

s at frequencies below 20 Hz, but the TRW is designed to cover the range down to 1 Hz of the sound spectrum. (The technical principle would allow even zero Hz.) In the 90s Eminent Technology developed a smaller planar transducer for automotive applications. This was adapted for

computer speaker Computer speakers, or multimedia speakers, are speakers sold for use with computers, although usually capable of other audio uses, e.g. for an MP3 player. Most such speakers have an internal amplifier and consequently require a power source, whic ...

s as the LFT-11, a multimedia speaker system, The company licensed the technology to Sonigistix and it appeared in Monsoon and other brands.History of Eminent Technologies
retrieved March 11, 2009 Currently five US patents have been granted to Eminent Technology products. The company manufactures most of its products at its own facility in Tallahassee, Florida.

References

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External links

Rotary Woofer
site

site
Sound and Vision review
discussion of Bruce Thigpen's contribution to turntable tonearm development, the linear-tracking tonearm
Michael Fremer
writeup on Eminent Technology and the Rotary Woofer breakthrough

Phonograph manufacturers Loudspeaker manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States