Richard H. Small (born 1935) is an American scientist, who has worked mainly in the field of

electroacoustics Acoustical engineering (also known as acoustic engineering) is the branch of engineering dealing with sound and vibration. It includes the application of acoustics, the science of sound and vibration, in technology. Acoustical engineers are typica ...

. He is known for the commonly used

Thiele/Small Thiele/Small parameters (commonly abbreviated T/S parameters, or TSP) are a set of electromechanical parameters that define the specified low frequency performance of a loudspeaker driver. These parameters are published in specification sheets by d ...

parameters for loudspeaker enclosure design, which are named after Small and his colleague

Neville Thiele Albert Neville Thiele, OAM (4 December 1920 – 1 October 2012), was an Australian audio engineer. Thiele was born in Brisbane, Australia. He was particularly noted for his work on electronic filters and on developing the Thiele/Small para ...

Early life

Small was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. His father was an amateur pianist. Having a keen interest in electronics he built the amplifiers to drive the speakers in his parents house. His father built various enclosures for the loudspeakers, following the trends of the times. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 1956 and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

in 1958.

Career

He gained experience in electronic circuit design for high-performance analytical instruments at the

Bell & Howell Bell and Howell LLC is a U.S.-based services organization and former manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and originally headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company is now ...

Research Center in California from 1958 to 1964. During this period, he took a one-year visiting fellowship at the Norwegian Technical University. After a working visit to Japan in 1964, he moved to Australia, where he got a part-time job at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

as a teaching assistant in the electronics lab. He became interested in loudspeaker analysis and measurement and met

A. N. Thiele Albert Neville Thiele, OAM (4 December 1920 – 1 October 2012), was an Australian audio engineer. Thiele was born in Brisbane, Australia. He was particularly noted for his work on electronic filters and on developing the Thiele/Small param ...

who was lecturing at the university. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1972. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he published a series of nine papers—now considered classics—on the low-frequency analysis of closed-box, vented and passive radiator loudspeaker systems. He taught for a number of years at that university, but returned to industry in 1986 as Head of Research at

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Electronics Ltd. in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

until 1993. He then joined Harman International based in their Martinsville, Indiana, USA facility.

References

External links

Voice Coil Interviews Richard H. Small
{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Richard H. 1935 births Living people American scientists