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About Mike Klasco

Mike Klasco is the president of Menlo Scientific, an audio consulting firm for the audio and loudspeaker industry, located in Richmond, CA. He is a graduate from New York University, with post graduate work in signal processing, and he holds multiple patents licensed or assigned. For the past 35 years, since founding Menlo Scientific, he has worked on product development, design and technical support, liaison between suppliers and manufacturing facilities, sourcing guidance, and certification for a large number of companies. Mike specializes in materials and fabrication techniques to enhance audio performance, has over 500 articles published in audio magazines and technical journals, and to this day continues to be a regular contributor for audioXpress and Voice Coil magazines. He presented papers at the Acoustical Society of America, held positions as Session Organizer for the Audio Engineering Society, Chairman of the Committee on Acoustics, and is an AES Life Member.

All items written by Mike Klasco

New Thin-Film Technologies for Coatings and Treatments

October 12, 2022 by Mike Klasco

New Thin-Film Technologies for Coatings and Treatments

This article provides a valuable overview of the latest Thin-Film Coatings and Treatments solutions that are available in the market. Highlights include a new a state-of-the-art REACH-compliant CVD coating process from Oerlikon Surface Solutions, applicable on multiple substrates, such as aluminum, titanium, PEEK, and composites, and Nanovate, a metallurgical nano-coating technology based on electrodeposited nano crystalline structural metal from Integra. The report also highlights Antiviral/Antimicrobial Coatings from Integran, Kastus Technologies, and Nanowatt, among others. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2022.

Nuvoton ICs with Integrated Klippel Controlled Sound - New Possibilities for Speaker Design

September 22, 2022 by Mike Klasco

Nuvoton ICs with Integrated Klippel Controlled Sound - New Possibilities for Speaker Design

What more could speaker system designers want? How about not just to protect the speaker from overload, but enable the speaker to play louder with reduced bass distortion? Mike Klasco writes about his experience working with Nuvoton smart amps with integrated Klippel Controlled Sound (KCS) technology. Now in mass production and offering new possibilities for speaker design. First product examples are now available in the market.

Dr. Kurt Müller Anniversary! 100 Years of Loudspeaker Innovation

September 8, 2022 by Mike Klasco

Dr. Kurt Müller Anniversary! 100 Years of Loudspeaker Innovation

Mike Klasco writes about Dr. Kurt Müller's 100-Year Anniversary and revisits the milestones of this important supplier of cones, suspensions, dust caps and surrounds company. Perhaps the oldest surviving cone factory in the world and certainly one of the most advanced, DKM was originally founded in 1922, in Berlin, and in 1970, extended its product range with the acquisition of Pulsonic Ultrasonics Limited (now known as Kurt Mueller UK Ltd) in the United Kingdom. Happy Birthday!

Speakers and Transducers - Haptic Devices for Augmentation, Entertainment, and Wellness

August 18, 2022 by Mike Klasco

Speakers and Transducers - Haptic Devices for Augmentation, Entertainment, and Wellness

Expanding on previous articles about bass shakers and motion platforms, this article from Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific) looks at exciting evolutions in haptic transducers and actuators that are being used in a growing number of applications - all of which depend upon audio sources for input. The ability to interact with the world through vibration and touch is central to all of our lives, and now increasingly so. This article was originally published in audioXpress, February 2022.

Some Thoughts on Plastics for Speaker Enclosures

April 7, 2022 by Mike Klasco

Some Thoughts on Plastics for Speaker Enclosures

Discussing speaker enclosures, this article examines all the different options for plastic applications and the implications for loudspeaker driver design in general. Enclosure characteristics, construction features, advantage comparisons between wood and wood particle board cabinets, and production techniques are some of the topics explored. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2022.

February 8, 2022 by Mike Klasco

Speaker Applications Using Alpine HX5 Ultra Strong Lightweight Nanocomposite

Loudspeaker designers can look forward to a couple of exciting materials that have been in stealth mode but are about to step into the spotlight. A lightweight military aviation-grade nanocomposite from Alpine Advanced Materials, HX5 may be an alternative to beryllium and high-performance aluminum alloys used in woofer, midrange, and full-range cones. Compared to aluminum, cones can be made at half the weight with comparable strength. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2022.

xMEMS Samples Ultra-Small Full-Range Microspeaker

November 4, 2021 by Mike Klasco

xMEMS Samples Ultra-Small Full-Range Microspeaker

Back in January 2015, I gave a talk about MEMS loudspeakers, and I have regularly written about MEMS speaker progress. A half decade later, it seems we are finally now moving beyond the industry's joke that MEMS’ development progress can be measured in dog years: it takes 7 human years for each year of MEMS’ progress! The big news is xMEMS Labs, a company founded just in January 2018, has announced it is now in mass production of its Montara, a monolithic MEMS “µspeaker” with a slim 1mm profile, and announced Cowell, the world’s smallest monolithic MEMS µSpeaker, at just 1.15mm high and 3.2mm wide.

SEAS: The History of SEAS Fabrikker - A Loudspeaker History Book

September 2, 2021 by Mike Klasco

SEAS: The History of SEAS Fabrikker - A Loudspeaker History Book

A New Must-Read Loudspeaker History Book. SEAS: The History of SEAS Fabrikker is an engaging story about the Norwegian manufacturer and its place in the Nordic speaker industry. The book about Scandinavian Electro Acoustic Systems (SEAS) was written by Danish loudspeaker engineer Claus Futtrup and jointly published by SEAS and Futtrup. Mike Klasco reviews the book for The Audio Voice newsletter and audioXpress.

Roboden Elastic Cable - A Great Idea Finally at a Reasonable Price

July 8, 2021 by Mike Klasco

Roboden Elastic Cable - A Great Idea Finally at a Reasonable Price

An elastic cable? Roboden is a unique stretchable cable for microphones and headphones. It expands up to 40% longer, has low microphonics, and looks and feels premium! Mike Klasco writes about it, now that Hightek, an OEM cable manufacturer from Taiwan has licensed the technology. Finally, stretching cables are in the BOM range of quality consumer electronics products. This article was originally published in The Audio Voice newsletter, July 2021.

Dinaburg Speaker with Dual Diffuser - An Innovative Coaxial Driver Design with a Passive Ring Radiator

June 25, 2021 by Mike Klasco

Dinaburg Speaker with Dual Diffuser - An Innovative Coaxial Driver Design with a Passive Ring Radiator

Recently, Dinaburg Technology, based in Dallas, TX, was issued their first US patent for an electro-dynamic loudspeaker with an integrated coaxial passive ring radiator. Mikhail Dinaburg, noted physicist and the patent inventor, uncovered some missing elements in previous coax and passive radiator work and set out to prove it. Dinaburg’s patent discloses techniques for higher performance sound reproduction, enabling lower distortion, extended frequency range, higher efficiency, and improved speech intelligibility. The invention has wide applications and scales from a earphone driver to near-field studio monitors, ceiling speakers, under couch subwoofers to the largest concert subwoofers.

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