Moderator: Good evening, and welcome to our chat with Dave Rat.
Dave, could you start with some personal background?

Dave Rat: Well, I started doing sound around 1980 - couple of speakers, a Toyota Celica and backyard parties! Went on to start a company with my best friend Brian and have been designing systems and trying to break new ground in creating new designs and solutions. Currently, our company has grown to be an international touring company

Tom B: How do you feel the advent of DSP has changed speaker design?

Dave Rat: I feel DSP's have allowed system designers new freedom in exploring designs that were not practical before - that would be the up side. The down side is that attention to some key details are often overlooked, and they attempt to fix it digitally.

Lee Brenkman: How are you coming with the DSP settings for the Microwedge?

Dave Rat: They are coming along well. The Microwedge is inherently quite flat and co-axial, so the settings are relatively easy to come up with. The key as I see it is what is "correct" or an acceptable setting, perception-wise. We are focusing on a setting that is minimal feedback for an OM7, one for a 58, and one that is flat. Those will be the first 3 we release.

Trip: But they aren't made to keep up with the Rat wedges, SPL wise, correct? Or will they?

Dave Rat: Initially they were designed to offer a bit more of a HiFi aternative to the Rat L wedge. What we are finding out is that they are keeping up, volume-wise, way better than we had anticipated, while maintaining the fidelity.

Trip: Would they be more suited to an R&B band ?

Dave Rat: We have been trying them on a wide variety of music types. The recent Linkin Park show was quite loud, and the wedges were awesome. Beck and Ben Harper kinda cover the mellower end.

Tucci: Dave, you’re inverse tuning your wedge to a mic? I suppose volume is the most important consideration, rather than tonality.

Dave Rat: Yes and no, it is one aspect. I have noticed that having a monitor engineer be able to walk into a system and "check one two," and have the wedges loud, clear, and stable is a big plus. Eventually we will have settings for several tunings, from stable and loud to ultra hi-fi.

yam4000vca: I have always been a fan of many front loaded boxes for the sound of it. Were you inspired by the Clair S4 in your younger days?

Dave Rat: Hmmmm, the big inspiration was back at the US festival 1983. (Editor’s note: This took place in the desert east of Los Angeles, both in 1982 and ’83, and was financed by Apple inventor Steve Wozniak, and produced by Bill Graham. It drew gigantic crowds, and featured bands like the Police, Fleetwood Mac, Oingo Boingo, and the Go-Go’s.) Clair had three tiers of 30 S4’s a side. Showco did delays with their old horn loaded system.

The difference was astounding! We were sold on reflex and vowed to design the ultimate reflex system. The first thing we did was fill the hole between the 18" and 10" with a 15”, then made it really small to improve coupling and reduce interference.