, model 915 On September 1, 1927, Lou Burroughs and Albert R. Kahn began a small business called Radio Engineers, servicing
radio receivers in the basement of the Century Tire and Rubber Company in
South Bend, Indiana. Because of the
Great Depression, according to Kahn, "We found ourselves insolvent to the extent of $5,000" ($ today). They decided to focus their business on audio products. The company designed a
PA system for Notre Dame football coach
Knute Rockne. Rockne, who had difficulty being heard at football practices due to health problems that affected his voice, called the new PA system his "electric voice". Rockne's remark inspired the company's name. On June 1, 1930, Burroughs and Kahn incorporated under the name "Electro-Voice". The partners recognized an opportunity to capitalize on what they perceived as the generally poor quality and high prices of existing microphones. They purchased a
lathe and a
drill and started producing about one microphone a week. Soon after, Burroughs withdrew from the business, leaving complete ownership to Kahn. By 1933, the previous business debts were completely paid off, and Electro-Voice began hiring manufacturing employees. In 1936, twenty people were hired, and Lou Burroughs returned as chief
engineer. During
World War II, EV developed the
noise-canceling microphone. Noise cancelling microphones such as the Electro-Voice T45 lip microphone were instrumental to fighter and bomber airplane, tank, battleship and ground troop radio communications. EV licensed the patent to the government for free to be applied by other manufacturers to produce what was needed for the war supply. In 1946, the business moved to a bigger facility in
Buchanan, Michigan and expanded its engineering efforts. In 1948, they began successfully producing
phonograph pickup cartridges. They also started to design and produce a consumer
loudspeaker line in response to increased public interest in
high-fidelity music listening. In 1952, EV patented the Compound Diffraction Horn, which changed the look and performance the traditional cone-shaped
paging horn. Known for its high output, the CDP was deployed by the Navy on
aircraft carriers and other high noise environments. for their 642 Cardiline
shotgun microphone. In 1963, EV received an
Academy Award for their 642 Cardiline
shotgun microphone, the first ever given for an audio product. In 1978, Electro-Voice patented its Constant Directivity Horn, which produced an even balance of frequencies across the listening field. It overcame the uneven dispersion of high frequencies that affected the typical high frequency horns used in many professional sound speakers until the late seventies. Also in the 1970s, EV acquired TAPCO. The company, founded by
Greg Mackie, specialized in audio mixers. TAPCO products soon became prominent in the EV product line. In the late 1980s, EV became the first microphone manufacturer to use
neodymium magnets in its microphones. The N/DYM microphones were introduced in the mid 1980s to combine the high output and high frequency response characteristics of
condenser microphones with the rugged shock resistance of
dynamic microphones. Around the same time EV's first
wireless microphones were being produced. == Mergers ==