The Audigo LFM811 Project is a joint effort involving the design, manufacturing, testing and audio engineering skills of the following parties: PAUL F BERGETZ of Alienconcepts, Des Plaines Illinois, BRUCE E BRECKENFELD , Sound Advice, Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and DAVID R PLAHM from Design Express, Richmond Illinois.

The Audigo Concept. In August of 1991 while researching the Silicon Graphics Indigo reseller marketing guide Paul Bergetz a Silicon Graphics CadCam Systems VAR, was drawn to the pages listing the impressive array of digital audio capabilities that the Indigo was shipped with. With eleven years in the professional audio recording systems market, Paul was looking for a path to channel the talents he had acquired . "Why not build a set of Near Field Monitors that complemented the Indigo's styling and audio capabilities, was Paul's thought?

What are Near Field Monitors? Music production has changed drastically since the advent of the CD and digital recording. Higher levels of acoustic detail are now attainable. Because of this, the mixdown focus has switched from using the main wall mount monitor systems to a Near Field environment. The engineer sits in the sound field at the center of the sound source (the apex of an equilateral triangle) 1 to 1.5 meters from the sound source eliminating many boundary reflections caused by the room acoustics . Near field monitors must be ultra accurate, powerful, clean and blow up proof. The Audigo is capable of running at 110db at 1 meter all day long while remaining transparent without fatiguing the listener.

To reinforce the concept, the entire project from design to manufacturing would be implemented using the state of the art software he sold on the Indigo. The goal was first to create a world class product with the limited resources that many small American manufacturers have , by drawing upon the expertise of a network of colleagues. And second, use the cost effective tools that were sold to demonstrate to their customers that Concurrent Engineering can be implemented even in the smallest manufacturing and design groups.

Concurrent Engineering requires careful attention to communicative skills between all the vendors involved in a design project. The four companies involved needed to communicate in as close to real time as possible, since they were all working from the same 3D model. This was accomplished by linking each of the four companies to a password protected area on a FTP site using modems. The FTP site was linked in realtime via NFS to the design network. When changes were made to the core design, within seconds the master files were saved on a FTP site so that any of the “AUDIGO” team could access them. At the same time, the network fax and email was used to transmit changes to everyone’s workstation for review. Vendors were allowed read-only access so they could view concepts or access the on-line document library to upload PCX or color PDF output to their computers. The project worked so well that the final drawings were not made until after the initial production run was complete. Everyone involved worked from the 3d model.

As the Audigo Project enters it's twelveth year, the focus has switched from NFM systems that look like Silicon Graphics "Indigo's" to creation of "State Of The Art Near Field Monitor Systems" using custom low frequency drivers and digital cross-overs.

PLEASE NOTE THE DATA DISPLAYED ON THIS PAGE WAS DOCUMENTED BEFORE THE INTERNET Prior to 1995...