05 Oct David Murphy – Celebrating 25 years with Krix
Congratulations to David Murphy, guru of Krix’s commercial cinema design, for 25 years of dedication to creating memorable experiences of sound for Krix customers worldwide.
‘David is one of the world’s experts when it comes to designing loudspeakers for commercial and in-home theatres. He has been instrumental in Krix being recognised for cinema world-word, and individually for his true electronic engineering mind’ says Scott Krix, company founder.
Scott and David met back in mid-1985, introduced by mutual late friend Roger Stevens who thought, through their equal mutual love of all things sound and engineering, they would hit it off. That they did, and prior to David’s official start at Krix he consulted on multiple occasions for various projects with their first being Electrovoice 8” driver 6068 where David determined the Thiele-Small parameters which was new loudspeaker theory for Krix.
Electrovoice 8” driver 6068 theory
Scott talks of earlier days, before computer simulators, where he and David would build and test horns from cut-out wood and cardboard. David would cut the pieces intricately, and Scott would spend weeks-upon-weeks building before testing even began.
David and Scott also recall when David received his first patent. David jokingly stated that Scott could purchase the patent from him for $1USD. Scott pulls out his wallet, riffles through quite a few compartments and proudly produces a $1USD note! The note is still proudly stuck to the wall in David’s office (just above a copy of the patent itself).
The $1USD bill pinned to David’s wall
David has had (and still holds) many nicknames over his years at Krix including Scott’s favourite, ‘the 15-blade propeller’ and company favourite Mr Burns due to his likeness to the character from The Simpsons.
Krix Christmas party – December 1995
David joined the Krix team in 1996 after a career in electronic engineering education at the Regency Institute of TAFE, South Australia. Prior to that he was a radio apprentice, radio technician, and gained an Electronic Engineering Degree while at the Philips Hendon Works. He has maintained a continuous interest in audio during his career as a technician, professional engineer, lecturer, middle and senior educational manager, and professional engineer.
At Krix David uses Finite Element Analysis and 3D CAD extensively, and electro-acoustic measurement systems such as MLSSA, Praxis, EASERA, and the AcoustX D2. He has developed a commercially successful range of acoustic horns, integrated them into 3-way and 4-way cinema screen systems, and holds Australian and US Patents on aspects of acoustic horn design.
David in his natural environment
An Audio Engineering Society (AES) Fellow since 2006, David held the position of Vice President of the International Region for four years, Governor for two years, and is presently a member of the AES Technical Committee TC-AC (Audio for Cinema) and Standards Committees SC-04-08 Measurement and Equalisation of Sound Systems in Rooms and SC-04-03 Loudspeaker Modelling and Measurement.
David has presented papers and workshops at many international conventions, and Australian regional conventions in Sydney and Melbourne as well as undertaking technical support visits to South Korea and China. He has been the Chair of the Adelaide Section of the Audio Engineering Society for nearly 30 years.
One of David’s recent highlights was presenting as the keynote speaker in 2019 at the 7th International Symposium on Electroacoustic Technologies (ISEAT) in China where he discussed the topic of Electro-mechano-acoustic elements.
David as the Key Note Speaker in 2019 at the 7th International Symposium on Electroacoustic Technologies (ISEAT) in China
More recently at Krix, David has designed small waveguides and horns, and has undertaken modelling and simulation of custom high-end installations.
‘David has taught our team a lot about sound in horns, and our R&D team have built off this to continue to build world-renowned commercial and home cinema products’ Scott says.
‘Congratulations to David for celebrating 25 years with Krix and we look forward to many more years ahead.’