KM Laboratories - Anyone?

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analogrules

analogrules

Member
Joined 2010
I have a KM labs sp-100 preamp that I cant find any info on other then made in Germany and it was there reference preamp. it sounds amazing paired up with a Bryston 2b-lp! Inside it looks to be very high end! There is a sub out, and two phono inputs 1 for mm and 1 for mc.. If anyone is as lucky enough to run into one
jump on it! I cant seem to upload a pic rt now. Sorry !
 
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analogrules

analogrules

Member
Joined 2010
K&M labs sp100 preamp

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Yes Thats a hole different company! KM Labs made some very high end gear from what I here , its up with the krell gear. Ill i can say Is I had lots a preamp and this thing is very,very well made! The sound is so smooth with beautiful detail and the phono stage is to to die for!
 
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S

secret

Member
Joined 2012
i can say many thinks about korn & macway, but i have difficulties with english language.
i have only a commercial documentation in english for the SP 100.
many persons are looking for informations since several Years.
I have try to obtain users'manual, service manual or schematics near the old importer in france without success.
In US, you have a good opportunity to find, because the fabrication has been transfered from belgium to US in 1981.
the name of the company was Electronic Martin SA or KM laboratories inc, the adress :
342 Madison Avenue New York NY 10173 phone (212) 687-3505 telex 645642.
The name of the director was David Stebbings
Please inform me of results
 
K

KM servo sound

Member
Joined 2015
I AM THE FOUNDER OF KORN & MACWAY LABORATORIES

hi,
my name is Philippe,
I am the co- founder , with mr Korn and Mr MAcway , of the company "Korn & MAcway laboratories.
We where making products under the trademark "K&M" and "Servo sound."
I am very pleased to see that 35 years later, there are still people interested in our products.

I do not know the american company CM and we never made any pre amp under the name SP 100. it is another company.
our company was belgian, as I am.

for any information , i would be happy to answer , within my capacities.

i put the text in french , as some readers do not read english.

-------------
bonjour , mon nom est Philippe,
Je suis le co-fondateur, avec M. Korn et M. MacWay, de la société "Korn & MacWay laboratoires.
Nous developpions des produits sous la marque "K & M" et "Servo sound."
Je suis très heureux de voir que 35 ans plus tard, il ya encore des personnes intéressées par nos produits.

Je ne connais pas la société américaine CM et nous n'avons jamais fait n'importe quel préampli sous le nom SP 100. il s' agit d'une autre société.
Notre société a été belge, pas americaine.

pour toute information, je serais heureux de répondre, selon mes capacités.
bien avous tous,
philippe
 
steph_tsf

steph_tsf

Member
Joined 2008
Hello Philippe, it is a honor and a pleasure to have the opportunity to communicate with you. One day we should meet for discussing about Prof. T.S. Korn profile, ideas, career and related companies.

Can you please tell more about the related companies, as legal entities, date of incorporation, where they were based, where they moved, when they got terminated ? I would like to hear about Servo-Sound, Korn & Macway Laboratories, and possibly more related companies or legal constructions.

What position Prof. T.S. Korn had, in which university ? ULB or VUB in Brussels (Belgium) ? Which department ? From (date) to (date) ? Was he french-speaking or dutch-speaking ? Or both ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn in touch with Prof. Tomatis (France) what's regarding the electronics required for language labs ? See Prof. T.S. Korn US3358390A patent in 1964.

Figure 5 in Prof. T.S. Korn US3647969 patent (1972, motional feedback amplifier) looks erroneous. It goes about a difference amplifier. Why showing a transistor ? Where is the emitter ? Now, after 43 years, can somebody tell what's in the SL15 SL20 "blackbox" ? Am I right in saying it may hide a small 1:5 transformer acting as difference amplifier (voltage branch less current branch), along with a few resistors and capacitors for shaping the kinetic feedback loop bode plot ? Am I right in saying that Prof. T.S. Korn could not use an op-amp acting as difference amplifier because back in 1968, op-amps were too expensive and not really suited to audio ?

In a few (non academic) papers, Prof. T.S. Korn put forward that the efficiency of speakers could be greatly enhanced in the bass range (even below the low frequency resonance) by adding a passive radiator to closed box enclosures, provided the passive radiator could move a lot more air (bigger diameter and more Xmax) than the speaker driver. Do the KM30 and KM50 implementations obey such principle, knowing their passive radiators look smaller than their speaker driver ? What's the trick ? Could the kinetic feedback iron out the non-linearities of the speaker driver and the passive radiator, at high listening volumes ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the development of the Philips MFB system as soon as 1968 (with Klaassen, de Koning, D'Hoogh, Franssen), leading to the industrialization of the Philips RH532 MFB speaker in 1974, using the signal that's coming from a PXE accelerometer, instead of modelling/computing the supposed acceleration from the speaker voltage and current signals ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in magnetic recording on the Compact Cassette, for developing a noise reduction system that was different and concurrent from DBX or Dolby to be resold to Philips ? Was Prof. T.S. Korn considering automatic adaptive bias intensity during recording (Dolby HX ancestor), and automatic adaptive head azimuth control during playback (Nakamichi 1000 / 700 ancestor) ? Why is it that Servo-Sound never marketed a cassette recorder ? Was Ray Dolby considered as a kind of ideal model by Prof. T.S. Korn ? Were there contacts with Ray Dolby ? From where and from who Prof. T.S. Korn got inspired ?

Why is that Servo-Sound never took the opportunity of marketing a modern FM stereo tuner as soon as ceramic filters, IF amp + FM detector ICs, and multiplex PLL stereo decoders ICs became available, so easy to use ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Philips wOOx (passive radiator) deep bass rendering technology ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Yamaha "AST" (Active Servo Technology) leading to the industrialization of the Yamaha AST-1 power amplifier featuring a connector for connecting a calibrated electronic module governing the negative impedance correction plus some extra equalization ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Philips DSC/DSS system ? Was he in touch with Stefan Willems from Philips (AES March 1993 - Berlin) ? The Philips DSC/DSS system has the same progressive highpass filter than the Servo-Sound SL15 and SL21 (closed boxes) for limiting the woofer excursion at high volume.

Was there a form of communication between the Brussels university where Prof. T.S. Korn was working, and the "MBLE" company affiliated to Philips based in Brussels, and the KUL University in Leuven where Philips had a research lab dealing with speakers and speakers enclosures ?

Was it conceivable for a Servo-Sound preamplifier and/or active speaker, to earn the DIN45500 HiFi certification, in the absence of a switch enabling to defeat the built-in Loudness correction ? Philips had the DIN45500 certification on all their MFB speakers, featuring no Loudness whatsoever.

Is it true that the SL21 active speaker, produced by "KM Laboratories" between 1976 and 1978 featured two germanium AD149 transistors as output devices, while since 1974 all Philips MFB speakers featured two complementary silicium darlington transistors as output devices ?

Wasn't there a fatal design flaw in the passive crossover sitting inside the KM50 (or KM52) speaker, the woofer being lowpass filtered by a LC network having a small L and a large C, causing a dramatic drop of the impedance loading the power amplifier ?

Where is the KM "A.I.R." system patent ? Was it the foundation on which Joel M. Cohen did his communication at the AES in March 1981 (Hamburg) ?

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in "Biphonic" as promoted by JVC, and the VUC0001-001 integrated circuit ?

Why is it so, that Prof. T.S. Korn never published an article about audio technology at the AES, NAB, IEEE, DIN, or IHF ? Was he reluctant exposing his ideas to experts and committees ?

What's regarding intellectual property, was there a kind of interactivity between between Prof. T.S. Korn and Gustave Staar ? I'm talking about the "Staar" company established in Brussels (Belgium) quite prolific what's regarding intellectual property and patents, actually it is the one that patented the APPS/APLD system for Compact Cassette (and successfully licensed by Sharp around 1975, massive sales of cassette decks and boomboxes equipped with APSS/APLD).

Those are the questions in my mind.

Best Regards,
Steph
 
steph_tsf

steph_tsf

Member
Joined 2008
USRFobiwan said:
Searching around on the interwebs I noticed the very interesting site MFBfreaks.com on the side are a few references to KM servo sound, allong with it some pdf files of brochures.
Click to expand...
The so-called "Korn & Macway KM50 Stereo & Hifi Test 1977" appears to be promotional literature elaborated by "Korn & Macway Laboratories n.v." located in Rotterdam (Holland), in charge of importing and selling Korn & Macway (KM) stuff in Holland. Actually, there are almost no independent test and reviews concerning Servo-Sound and Korn & Macway Laboratories stuff, featuring the usual measurement set consisting of a measured output power figure, a measured frequency response curve, a measured angular dispersion pattern, and a measured distortion curve. Why ? I guess that independent reviewers went confused upon discovering that :
  1. all Servo-Sound and Korn & Macway Laboratories preamplifiers featured a strong loudness correction that you can't disengage, and a left-right mixing scheme in the bass range that you can't disengage;
  2. all Servo-Sound and Korn & Macway Laboratories active loudspeakers featured a woofer excursion control that you can't disengage, consisting of a variable frequency 2nd order highpass filter governed by the amplitude of the bass signal at the output of the power amplifier.
I guess that independent reviewers went discouraged in publishing their measured curves, realizing that at low listening volumes the rendering was overboosting the bass and the treble, and realizing that at high listening volumes the bass rendering was under control of the variable frequency 2nd order highpass filter governed by the amplitude of the bass signal at the output of the power amplifier. Any set of measuring curves would have been perceived as incomplete, doubtful, non-consistent.

There would have been less confusion as soon as the DIN, NAB or IEEE endorsed a standard what's regarding Progressive Loudness Correction (PLC). Unfortunately, PLC never reached such stage in the audio industry. That's quite disappointing, as Ray Dolby managed to reach such stage what's regarding his Dolby B correction, widely applied to magnetic recording. Obviously, it would have been foolish to apply PLC at the recording stage. Consequently, PLC was out of the scope of the audio recording industry. As consequence, PLC has to be discussed at the audio industry level in general, not at the recording industry level. Unfortunately, the audio industry in general, was less structured and less imperative than the audio recording industry. Hence the lack of PLC standard. I don't know if Prof. T.S. Korn had such analysis in his head. That's a theme I would like to investigate. Ideally, there would have been the Audio Recording Industry Association (ARIA) where things like the Dolby standard would have been discussed, and a Sound Rendering Industry Association (SRIA) where things like the Korn standard would have been discussed.

The Philips MFB loudspeakers featured a radically different architecture. There was no variability. The Philips MFB loudspeakers behaved well and consistently when exposed to the usual measurement set consisting of a measured output power figure, a measured frequency response curve, a measured angular dispersion pattern, and a measured distortion curve.

What's funny, is that around 1994 Philips marketed a line of digital speakers (the DSC950 digital preamp and DSS940 and DSS930 digital speakers), where inside the DSC950 digital preamp, there was a woofer excursion control that you can't disengage, consisting of a variable frequency 2nd order highpass filter governed by the position of the volume knob. Philips promotional material vaguely claimed that such variability was "unnoticeable" to the user.
 
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K

KM servo sound

Member
Joined 2015
ANSWERS TO STEF ABOUT KM SERVO SOUND AND KORN

HI , STEPH,
I ANSWER IN THE TEXT
Hello Philippe, it is a honor and a pleasure to have the opportunity to communicate with you. One day we should meet for discussing about Prof. T.S. Korn profile, ideas, career and related companies.

DEAR STEPH,

AS YOU ARE SURELY BELGIAN , (I AM BELGIAN FROM BRUSSELS) I COULD WRITE YOU IN FRENCH, BUT I’LL DO IT IN ENGLISH.

I CAN TELL PROFESOR KORN’S LIFE, OR KORN &,MACWAY LABORATORIES STORY, BUT UNFORTUNATELY , I AM NOT A TECHNITIAN, THEREFORE MY ANSWERS WILL BE MORE ANECDOTES BUT, ANYWAY, I HOPE THAT I WILL BE A PLEASEANT LECTURE FOR ANYBODY INTERESTED.

TADEUZS KORN WAS BORN AROUND 1908 , THIS MEANS 107 YEARS AGO .
THEREFORE I BELIEVE THAT I AM THE ONLY ONE ALIVE WHO KNEW HIM VERY WELL.

I’ LLS TART WITH IS LIFE:

HE WAS POLISH, AS HAD A FRIEND AND PARTNER , MR MICHISLAV MACWAY.
KORN WAS ELECTRO – ACOUSTICAL ENGINEER AND MACWAY WAS MECHANICAL ENGINEER.

THE FIRST ANECDOTE ABOUT KORN, IS THAT HE FOUGHT IN THE FAMOUS POLISH CAVALRY WHO ATTACKED ON HORSES THE GERMAN TANKS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR.!
THEN HE WENT TO ENGLAND, WHERE HE WORKED WITH ROBERT WATSON WHO INVENTED THE RADAR, WICH ALLOWED ENGLAND TO AVOID THEIR DESTRUCTION BY GERMANY.

HIS FRIEND, MR MACWAY, GOT MARRIED WITH A NICE YOUNG POLISH GIRL, (I SAW HER PICTURE) BUT AS BEEN SEND TO THE POST OF THE FRONTIER WITH GERMANY AS OFFICIAL, (AS HE WAS ENGINEER.) ONLY 15 DAYS AFTER HIS MARIAGE.
AS YOU KNOW, THE FIRST THING THAT GERMANY DID WAS TO INVADE POLAND , AND MACWAY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST POLISH PRISONER OF WAR. SOON AFTER VARSOVIA HAS BEEN DESTROYED, AND ALL HIS NEIGBOUROUGHT HAS BEEN DESTROYED.(INCLUDING WIFE, FRIENDS, AND RELATIONS) .

MACWAY ESCAPED 3 TIMES FROM PRISONER CAMPS AND COULD GO TO ENGLAND, WHERE HE FOUND HIS FRIEND KORN.

DURING THE DESEMBARQUEMENT, IN 1945, THEY CAME TOGETHER IN BELGIUM, AND RECEIVED A U.N PASSPORT, AS POLAND WAS WITHIN THE SOVIET BLOCK.

THE LEARNED FRENCH AND DID NOT SPEAK DEUTCH.

MACWAY WAS GOING TO GET MARRIED WITH A BELGIAN GIRL IN 1949, AND RECEIVED A LETTER FORM THE RED CROOS OF SWITERLAND, SAYING THAT SOMEBODY WAS LOOKING FOR HIM IN SWEDEN.

HE WAS INTRIGED, AS ALL HIS FAMILY AND RELATIVES WERE DEAD.
SO, HE TOOK A BOAT TO SWEDEN, BUT HAD NO VISA AND HAD TO SEE THE PEOPLE LOOKING FOR HIM FROM THE BOAT.
THAT PEOPLE WAS HIS WIFE, 10 YEARS LATER.
SHE HAD SPEND 4 YEARS IN A NAZY CAMP AND 5 YEARS IN A HOSPITAL IN SWEDEN.
SHE DID NOT WRITE TO HIM BEFORE, BECAUSE SHE WAS IN BAD SHAPE.
IN FACT, SHE WAS LOOKING 30 YEARS MORE THAN HER REAL AGE.

MACWAY DID ANULATE HIS WEDDING WITH THE BELGIAN GIRL AND LIVED AGAIN WITH HIS “OLD” AND ILL WIFE.
IN FACT, HE PASSED HIS LIFE ENTIRE HELPING HIS WIFE, AND HAD A TREMENDOUS ENERGY.
AND, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, HE DIED BY ACCIDENT AT THE AGE OF 72 (LIKE KORN) , AND HIS WIFE WAS STILL ALIVE.

KORN WORKED AS ASSESOR IN ELECTRONIC FACTORIES AND AS PROFESOR AT THE ULB.

LATER ON, KORN DEVELOPPED WITH THE HELP OF ULB STUDENTS, THE FIRST SERVO SOUND SMALL LOUDSPEAKER.

AND THEY FOUNDED, AS MINORITY OWNERS, WITH OTHERS, THE COMPANY SERVO SOUND.
THIS COMPANY DID NOT LAST LONG, IT HAS BEEN SOLD VERY FAST. AND STOPPED ACTIVITIES.
IT WAS BASED IN BRUSSELS.

THEN, KORN AND MACWAY DEVELOPPED THE NEW MODEL WITH MYSELF, THE MODEL 50 WATTSS (THE HALF ROUND ONE) .
WE CREATED THE COMPANY “KORN&MACWAY LABORATORIES” FOR THIS, AND OUR FACTORY WAS AT THE “CHAUSSEE’ DE TUBIZE”, AT THE SOUTH OF BRUSSELS.

I WAS AROUND 23- 24 YEARS OLD, AND EXPERT IN ACOUSTICS .AND COMERCE ( BOTH OF THEM WHERE 68 YEARS WHEN WE STARTED, WE HAD 44 YEARS OF DIFFERENCE) .

I CAN TELL YOU THAT IT IS NOT A PICE OF CAKE TO WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE 2 GENERATION OLDER THAN YOU, BUT THEY WHERE AN EXEMPLE FOR ANYBODY.

SO, THE DIRECTION OF THIS FACTORY WAS LIKE THIS:
-KORN WAS INVENTING WITH MY HELP IN ACOUSTICS- -MACWAY HAD TREMENDOUS SKILLS IN MECANICS, AND WAS PUTTING HIS FENOMENAL ENERGY ON WORK.
- WE HAD MR KOEKELBERG WHO WAS COO OF THE FACTORY, MANAGING ALL THE TECHNITIANS AND WORKERS.
-I WAS DOING ALL THE REST: SALES, PROMOTIONS, BUYING, DIRECTION, ETC….


I BELIEVE THAT WE MADE THIS COMPANY AROUND 1973-4 AND FINISEHED AROUND 1978-9, .AND HAD NO RELATED COMPANIES BY CONTRACT.

WE STARTED AT FULL SPEED, AND HAD THE FIRST MODEL FOR SALE IN 3 MONTHES.

AROUND 1976-77 , I WAS EXPORTING TO 55 COUNTRIES WITH A TELEX. (THE FAX WAS NOT EXISTING).

WE WON A PRIZE (GAVE BY LATE KING ALBERT) : THE EUROPEAN QUALITY AWARD , WHICH WAS GIVEN TO ONE COMPANY PER YEAR PER COUNTRY , WATHEVER WAS HER SIZE.(WE WHERE THE ONLY SMALL COMPANY WINNING IT)

Can you please tell more about the related companies, as legal entities, date of incorporation, where they were based, where they moved, when they got terminated ? I would like to hear about Servo-Sound, Korn & Macway Laboratories, and possibly more related companies or legal constructions.


AROUND 1978, I WENT TO BRAZIL TO GIVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE OUR PRODUCTS TO A BRAZILIAN COMPANY, (THEY NEVER COULD DO IT) , AND I WENT TO THE USA TO FIND AN IMPORTER.
TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT: THE IMPORTER BOUGHT US.

PS: REGARDING DEUTCH AND AMERICAN COMPANIES:

ALL THE PDF IN DEUTCH REFERING AS “KORN & MACWAY LABORATORIES” AS A DEUTCH COMPANY IN HOLAND , ARE NOT TRUE.

IF YOU LOOK WELL AT THESE PDF SAYING THAT IT IS IN HOLLAND, YOU WILL SEE OUR DIRECTION CHAUSSEE DE TUBIZE IN BELGIUM.
THE DIRECTION THAT IS WRITTEN IS NOT EVEN THE DIRECTION OF OUR DISTRIBUTOR IN HOLLAND.

AND, WE HAD NOTHING IN COMMON WITH AN AMERICAN COMPANY CALLED “CM LABS”, NOR WITH ANY KM-100 AMP.

THIS SAID, AFTER THE SALE, I MOVED AGAIN TO BRAZIL , AT THE AGE OF 28>29 YEARS OLD, AND THAT IS WHY I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE A MEETING WITH YOU, BECAUSE I STILL LIVE IN SOUTH AMERICA, AND NOT IN BELGIUM ANYMORE SINCE THEN.

I JUST WENT TO BRUSSELS NOW, BUT IT IS RARE.

THE AMERICAN WHO BOUGHT OUR COMPANY SOLD IT ON THE SPOT.

KORN AND MACWAY WERE STILL WORKING THERE, BUT, UNFORTUNATELY, I HEARD THAT PROF. KORN WAS ILL, AND DIED SOON AFTER AT THE AGE OF 72 YEARS.
WITHOUT KORN, THIS COMPANY HAD NOTHING IN COMMON WITH WHAT IT WAS BEFORE, AND I HEARD THAT THEY FINISHED. I DO NOT KNOW IF IT WAS IN BANCKRUPCY.

THIS SAID, WE DEVELOPPED MANY OTHER PRODUCTS WITH KORN, NOT ONLY THE ONE YOU KNOW THAT HAVE BEEN COMERCIALIZED.

What position Prof. T.S. Korn had, in which university ? ULB or VUB in Brussels (Belgium) ? Which department ? From (date) to (date) ? Was he french-speaking or dutch-speaking ? Or both ?


AS SAID, PROF AT THE ULB, SURELY AROUND 1965>1974-5

Was Prof. T.S. Korn in touch with Prof. Tomatis (France) what's regarding the electronics required for language labs ? See Prof. T.S. Korn US3358390A patent in 1964.


I REMEMBER VERY WELL THAT KORN HAD WORKED ON THIS INVENTION , IN FACT, I DEVELOPED WITH HIM OTHER FORMS TO DO IT.
BUT I HAVE NO IDEA IF HE WAS IN CONTACT WITH MR TOMATIS ABOUT THAT IN 1964.

Figure 5 in Prof. T.S. Korn US3647969 patent (1972, motional feedback amplifier) looks erroneous. It goes about a difference amplifier. Why showing a transistor ? Where is the emitter ? Now, after 43 years, can somebody tell what's in the SL15 SL20 "blackbox" ? Am I right in saying it may hide a small 1:5 transformer acting as difference amplifier (voltage branch less current branch), along with a few resistors and capacitors for shaping the kinetic feedback loop bode plot ? Am I right in saying that Prof. T.S. Korn could not use an op-amp acting as difference amplifier because back in 1968, op-amps were too expensive and not really suited to audio ?


THIS IS AN ANECDOTE THAT I REMEMBER VERY WELL:

THE BLACKBOX WAS A FAKE!

AS YOU KNOW, IT IS VERY HARD TO PATENT AN ELECTRONIC SYSTEM, SO, WE DECIDED TO MAKE LIFE A BIT MORE DIFICULT TO COMPETITORS PUTTING A “BLACKBOX” ON THE ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT.

THIS BLACKBOX WAS MADE OF UNDESTRUCTIBLE RESIN, AND THE FIRST THING THAT ANY COMPETITOR WAS DOING WAS TO TRY TO SEE WHAT WAS INSIDE, WICH WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.
AND, OF COURSE, WE MADE A LOT OF NOISE ABOUT THE BLACKBOX.

In a few (non academic) papers, Prof. T.S. Korn put forward that the efficiency of speakers could be greatly enhanced in the bass range (even below the low frequency resonance) by adding a passive radiator to closed box enclosures, provided the passive radiator could move a lot more air (bigger diameter and more Xmax) than the speaker driver. Do the KM30 and KM50 implementations obey such principle, knowing their passive radiators look smaller than their speaker driver ? What's the trick ? Could the kinetic feedback iron out the non-linearities of the speaker driver and the passive radiator, at high listening volumes ?

YES, IT IS CORRECT.

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the development of the Philips MFB system as soon as 1968 (with Klaassen, de Koning, D'Hoogh, Franssen), leading to the industrialization of the Philips RH532 MFB speaker in 1974, using the signal that's coming from a PXE accelerometer, instead of modelling/computing the supposed acceleration from the speaker voltage and current signals ?
ABSOLUTELY NOT

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in magnetic recording on the Compact Cassette, for developing a noise reduction system that was different and concurrent from DBX or Dolby to be resold to Philips ? Was Prof. T.S. Korn considering automatic adaptive bias intensity during recording (Dolby HX ancestor), and automatic adaptive head azimuth control during playback (Nakamichi 1000 / 700 ancestor) ?
I THINK: YES

Why is it that Servo-Sound never marketed a cassette recorder ?
WE WHERE A SMALL FACTORY AND COULD NOT DO EVERYTHING.

Was Ray Dolby considered as a kind of ideal model by Prof. T.S. Korn ? Were there contacts with Ray Dolby ? From where and from who Prof. T.S. Korn got inspired ?


I BELIEVE THAT KORN WAS IN CONTACT WITH RAY DOLBY.

Why is that Servo-Sound never took the opportunity of marketing a modern FM stereo tuner as soon as ceramic filters, IF amp + FM detector ICs, and multiplex PLL stereo decoders ICs became available, so easy to use ?


FOR THE SAME REASON, WE HAD NOT THE FINANCIAL POWER TO MAKE ANYTHYNG.

WE WERE MAKING SERIES OF 2.000 TUNERS , MEANWHILE SONY WAS MAKING SERIES OF 5 MILLIONS TUNERS FOR EACH MODEL.

WE COULD NOT COMPETE FINANCIALLY , AND THIS WAS A NUTSHELL FOR ME, BECAUSE CLIENTS WANTED OUR TRADEMARK,
SO WE WHERE MAKING SALES OF TUNERS AT OUR COSTS.

DO REMEMBER THAT AT THESE TIMES, IF SOMEBODY WAS ASKING 5 MILLIONS BELGIAN FRANCS OF LOAN FROM A BANK, HE HAD TO GIVE A GUARANTEE OF 3 CASTLES.!

OUR CORE BUSINESS WHERE LOUDSPEAKERS.

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Philips wOOx (passive radiator) deep bass rendering technology ?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.

ONE WORD ABOUT PHILIPS (OR ANY BIG COMPANY)
THE FIRST PEOPLE BUYING AN INNOVATIVE PRODUCT IS A COMERCIAL FROM PHILIPS, OR SIMILAR.
WHEN HE WAS SHOWING THAT TO THE HEAD OF RESEARCH OF SUCH A COMPANY, THE ANSWER WAS AUTOMATICALLY:”N.I.H”
THIS MEANS”NON INVENTED HERE”

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN THE CHIEF OF TECHNOLOGY OF SUCH A GIANT COMPANY LIKE PHILIPS HEAR THAT A SMALL COMPANY MADE SOMETHNG BETTER THAN THEM (AND DO NOT FORGET THAT HE RECEIVE A ENORMOUS SALARY TO BE THE BEST) , HE WAS AUTOMATICALLY SAYING”N.I.H”: THIS IS NOT GOOD. PERIOD.

SO, PHILIPS SPENT YEARS TO COPY US, AND MAKE ANOTHER PATENT, WHICH HAD A COST OF 600% MORE IN CONSTRUCTION.
IT IS INCREDIBLE, BUT IT WAS LIKE THIS: IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH FASTER AND CHEAPER FOR THEM TO BUY US.

TODAY, THINGS HAVE CHANGED A LOT, AND SAMSUNG OR APPLE, FOR EXEMPLE, COPY EACH OTHER AS FAST AS THEY CAN.

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Yamaha "AST" (Active Servo Technology) leading to the industrialization of the Yamaha AST-1 power amplifier featuring a connector for connecting a calibrated electronic module governing the negative impedance correction plus some extra equalization ?


NO.

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in the Philips DSC/DSS system ? Was he in touch with Stefan Willems from Philips (AES March 1993 - Berlin) ? The Philips DSC/DSS system has the same progressive highpass filter than the Servo-Sound SL15 and SL21 (closed boxes) for limiting the woofer excursion at high volume.


NO.

Was there a form of communication between the Brussels university where Prof. T.S. Korn was working, and the "MBLE" company affiliated to Philips based in Brussels, and the KUL University in Leuven where Philips had a research lab dealing with speakers and
speakers enclosures ?
NO.

Was it conceivable for a Servo-Sound preamplifier and/or active speaker, to earn the DIN45500 HiFi certification, in the absence of a switch enabling to defeat the built-in Loudness correction ? Philips had the DIN45500 certification on all their MFB speakers, featuring no Loudness whatsoever.


I DO NOT KNOW, DO REMEMBER THAT KORN WAS VERY OLD, A LOT OF WORK , AND THAT WE HAD LIMITED ECONOMICAL MEANS.

Is it true that the SL21 active speaker, produced by "KM Laboratories" between 1976 and 1978 featured two germanium AD149 transistors as output devices, while since 1974 all Philips MFB speakers featured two complementary silicium darlington transistors as output devices ?


I DO NOT KNOW.

Wasn't there a fatal design flaw in the passive crossover sitting inside the KM50 (or KM52) speaker, the woofer being lowpass filtered by a LC network having a small L and a large C, causing a dramatic drop of the impedance loading the power amplifier ?
I NEVER HEARD ABOUT ANY DESING FLAW

Where is the KM "A.I.R." system patent ? Was it the foundation on which Joel M. Cohen did his communication at the AES in March 1981 (Hamburg) ?


I REMEMBER THE A.I.R SYSTEM, BUT SURELY WE DID NOT PATENT IT DUE TO ALL EXPLAINED.

Was Prof. T.S. Korn involved in "Biphonic" as promoted by JVC, and the VUC0001-001 integrated circuit ?
NO.

Why is it so, that Prof. T.S. Korn never published an article about audio technology at the AES, NAB, IEEE, DIN, or IHF ? Was he reluctant exposing his ideas to experts and committees ?


NO, BUT DO NOT FORGET THAT HE WAS VERY BUSY, AND NOT A WORK ADICT. HE LIKED TO INVENT SOMETHING, THEN LET OTHERS (OUR TECNICIANS) FINISH THE WORK.
THIS SAID, HE WAS NOT RELUCTANT TO EXPOSE HIS IDEAS.

What's regarding intellectual property, was there a kind of interactivity between between Prof. T.S. Korn and Gustave Staar ? I'm talking about the "Staar" company established in Brussels (Belgium) quite prolific what's regarding intellectual property and patents, actually it is the one that patented the APPS/APLD system for Compact Cassette (and successfully licensed by Sharp around 1975, massive sales of cassette decks and boomboxes equipped with APSS/APLD).


I REMEMBER VERY WELL THIS ANECDOTE:
GUSTACE STAAR, (THAT I MET), WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF KORN , AND STAAR ASKED KORN TO GIVE HIM THIS INVENTION.
KORN DID IT, AND STAAR TOOK A PLANE THE SAME MONTH TO ASIA AND SOLD IT FOR A REAL FORTUNE !!!!!

I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT, BUT AS SAID, KORN AND MACWAY WHERE NOT AT ALL INTERSTED IN MONEY, KORN WAS A SOFISTICATED INTELECTUAL, AND NOT A SALESMAN.

THAT IS WHY I WROTE THAT IS WAS NOT A PIECE A CAKE TO WORK WITH PEOPLE 2 GENERATIONS OLDER THAN YOU, AND WORST: I WAS THE ONE IN CHARGE OF ALL THE FINANCIAL PART.

Those are the questions in my mind.
AND THESES ARE ABOUT ALL THE ANSWERS I CAN GIVE YOU,

ANYWAY, IT IS AN INSPIRING STORY TO SEE THESES 2 “OLD PEOPLE” HAVING SUCH A MENTAL STRENGHT AT THIS AGE.

THIS HAS BEEN A LESSON FOR ME , AND NOW, THAT I IS MY TURN TO BE “OLD”, I STILL HAVE 24 YEARS MENTALLY.
THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THEIR EXAMPLE TEACHED ME ALL MY LIFE.
(YOU STILL HAVE TO CALCULATE MY AGE…..)
Best Regards,
Steph






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