NORTH SMITHFIELD, RI — Legendary pro audio speaker designer Kenton Forsythe (perhaps best known as the co-founder of Eastern Acoustic Works) passed away peacefully on Sunday, July 9, 2023, surrounded by his family. He was 78.
The Early Days
Born in Boston on July 21, 1944, Forsythe grew up in the nearby town of Sharon, MA. “I’ve always been interested in music,” he said, adding that he had been bitten by the audio bug at the tender age of three: “My mom liked to tell the story of me sitting on the floor and playing certain records over and over until it drove her nuts.”
Forsythe dabbled in piano, but science was his passion, and he spent many hours preparing for his school science fairs. As he entered his teen years in the 1950s, Forsythe embraced that era’s “hi-fi” revolution and he began tinkering with home stereos.
He went to Yale University to study physics. However, “that department had a reputation for being extraordinarily challenging and I was not up for it!” he recalled. He switched to studying American and Asian history, graduating in 1966.
Pro Audio
Forsythe’s path to pro audio was sidetracked when his skills in urban planning landed him a job with the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Next, he earned a Masters’ degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
However, during this time, he continued to be the “hi-fi” expert among his friends and was increasingly called on to build home sound systems. Forsythe’s hobby got ratcheted up a notch when he came upon the classic 1966 “How to Build Speaker Enclosures” book by audio legends Alex Badmaieff and Don Davis, which encouraged his interest in high-performance pro and consumer loudspeaker designs.
In June of 1970, Forsythe returned to Massachusetts, taking another job in traffic engineering, but also started building loudspeakers for local bands. “At the time, you could just walk into the library at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and use their resources. I would use their copy machine to get articles out of the AES Journal, and built up a library of papers and publications.”
In 1974, Forsythe’s hobby finally became his day job, and he joined Delta Sound, a JBL distributor. “We built P.A. rigs and handled local touring work, but pretty quickly, I could see it wasn’t going far.”
Enter Forsythe Audio
Meanwhile, years earlier, he had met one Lew Freedman when both were bidding on components at a stereo shop auction. They set up a hi-fi retail operation called K&L Sound in 1972. This evolved into having a pro audio component when “a young guy from Emerson College named Ken Berger joined us, and he was instrumental to what would become Forsythe Audio Systems.”
Berger, today an industry consultant, began his career working with Forsythe. “I will say he taught me more than anyone I’ve ever known,” he says. When the two met and started working together, “the industry was making the transition from [the technology] being empirical to being scientific. There were lots of guys around doing good sound, but they had little formal training and education, and the equipment they were using wasn’t measurable.” Forsythe had a deep understanding of all aspects of sound: speech and music, and the importance of coverage for both.
Going Pro
Forsythe first entered the pro audio industry in 1975 with the introduction of the Forsythe Audio SR215 dual-15” bass horn, which was the first of its kind and could fit through a 30” door. From there, he developed two-way compact loudspeaker systems and a vented subwoofer that featured an interchangeable tube venting system that allowed the enclosure to be reconfigured for different drivers.
Forsythe’s SR109 loudspeaker and BH212 subwoofer were the first products introduced under the EAW name in 1978. By the late 1980s, Forsythe’s KF850 had quickly became the number one touring loudspeaker in the world. He followed this up in the 1990s with the development of multiple loudspeaker solutions for the stadium market – many of which are still in play today.
Since the early 1970s to his “retirement” in 2016 (unable to stay away from pro audio, he rejoined the company in 2019), Forsythe continued to be the architect of products embraced by the worlds of touring, installation and dance clubs. Far too many to list, Eastern Acoustic Works has provided sound reinforcement from Vatican Square to the historic Paul McCartney concert at Red Square in Moscow — as well as innumerable smaller venues, stadiums and sports facilities worldwide.
Over the years, Forsythe’s impact on the world of live sound reinforcement has affected millions worldwide — both fans and users. “There is not a professional audio engineer out there today that doesn’t touch something Kenton Forsythe is directly responsible for,” says Terry Lowe, founder of FRONT of HOUSE magazine and the Parnelli Awards, which honored Forsythe with its prestigious Audio Innovator Award in 2011.
The Other Side
Forsythe also had a very personal side as a devoted husband and father. According to his son Jeremy Forsythe, his dad “lived vibrantly until the end — focused as much on making sure the lawn was mowed as he was on learning about the latest transducer technologies — and will be missed by many people in many different ways. For the legacy he leaves to an industry that he loved, Dad always prioritized his family and friendships first. We will all miss and remember his impact on our lives forever.”
A burial and memorial service is planned for August 19th, although other details were not available at press time. Rather than flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the North Smithfield Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/yz25dx8y
