Yorkville Sound
Encyclopedia
Yorkville Sound is a manufacturer of musical instrument
s, audio amplifier
s (including the Traynor amplifier line
), loudspeaker
s and related professional sound reinforcement equipment. Based in Pickering, Ontario
, Canada
, the firm has a global presence as an importer and exporter of audio electronic products.
Yorkville manages its original Traynor brand, its own Yorkville brand and has expanded to include other brands such as Apex, Applied Research and Technology (ART) and ALTO. Yorkville provides North American distribution for Hughes & Kettner
guitar amplifiers as well as exclusive distribution for Epiphone
guitar
s, Gibson
guitars, Garrison
guitars, Ritter bags, beyerdynamic
microphones and Gallien-Krueger
amplifiers.
, a music store on Yonge Street
at the edge of the Yorkville
neighborhood across the termination of Yorkville Avenue. Peter Traynor was working as the business's repairman and had been customizing amplifiers to save time and costs by using readily available components. Through his experiences doing this, Traynor developed a rugged bass amplifier
that was more resistant to the rigors of the road and began renting this new 'Dynabass' amp to customers.
By the end of 1963, Traynor began selling his Dynabass amps along with matching 15-inch speaker cabinets, as well as public address
(PA) speakers based on a reference book of 1930s RCA
commercial loudspeaker designs. Traynor approached Jack Long, co-founder of the music store, with the idea of starting Yorkville Sound to sell Traynor-branded bass amplifiers and more. Long and Traynor partnered in the venture, with Long owning two-thirds and Traynor one-third.
The line of products was sold with Traynor logos on the front and rear nameplates reading "mfg. by Yorkville Sound."
In 1965, Yorkville Sound incorporated
as "Yorkville Sound Limited" with Long as President and Traynor as Vice-President. The operation moved to Dundas Street near Parliament in Toronto. In 1966, more products were introduced including the YVM-1 "Voice Master", a portable 45 watt tube amplifier
combined with a four-channel microphone mixer
. The Voice Master contained 1/4-inch jacks
for PA speakers, a master volume control, treble, mid-range and bass tone controls and patching points
for the TR-1, a spring reverb unit made by Traynor. The portable mixer-amplifier concept was a novel idea that quickly proved popular among musicians, and was the inspiration for the 1967 introduction of the competing "Vocal Master" product line by Shure
.
In 1967, Yorkville moved to larger quarters three blocks down Dundas Street, and expanded distribution westward to Vancouver
and southward into the United States via Buffalo, New York
. In 1969, Yorkville began designing larger concert equipment including eight-, sixteen- and 24-channel mixers with a pair of integral graphic equalizers, an audio snake and heavy folded-horn "W"-style bass bins loaded with 18-inch drivers
. The sound contracting business also designed and used wedge-shaped monitor speakers
on stage for artists to hear themselves. Concurrently, Yorkville incorporated their Buffalo operation to create a US-based business entity: Yorkville Sound Inc.
In 1970, Philips
, the major supplier of the 6CA7
tube used for nearly all of Yorkville's power output circuits, had changed the design of the tube without informing their customers. Because of this change, Yorkville was experiencing a wave of amplifier failures and was faced with the redesign of every amplifier in production. Pete Traynor was contracted to provide sound for a 1970 Toronto concert by the Steve Miller Band
but during the performance, the new amplifiers Traynor had brought failed one by one. Pete Traynor caused enough of a commotion with the band's production crew that they carried him to a truck and locked him in the back. Jack Long got him out of the truck and, seeing how stressful it was and how it was not allowing Traynor to focus on the design and manufacturing side of the business, began to shut down the contract sound department, with its final concert date in 1971. Also in 1970, the Canadian dollar
ceased to be pegged to the American dollar and US dealers found their Yorkville prices suddenly jump 10% higher, followed quickly by another 10% added due to a short-lived US surtax on imported finished goods.
In 1972, Yorkville expanded operations to Europe, opening offices in the UK and Sweden. In 1976, Peter Traynor left the firm, suffering from a bad back. The Traynor brand would be slowly phased out over the next 17 years until its reintroduction in 2000. Steve Long, son of founder Jack Long, began working full-time at Yorkville Sound in 1981. Steve Long would eventually progress through managerial positions to become company president.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the company grew. Around 1981–1982, Yorkville Sound was contracted to fabricate loudspeaker enclosure
s for Martin Audio
's North American market, saving Martin Audio the expense of shipping large, heavy cabinets across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1983, Yorkville Sound used their acquired experience in building enclosures to create their own "Sound Crew" line of concert speakers. In 1985, two new product lines appeared with the introduction of the "élite" series of portable loudspeakers with non-user adjustable 'black box' processing and the "Audiopro" line of electronic amplifier
s. A thousand-watt subwoofer
was brought out in 1986: the SW-1000.
A line of studio monitor
speakers was created in 1991. In 1996, Yorkville introduced the "TX" line of concert touring loudspeakers. In 2001, Yorkville contracted with veteran designer Tom Danley to create the "Unity" line of loudspeakers which was introduced in 2003. The Unity design, licensed from Sound Physics Labs, Inc, uses multiple speaker drivers in the same physical horn to create better transient coherence between mid- and high-frequency passbands.
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s, audio amplifier
Audio amplifier
An audio amplifier is an electronic amplifier that amplifies low-power audio signals to a level suitable for driving loudspeakers and is the final stage in a typical audio playback chain.The preceding stages in such a chain are low power audio amplifiers which perform tasks like pre-amplification,...
s (including the Traynor amplifier line
Traynor Amplifiers
Traynor is a brand of bass amplifiers and guitar amplifiers, the first brand formed by Yorkville Sound. The Traynor brand, named for founder Peter Traynor, began in 1963 with the Dynabass bass amplifier, a rental product. Traynor first became popular in Canada by providing less expensive versions...
), loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
s and related professional sound reinforcement equipment. Based in Pickering, Ontario
Pickering, Ontario
Pickering is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area, the largest metropolitan area in Canada.- Early Period :...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the firm has a global presence as an importer and exporter of audio electronic products.
Yorkville manages its original Traynor brand, its own Yorkville brand and has expanded to include other brands such as Apex, Applied Research and Technology (ART) and ALTO. Yorkville provides North American distribution for Hughes & Kettner
Hughes & Kettner
Hughes & Kettner is a German brand of guitar and bass amplifiers, cabinets and effects processors. It was founded in Neunkirchen in 1984 and is based in St.Wendel since 1987....
guitar amplifiers as well as exclusive distribution for Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...
guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
guitars, Garrison
Garrison Guitars
Garrison Guitars was founded by Newfoundland native Chris Griffiths. He designed an injection mold process to efficiently manufacture his guitars. The company was purchased in 2007 by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, and converted to produce the Gibson acoustic Songmaker series....
guitars, Ritter bags, beyerdynamic
Beyerdynamic
Beyerdynamic GmbH & Co. KG is a German audio equipment manufacturer, which produces microphones, headphones, wireless audio systems and conference systems. Beyerdynamic remains a family owned company since it was founded in 1924.-History:...
microphones and Gallien-Krueger
Gallien-Krueger
Gallien-Krueger, also referred to as 'GK' , is an instrument amplifier manufacturer. The company is based in Stockton, California, and was founded in 1968....
amplifiers.
History
Yorkville Sound began in 1963 in the back room of Long & McQuadeLong & McQuade
Long & McQuade is the largest chain of musical instrument retailers in Canada, and has 53 locations located in every province except for Quebec and the territories. The company also owns Yorkville Sound and carries their products in every one of its locations...
, a music store on Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
at the edge of the Yorkville
Yorkville, Toronto
Yorkville is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, well known for its shopping. It is a former village, annexed by the City of Toronto. It is roughly bounded by Bloor Street to the south, Davenport Road to the north, Yonge Street to the east and Avenue Road to the west, and is considered part of...
neighborhood across the termination of Yorkville Avenue. Peter Traynor was working as the business's repairman and had been customizing amplifiers to save time and costs by using readily available components. Through his experiences doing this, Traynor developed a rugged bass amplifier
Bass instrument amplification
Bass instrument amplification, used for the bass guitar, double bass and similar instruments, is distinct from other types of amplification systems due to the particular challenges associated with low-frequency sound reproduction. This distinction affects the design of the loudspeakers, the speaker...
that was more resistant to the rigors of the road and began renting this new 'Dynabass' amp to customers.
By the end of 1963, Traynor began selling his Dynabass amps along with matching 15-inch speaker cabinets, as well as public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
(PA) speakers based on a reference book of 1930s RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
commercial loudspeaker designs. Traynor approached Jack Long, co-founder of the music store, with the idea of starting Yorkville Sound to sell Traynor-branded bass amplifiers and more. Long and Traynor partnered in the venture, with Long owning two-thirds and Traynor one-third.
The line of products was sold with Traynor logos on the front and rear nameplates reading "mfg. by Yorkville Sound."
In 1965, Yorkville Sound incorporated
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
as "Yorkville Sound Limited" with Long as President and Traynor as Vice-President. The operation moved to Dundas Street near Parliament in Toronto. In 1966, more products were introduced including the YVM-1 "Voice Master", a portable 45 watt tube amplifier
Valve amplifier
A valve amplifier or tube amplifier is a type of electronic amplifier that makes use of vacuum tubes to increase the power and/or amplitude of a signal. Low to medium power valve amplifiers for frequencies below the microwaves were largely replaced by solid state amplifiers during the 1960s and...
combined with a four-channel microphone mixer
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...
. The Voice Master contained 1/4-inch jacks
TRS connector
A TRS connector is a common family of connector typically used for analog signals including audio. It is cylindrical in shape, typically with three contacts, although sometimes with two or four . It is also called an audio jack, phone jack, phone plug, and jack plug...
for PA speakers, a master volume control, treble, mid-range and bass tone controls and patching points
Insert (effects processing)
In audio processing and sound reinforcement, an insert is an access point built into the mixing console, allowing the user to add external line level devices into the signal flow between the microphone preamplifier and the mix bus....
for the TR-1, a spring reverb unit made by Traynor. The portable mixer-amplifier concept was a novel idea that quickly proved popular among musicians, and was the inspiration for the 1967 introduction of the competing "Vocal Master" product line by Shure
Shure
Shure Incorporated is an American corporation originally founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a consumer and professional audio-electronics manufacturer of microphones, wireless microphone systems, phonograph cartridges,...
.
In 1967, Yorkville moved to larger quarters three blocks down Dundas Street, and expanded distribution westward to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and southward into the United States via Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. In 1969, Yorkville began designing larger concert equipment including eight-, sixteen- and 24-channel mixers with a pair of integral graphic equalizers, an audio snake and heavy folded-horn "W"-style bass bins loaded with 18-inch drivers
Speaker driver
A speaker driver is an individual transducer that converts electrical energy to sound waves, typically as part of a loudspeaker, television, or other electronics device. Sometimes the transducer is itself referred to as a speaker, particularly when a single one is mounted in an enclosure or as...
. The sound contracting business also designed and used wedge-shaped monitor speakers
Foldback (sound engineering)
Foldback is the use of rear-facing heavy-duty loudspeakers known as monitor speaker cabinets on stage during live music performances. The sound is amplified with power amplifiers or a public address system and the speakers are aimed at the on-stage performers rather than the audience...
on stage for artists to hear themselves. Concurrently, Yorkville incorporated their Buffalo operation to create a US-based business entity: Yorkville Sound Inc.
In 1970, Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
, the major supplier of the 6CA7
EL34
The EL34 is a thermionic valve or vacuum tube of the power pentode type. It has an international octal base and is found mainly in the final output stages of audio amplification circuits and was designed to be suitable as a series regulator by virtue of its high permissible voltage between heater...
tube used for nearly all of Yorkville's power output circuits, had changed the design of the tube without informing their customers. Because of this change, Yorkville was experiencing a wave of amplifier failures and was faced with the redesign of every amplifier in production. Pete Traynor was contracted to provide sound for a 1970 Toronto concert by the Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...
but during the performance, the new amplifiers Traynor had brought failed one by one. Pete Traynor caused enough of a commotion with the band's production crew that they carried him to a truck and locked him in the back. Jack Long got him out of the truck and, seeing how stressful it was and how it was not allowing Traynor to focus on the design and manufacturing side of the business, began to shut down the contract sound department, with its final concert date in 1971. Also in 1970, the Canadian dollar
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
ceased to be pegged to the American dollar and US dealers found their Yorkville prices suddenly jump 10% higher, followed quickly by another 10% added due to a short-lived US surtax on imported finished goods.
In 1972, Yorkville expanded operations to Europe, opening offices in the UK and Sweden. In 1976, Peter Traynor left the firm, suffering from a bad back. The Traynor brand would be slowly phased out over the next 17 years until its reintroduction in 2000. Steve Long, son of founder Jack Long, began working full-time at Yorkville Sound in 1981. Steve Long would eventually progress through managerial positions to become company president.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the company grew. Around 1981–1982, Yorkville Sound was contracted to fabricate loudspeaker enclosure
Loudspeaker enclosure
A loudspeaker enclosure is a purpose-engineered cabinet in which speaker drivers and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and amplifiers, are mounted...
s for Martin Audio
Martin Audio
Martin Audio is a Loudspeaker company-About Martin Audio:Martin Audio was founded by Australian audio engineer David Martin in 1971 to manufacture and supply touring sound reinforcement systems for the supergroups of the day that included Pink Floyd and Supertramp.Martin's early folded horn bass...
's North American market, saving Martin Audio the expense of shipping large, heavy cabinets across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1983, Yorkville Sound used their acquired experience in building enclosures to create their own "Sound Crew" line of concert speakers. In 1985, two new product lines appeared with the introduction of the "élite" series of portable loudspeakers with non-user adjustable 'black box' processing and the "Audiopro" line of electronic amplifier
Electronic amplifier
An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power of a signal.It does this by taking energy from a power supply and controlling the output to match the input signal shape but with a larger amplitude...
s. A thousand-watt subwoofer
Subwoofer
A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...
was brought out in 1986: the SW-1000.
A line of studio monitor
Studio monitor
Studio monitors, also called reference monitors, are loudspeakers specifically designed for audio production applications such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios and radio studios where accurate audio reproduction is crucial....
speakers was created in 1991. In 1996, Yorkville introduced the "TX" line of concert touring loudspeakers. In 2001, Yorkville contracted with veteran designer Tom Danley to create the "Unity" line of loudspeakers which was introduced in 2003. The Unity design, licensed from Sound Physics Labs, Inc, uses multiple speaker drivers in the same physical horn to create better transient coherence between mid- and high-frequency passbands.
External links
- Yorkville Sound website
- Long & McQuade, musical instrument retailer