audio and event production company . for the audiovisual and lighting system installer and audio products manufacturer see clair companies . clair global formerly called clair brothers audio enterprises type private predecessors md systems showco db sound concertsound wireless first inc. gto live inc. md systems founded 1966 1966 in lititz pennsylvania united states founders walter eugene gene clair roy clair headquarters lititz pennsylvania united states number of locations 12 locations 2016 area served worldwide key people troy clair president and ceo products cohesion series audio system iseries audio system divisions audio video backline communications it services rehearsal studios website clairglobal.com clair global or simply clair is a professional sound reinforcement and live touring production support company . the company is a primary developer of rock lititz a campus shared with other companies in the live event industry . contents 1 history 1.1 1960s and 1970s 1.2 1980s through present 2 innovations 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit 1960s and 1970s edit brothers roy and gene clair grew up in lititz pennsylvania where their parents owned a grocery store . their father bought them a small public address system in 1955 which they started to rent out to bands schools and churches . it consisted of a horn loudspeaker a stromberg carlson integrated preamplifier a 35 watt power amp and a microphone . money they earned went to buying more equipment . through high school college and after they continued to rent it out and add to it . 1 their first business was a loudspeaker reconing business clair reconing which fixed loudspeakers . this is where they first started learning about loudspeaker design and how important it is to efficiency . 1 in the early 1960s gene began working as a technician for franklin & marshall college in nearby lancaster pennsylvania which gave them opportunities to rent out their sound system . their sound system consisted of two columns with six eight inch speakers each a bogen amplifier and four shure 55s microphones and rented for 95 a night . their big break came in 1966 . they provided sound to frankie valli and the four seasons at a local show at franklin & marshall college . 2 their road crew was impressed by the clair brothers sound system . roy asked to be invited into their dressing room where he talked about why the system sounded so good . the next day the band had a show in allentown pennsylvania which sounded terrible . they contacted the clair brothers through a local dj and asked them to come down with their system . just before these two concerts they had done a show with herb alpert who had not allowed them to use his superior sound system and they were stuck with the poor house sound system . this made them realize the benefit of traveling with their own sound system . once again impressed with the clair brothers sound system the tour manager asked them to join them on the road for the rest of the tour bringing their sound system for 90 per show . 3 it is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band . 4 in 1970 they officially incorporated as clair bros. audio enterprises inc. 1980s through present edit in 1980 clair global established its first location outside the united states with clair japan in yokohama . at the end of the decade clair global officially launched a spin off to install permanent sound video and lighting systems in concert venues churches stadiums theaters cruise ships and schools . this new business eventually grew large enough that in 2009 it moved out of the lititz location to a new location in nearby manheim . 5 that business is now separate and known as clair companies . in 1990 clair acquired md systems of nashville and created a partnership with jands in australia . also that year clair opened a location in cambridge england . four years later it moved the operation to switzerland to combine with audio rent in basel operating there as audiorent clair . in 1995 gene clair sold his end of the business to his son troy clair who is now president and ceo . in october 2000 clair bought showco its direct competitor and named the combined company clairshowco . 6 with this move the company became one the world s largest sound reinforcement equipment providers and it continued to grow over the course of the decade particularly with acquisitions of db sound of chicago and concertsound of the uk in 2008 . 7 in 2008 renamed as clair global . clair global added a broadcast services division in august 2010 in part through the acquisition of wireless first inc. and gto live inc. with that acquisition came kevin sanford the founder of both companies . 8 9 in december 2013 co founder gene clair died of an illness at age 73 . 2 innovations edit clair designed and built the first stage monitor in 1970 and the first hanging sound system for indoor arenas in 1972 . 10 both are now standard parts of live events . clair developed and introduced its own 32 channel folding audio console with parametric eq in 1977 followed by cts processing and the clair tc remote controlled eq system in 1980 . in 2014 along with partner tait towers clair opened the 52 000 square foot rock lititz the largest dedicated rehearsal space in the world . 3 see also edit sound reinforcement system showco references edit a b roy & gene clair the sound of sibling success . foh online . september 18 2008 . retrieved january 12 2016 . a b walter eugene clair 1940 2013 . mix . 38 1 10 . january 2014 . a b jurgensen john august 7 2014 . rock n roll s company town . wall street journal the . retrieved january 12 2016 . strauss robert january 27 2010 . an unlikely haven for rock n roll entrepreneurs . new york times the . retrieved january 12 2016 . mekeel tim september 5 2014 . clair brothers rebrands to separate installation and audio speaker businesses . lancasteronline . lancaster new era pa . retrieved 12 january 2016 . young clive march 17 2011 . clairshowco rebranded as clair . pro sound news . retrieved january 12 2016 . greenblat eli february 15 2001 . lake buys into us sound firm . age the melbourne 4 . clair global cf 1090 fractal antenna . mix . 36 1 66 . january 2012 . clair broadens reach . mix . 34 10 15 . october 2010 . negley erin january 14 2014 . rock lititz starts push to make lititz area an entertainment technology hub . reading eagle . retrieved january 12 2016 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title clair global & oldid 727182444 categories audio engineeringloudspeaker manufacturerssound systemscompanies established in 1966privately held companies based in pennsylvaniacompanies based in lancaster county pennsylvaniahidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read 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