Innovation Award

LAOCAS Announces the 4th Annual George and Carolyn Counnas Innovation Award goes to John Curl, a renowned electronics designer, and legendary figure in the audio industry.

Robert Harley, editor of The Absolute Sound, calls John Curl our “Unsung Hero” and credits him with introducing circuit innovation that is the foundation for all modern solid state amplifiers.

John Curl’s creative genius has benefited many companies, including Ampex, Mark Levinson, Vendetta Research, Constellation, Dennison, Mofi, Parasound, and many others.

Wall of Sound

Curl is also famous for designing the “Wall of Sound” for the Grateful Dead in the early 1970s. He was part of the engineering team hired because there were no available products on the market for their recording or concert needs.

Innovation Award winners

This award represents innovation in the design and engineering in the reproduction of music.

The 2019 First Annual Innovation award went to George and Carolyn Counnas, owners of Zesto Audio

The 2021 Second Annual Innovation award went to Dragoslav Colich, chief design engineer at Audeze Headphones

The 2022 Third Annual Innovation award went to Holger Stein of owner of Stein Music