Bartholomew Nicholas Locanthi II was born in White Plains, New York, in 1919. Deaf in one ear from a childhood accident, he nevertheless became interested in binaural hearing and sound reproduction, and eventually became one of the leading authorities on loudspeaker design. His studies at Caltech were interrupted by WWII, and he returned to graduate in physics in 1947. He stayed on as a research associate with an analog computer development group, and became chief engineer of the resultant Computer Engineering Associates from 1953 to 1960. During this time he published a seminal paper on modeling loudspeaker performance via electrical equivalence circuits. Using analog computers, he first applied this technique to the design of the JBL LE series of transducers, and it has since become the foundation of most loudspeaker computer-aided design programs in use today.He began consulting for JBL in 1949, and was vice president of engineering from 1960 to 1970. There he developed numerous cone transducers and large format compression drivers, and designed the acoustical lens products that were long a hallmark of the company. He also developed the "T" output circuit that became the standard of transistor amplifiers. After brief stints at Altec Lansing and Cetec Audio, he joined Pioneer North America in 1975 as vice president of development. Out of this association came the HPM series of consumer loudspeakers and the TAD series of professional drivers. http://www.sabl.com/~bart/bnl2/