When Rikki Farr bumped into John Lennon in 1960 on a rainy night in Hamburg, Germany, little did he know that 50+ years later he would still be at the forefront of the audio world.
That chance encounter led to Farr “putting on shows” for the Silver Beatles (an early name for the Beatles), Rod Stewart, the Yardbirds (with Eric Clapton), Rod Stewart, Spencer Davis Band (with Steve Winwood), Bob Marley and Pink Floyd.
“I was involved at the very beginning that we all look back now on as legendary,” says Farr, founder and chief creative officer for RIVA Audio. The company recently made a splash at CEDIA 2016 with its new wireless WAND Series multiroom audio system aimed at CE pros.
Unlike other wireless speakers, the RIVA WAND series offers multiple connectivity options, from a single direct connection to a whole-house wireless networked audio system that can simultaneously stream to up to 32 speakers without acoustic latency. The system can even create its own ad hoc network.
Dealers can use the RIVA WAND app to create zones, stream different music through the environment, voice control the system and in the future get additional features from RIVA CONCIERGE.
RIVA's WAND series starts with the compact WAND ARENA and full-range, tabletop WAND FESTIVAL speakers, both featuring RIVA Audio's patented Trillium audio technology. Trillium uses three discrete channels to create stereophonic sound much larger than the actual speaker size.
Farr's experience in music, and knowledge of audio quality, is what led him to create RIVA. Watch this fascinating Q&A to learn his history, hear some of his stories, and the disappointment he hears in today's audio quality.
Bonus: Which famed band did Farr help collect gas money from the crowd because the band did not have enough gasoline to get back home after the show?
RESOURCE: 301 Must-See New Products for 2016
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