RF Venue

At the time, Soundwave Research was already known for its specialized work in acoustics and audio innovation, making it a natural environment for exploring new ideas in wireless audio technology. Before launching RF Venue, Chris and Bob had successfully created and grown a wired microphone company, Crowley and Tripp Microphones, which earned a reputation for high-quality, premium microphones favored by audio professionals. Their success attracted the attention of major industry players, and in 2009 the company was acquired by Shure Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of audio equipment. This exit provided both the experience and the momentum to pursue new opportunities in the evolving field of wireless audio.

In the years that followed, the regulatory landscape for wireless spectrum has continued to undergo significant and often rapid changes, driven by the explosion of mobile devices, data-hungry applications, and other wireless technologies all competing for limited spectrum. As more types of wireless equipment come online, from smartphones and tablets to IoT devices and broadband services, there is effectively less clean, interference-free spectrum available for professional audio applications. Wireless microphones, in-ear monitor systems, two-way radios, and other wireless equipment used in live events, houses of worship, broadcast environments, and corporate installations are all negatively impacted by this growing congestion. This “spectrum crowding” leads to more frequent signal conflicts, reduced reliability, and unpredictable performance in environments where clear, uninterrupted audio is critical.

Recognizing both the scale of this problem and its impact on working professionals, RF Venue began developing a range of products specifically for the commercial sound equipment industry to address these challenges. Their focus was on reducing signal dropouts and interference across all brands of wireless audio equipment, rather than tying solutions to a single manufacturer. By concentrating on antenna design, signal distribution, and spectrum optimization, RF Venue sought to create tools that helped system designers, integrators, and engineers achieve more stable and resilient wireless performance, even in difficult RF environments.

Dropouts and interference have been persistent issues for wireless audio systems since their introduction in the 1970s. From the earliest days, engineers struggled with fluctuating signal strength, multipath reflections, and unpredictable RF noise that could interrupt performances or compromise productions. As venues grew larger, productions more complex, and the number of wireless channels multiplied, these problems only became more pronounced. The deployment of wireless audio systems has therefore always been a challenging task for live sound engineers, installed sound professionals, broadcast technicians, and their clients, who depend on seamless, reliable communication and audio delivery. RF Venue’s mission grew out of this long-standing industry pain point: to provide practical, technically sophisticated solutions that make wireless audio more dependable, easier to deploy, and more resilient in an increasingly crowded spectrum environment.