British Pro Audio Excellence
British Pro Audio Excellence
Buried Audio comes from humble beginnings, and is the amalgamation of a combination of passion, necessity, and an ambitious vision. The founder Tobias Silver, spent his childhood engrossed in both music, and mathematics, learning to play the guitar, drums, and competed in UKMT maths competitions. At the age of 13, a new intrest in electronic music production and DJ-ing helped blossom his fascination with all things audio equipment. DJ-ing throughout his secondary school years and slowly acquiring equipment started the fascination with speaker systems. Large scale sound-systems found at nightclubs became an obsession, and many hours were spent wishfully dreaming of large rigs wildly outside the price range of a teenager. During this time Tobias was attending DJ lessons in a nearby large nightclub, seeing the large system in person and experiencing intense low end depended the obsession.
During his final years of sixth-form Tobias made the decision to study acoustic engineering at university. The idea of designing music studios and concert halls sounded interesting, but it never quite satisfied the itch for loudspeaker’s. It was close enough though and Tobias set off to learn about the physics and mechanics of sound at Salford University for a Masters Degree. Within two weeks of starting university, and having access to the wealth of information available through the library, Tobias was all-ready researching the design of loudspeakers. Everything Tobias found scratched both the loudspeaker, and the mathematics itch in his brain and from there Tobias fell in love with the subject.
This arguably is where the idea of buried audio started. It was definitely the nucleation point that the intimate knowlege of loudspeaker design grew from. The first ever system was designed on a couple pieces of paper after reading 20 AES papers on loudspeaker design. This system was a small 2.1 mono subwoofer and full range satellites. This system has been kept to this day in the Buried Audio workshop, being used as background music while sanding and assembling. It helps remind us of the distance we’ve come. This system has traces of our unique voicing, providing punchy but also clear mids, fast but also deep bass, and subtle but also silky highs.
This is the first speaker ever created by the founder of Buried Audio: Tobias Silver. It was a small 2.1 system originally for his mother, and is still kept to this day.
This was the first PA system created by Buried Audio, It had its issues, and is heavily inspired by another British PA company, but it was the first of many steps to where Buried Audio is now. The creation was documented on Tobias's Youtube Channel
After The 2.1 System, the confidence Tobias had lead him to attempt a much more ambitious goal. Tobias had recently learned to drive and his first car was too small to fit any reasonable PA system. So instead of doing the logical thing and compromising on a smaller system Tobias decided to design his own. This system is why even to this day each of our designs are carefully thought out to be stored and transported efficiently.
After reading through another 10 papers, this time on horn design, Tobias took some ‘inspiration’ from another British audio brand’s speakers which were in a nearby nightclub to his university halls. This systems aim was to be as compact as possible, while still having immense output. The maximum dimensions of his cars boot were written down, the drivers were selected, and a horn was designed. A 3D printer was swiftly ordered and named Jeffrey, who would then spend 150 hours printing these horns. Jeffrey started the tradition of naming our machinery, and Jeffrey still serves in the internal prototype and custom fabrication side of Buried Audio to this day.
The output from this system was immense, staff at the venue it was first used at recoiled during the soundcheck. it measured 132dBC on a calibrated sound level metre at 1m away, the equivalent of an aeroplane taking off 100m away. This system can been found on Buried Deep’s Youtube Channel (Tobias’s Dj Persona). From this video you can tell that Tobias knew more than the average DIY Audio enthusiast, but Tobias was by no means an expert at this point. This would all change in his second year where Tobias took a module on an introduction to loudspeaker and microphone design. This module was foundational to the base of knowlege which now makes Buried Audio speakers special. From here Tobias spent other aspects of his education on acoustics applying to loudspeakers however possible, leading to the next part of the first PA system.
During his second year COVID19 hit, this lead to a vast need for a project to keep him busy. The First PA system wasn’t going to lack a subwoofer any longer. This is well documented on the youtube channel mentioned before, which was designed for deep low end, with small drivers for compactness. This lead to the discovery of the second key ingredient to the unique voicing of Buried Audio. Small drivers inherently respond to the changes in a signal faster than large driver due to their smaller moving mass.
This box was constructed by a friend of the family, a skilled carpenter, and helped show Tobias what to aim for.
3D printing helped create the 4 ports, and the grill covers. This inspired the current grill covers on the current products.
This live stream event, ran by a media student at the University of Salford. This event became a test bed for the development of the BB System.
During his time at university, Tobias participated in Live From Studio A, a live streamed project by a media student in the TV studios of MediaCityUK. This event required a high quality sound system so Buried Audio (now an improvised but established side hustle) provided a newly built prototype.
The first prototype of BB line began surprisingly came from a pub conversation with his fellow acoustics students about complex enclosures. The specific style design was used as an example of an enclosure thats difficult to model mathematically, but after the conversation the difficulty of the problem intrigued him enough to solve it. When Tobias solved the modelling problem he discovered an effect caused by the specific impedance offset of the front and rear wave. This created a restoring force which could be leveraged to allow for incredibly precise control of the frequency domain, without the large changes in the time domain normally found in horns.
Initially this idea was used with the same philosophy as the first PA system, which lead it to gain the prototype name: “Sound Cannon” (this later became the BB163 when the current naming convention was decided on). The output was even more intense than the horns before hand and its large size was difficult to transport which went against the first PA’s original goal, so after some refinements an improvement was made.
The prototype BB83 was that improvement, halving the insane output to a more reasonable but still very loud output. The smaller number of drivers also increased the effectiveness of the restoring force method further improving the sound. A half size (again) model was trialed using the same method and while it did still work very well, it was not an improvement on sound quality and that idea would be shelved for later.
Another Live From Studio A was planned, and the opportunity to showcase the improvement really allowed the reality of Buried Audio sink in. During this time Tobias was consulting for another loudspeaker company but what Tobias witnessed during that event proved in his mind that Buried Audio needed to exist. This is where the aspirations of a legitimate company became a goal for which plans were put in place, and executed to achieve.
This was the first prototype of the BB line, and like the first PA system it was significantly too loud. This is the first time the new style of hybrid QWT offset horn enclosure was used and is the first example of the Buried Audio Voicing being perfected.
This speaker halved the size of the BB163, both making it more practical to move, and lowering the immense output to sane SPL levels. A single BB83 could still fill an entire large broadcast studio easily despite its lower volume.
With the Successful showcase at the second Live From Studio A, more university events started to enquire about using the Buried Audio prototype BB system. A close friend of Tobias asked him if he could provide the pair of prototype BB83s for his event “Prime Cuts: Last Slice”. This again opened new doors as both Tobias and his friend were part of the committee for DJUOS (the University of Salford’s DJ society).
DJUOS regularly hosted Open Jams, which allowed the members access to the university’s industry standard equipment. Buried Audio provided the BB sound system for 5 of these Open Jams. This allowed the students to practice mixing on a loud system with earplugs, and other useful skills. The one thing that was continuously noted by the members and the rest of the committee was the outstanding fidelity of the systems.
Over time the need for a Subwoofer to accompany the BB83 Prototypes, and as history repeats itself, a Subwoofer was designed but half as big as the previous attempt in the first PA system. This subwoofer used the same concept, but with different drive units, which dramatically improved upon the punch and clarity of the low end, without sacrificing that deep and rich voicing used on the previous Subwoofer.
After the Open Jams the final two events of his university career used the now completed prototype BB sound system. This was the Aftars. The Aftars was the after party to the Baftars, which is the University of Salfords, internal reward show for the media students. The sound was remarked upon by the university staff and students attending though-out. After the Aftars, an unofficial afterparty marked the last outing of the full BB sound system during Tobias’s University years. A small basement in a good friends flat, with no neighbour’s near by to complain. This close quarters setting made the system sing, and to this day Tobias has never been to a better sounding house party.
A friend of Buried Audio founder Tobias, DJ Clipping took the risk of using a friends small starting up Speaker Company to power his event "Prime Cuts: Last Slice"
While at the University of Salford Tobias was a large part of the DJ Society, starting it in his first year, and chairing for all 4 years of his university life. During the final year of his 'chairmanning', he took a more passive role to allow his replacement to learn how to take over. During this Buried Audio became a fully fledged Idea and its presence at the DJ UOS events became a much loved addition
After the Aftars, an unofficial afterparty marked the last outing of the full BB sound system during Tobias's University years. A small basement in a good friends flat, with no neighbour's near by to complain. This close quarters setting made the system sing, and to this day Tobias has never been to a better sounding house party.
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