Living the Dream
Making internationally acclaimed Theophany audio speakers in his Canterbury home-based factory is literally a dream job for Garth Murray.
Music has always been a big part of Garth Murray’s life – but his early career path took a very different turn and it was only by pure chance – or the hand of fate, if you prefer a more esoteric explanation – that his current role took shape.
The 59-year-old father of seven (five sons and two daughters) started out as an aircraft engineer and studied aeronautics, mechanics and electronics. He then became an air traffic controller and worked in Christchurch, Dunedin, Wigram, Nelson and Auckland.
‘That was a great job, I would never have left it,’ says Garth. ‘But in 2002 I had a kidney stone that got stuck. The operation to remove it was successful but I ended up with septicaemia, and after having infarctions like miniature strokes, I suffered some brain injury, and was told after much testing that I’d never work again.’
For Garth and wife Steph, the future looked grim. He went from a good salary to an invalid’s benefit with a family to support. ACC and his union helped later but it was tough. They were faced with the prospect of a mortgagee sale. Then the improbable happened.
‘I had a dream. It sounds silly, I know, and I’m not sure that I understand what it’s all about – but I dreamed of myself building a speaker.
I was passionate about music so it wasn’t totally unusual because I played the guitar, I played in bands, I played in orchestras. I love music and I love home theatre and I love hi-fi, the whole thing. I saw myself making a speaker and it was really curved and at this time there were no curved speakers. So I got out of bed and drew it all up.’
Garth dismisses the notion of divine intervention. ‘I’m not one who believes that dreams are particularly supernatural, it’s just a combination of all the things we know. It was my subconscious working on it and bringing it together and formulating ideas.’
Over the next six to eight months with the help of his sons, Garth began making the speaker he saw in his dream. ‘We sent it away, had it tested and the company that did it said that in 25 years of testing speakers they had never seen anything perform like this.
‘Then a guy heard about them, just down the road from us, and said, “I’ve got to have some of those.” That was pretty special – and it just grew from there.’
So, what was different about his speaker? ‘Well, there were some things that were ignored in speaker construction for years and years,’ says Garth. ‘Resonance was something that people were starting to understand – that’s chamber resonance, cabinet resonance – but then there was also this concept of standing waves. Standing waves are basically where air bounces back on itself and you get increases in volumes at certain frequencies … so you get this thing called cone filter. The noise coming out of the speaker is affected by this cone filter, it’s not clean. The speaker didn’t have any of that, and without even realising that, I had built a speaker that had no standing waves.’
The curves made a big difference. The speaker also eliminated something else called a baffle step. ‘A sphere is really the perfect shape to absorb sound – it has zero baffle step, whereas a square box can have six to 12 decibels of baffle step. We’ve been able to eliminate baffle step in our speakers mechanically, and by that, I mean changing the wave forms inside the cabinet rather than using an electronic filter.’
It gets even more technical, but we’ll leave that to the experts. Although I have a vague understanding of hertz and kilohertz, watts, decibels and crossover frequencies (basically, the range of frequency each speaker driver can handle), the hi-fi world has always seemed rather arcane. Some people listen to music; others listen to a sound system. Garth describes his speakers as providing ‘cleaner, more detailed sound. I also think the best way to describe it is more real. That’s what I get from the clients more often: It’s like I’m just there, I am in the concert or I’m listening to the vocalist, they’re in my room.’
As a big fan of jazz vocalists and chilled-out relaxing music as well as having a truly eclectic collection, I agree. It’s the soundstage. There’s Diana Krall and her piano, right there. There’s a bass player, there’s a saxophonist. Or a whole orchestra or choir. They’re not wafting ephemerally through the ceiling or clanging in your ears through tiny ear buds. You hear the whole performance in all its depth and clarity.
Aesthetics are also important. Garth believes a successful product should appeal to at least three senses. ‘We couldn’t make them taste good or smell good, so we wanted to make them look good, sound good, and feel good as well.’
He admits to being obsessed with detail, even down to the screws, which are specially made by Mainland Fasteners in Christchurch. Timber veneer comes in the form of cherrywood, oak, and maple from Ohio and Kentucky in the US, as well as limited amounts of New Zealand rimu. It’s about three times thicker than most veneers and can be ‘arrassed’, or softened and smoothed, giving speakers aesthetic appeal. The firm now uses a non-solvent acrylic-based product out of Italy. ‘It’s a little bit more expensive but it hasn’t got the toxins, so it’s a green product.’
Garth came up with the name Theophany after a second dream. ‘I saw the name Theophany on the base of the speakers so I wrote it down. I thought it sounded nice, a little bit musical and a little bit spiritual – and I sort of liked the sound of it.’
He then discovered the name comes from Theo, Greek for ‘God’ or ‘love’; and phany, meaning ‘to speak out or to manifest’. ‘The word means love speakers, so that’s what we always say: Theophany, love speakers.’
Other Greek names for different models include Airo (to raise up), Epiphany (a sudden or great revelation); Psallo (to sing); Pneuma (spirit); Psuche (soul); and Rhapsody (a piece of music of unusual form).
Music remains a core part of Garth’s life. ‘I like all kinds of music. I actually play in a band. I play the guitar; I play other instruments as well. I love classic rock, I like jazz, I like blues, but I also like a little bit of classical and opera.
‘One of the things I love most is that we demonstrate to clients in their homes and one of the things I really enjoy is sitting down with the clients and hearing their music. I’ve got so much new music from people I’ve never heard before. It’s a great part of the job, meeting people and actually enjoying their music as well.’
Quality hi-fi can cost a fortune but doesn’t have to, Garth maintains. ‘You can spend a lot of money on a system, but you don’t have to go overboard. A nice clean amplifier, some good cables and a good source. There’s good quality on the internet now. Turntables and vinyl are making a huge comeback now. They’re incredibly engaging.’
While the pandemic has put paid to international travel to audio shows or to demonstrate his speakers, Garth says sales are booming and the firm has got work for four or five months ahead. Theophany speakers are shipped to Australia, Asia, the US and Europe – ‘all over the place’.
The family have all helped over the years. ‘All of them have worked in the business at some time or other. It’s helped them get a bit of a footing in life. All of them except my youngest daughter, who’s still too young, have got degrees and most of them have part of their degree in some form of business.’
Garth says he has fended off several offers from international audio companies to purchase Theophany. ‘None of them really suited us, not because of the money but because of the requirements of us. We [would have] to move and I just really wasn’t interested in that.
‘I’m still not 100 per cent perfect when it comes to my brain – I get fatigued, my memory is not very good, and I still have issues – and I’ve found the current environment that I’m in is incredibly healthy.
When not working in the factory, or demonstrating speakers or playing music, Garth enjoys water sports such as wakeboarding, dirt bike riding with his sons, camping and caravanning.
For more information, visit theophany.co.nz
