Jerry Harvey (inventor)

In 1995, Alex Van Halen told Harvey during the band's rehearsals for their Balance tour that the noise on stage was too much. The massive volume from the stage monitors and speakers were damaging his ears and making it difficult for the band members to hear one another. Harvey began tinkering and looking for components to solve the problem; in Japan he found tiny electrical components, and in the United States he found a tiny speaker designed for a pacemaker. He created a tiny in-ear speaker system that connected to a small receiver on Alex's belt via thin cables. The receiver then picked up the wireless signal from Harvey's mixing board. The in-ear monitors had two small speakers to separate output volume into low and high frequencies for bass and treble, and they fit into shells that were impressions of Alex's ears. The in-ear monitors also blocked out ambient noise, and according to Alex Van Halen, "It was like night and day."[1]

Sebastian Bach and other members of Skid Row, who were opening for Van Halen on tour, soon wanted their own monitors, and paid $3000 cash for six pairs. After his third client Engelbert Humperdinck requested one, Harvey decided to create the company Ultimate Ears, and word began spreading through the rock community. His former wife Mindy left her job working as a sales manager for an office equipment supplier in St. Louis to handle the new business, as Harvey himself had no interest in leaving his job as a touring sound mixer. That year the couple amicably separated, and they both separately moved to Las Vegas to run Ultimate Ears out of Mindy's house.[1]

Harvey continued to tour, finishing up the Balance tour with Van Halen and then mixing for k.d. lang on the All You Can Eat tour and Mötley Crüe on their Generation Swine tour. He marketed Ultimate Ears while doing so, though he often had to convince artists that they wouldn't look like hearing aids on stage. A custom pair went for $700 to $900.[1]

Ultimate Ears contracted Westone, a Colorado Springs manufacturer of custom-fit earpieces, to create the shell casings for the musicians' commissions.[1] Westone also began assembling the monitors.[3]

Profits jumped in 1998 when Harvey introduced the fifth-generation model the UE-5. By 2000, Ultimate Ears was becoming a fixture among rock artists, and Harvey's pieces were used by the Rolling Stones, Faith Hill, Enrique Iglesias, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Near the end of 2001 Ultimate Ears had added some 200 artists including Cirque du Soleil, the Late Show with David Letterman, and various megachurches.[1]

In 2001, however, the relationship with Ultimate Ears and Westone began to fall apart. While on tour Harvey heard from sources that Westone was claiming ownership to his custom designs, as well as trying to set up a separate European distribution. An attorney informed Mindy that Westone owned all the trademarks and patents associated with Ultimate Ears, and that Harvey had no patent protection. Harvey decided to retake control of the business. However, while he had designed the interior circuitry of the monitors, he didn't know how to make the acrylic shells. Westone also had all the rock star ear impressions.[1]

Harvey decided to travel to Florida to research hearing aid manufacturing so they could create their own manufacturing lab. While at a two-week hearing aid course in Orlando, he befriended instructor Chomphorn "Noy" Soudaly, a hearing aid technician from Laos. He hired Noy at double his own salary to help create the lab he planned on setting up in Las Vegas. Noy and Harvey spent "100 days of hell" in research and development on a new upgrade to ship by April 4, 2002.[1]

With Ultimate Ears again running, Harvey eventually settled with Westone out of court with the brand intact.[1] Ultimate Ears had to recollect ear impressions from their long-term customers, and about 90% remained loyal to Harvey over Westone. By 2003 Ultimate Ears had five employees and about a million dollars in revenue, and the company estimated it had about 80% of the professional market. Noy handled the lab and Harvey continued to work on custom model design.[1]

With the company stabilized, in 2003 Harvey went back on tour, this time mixing for Linkin Park.[1] However, after a member of the band's production staff introduced Harvey to the iPod, he left the tour early to begin designing a less expensive version of Ultimate Ears. By January 2004 he debuted the UE-5c model at $550, which featured dual drivers tuned for digital devices. The model was a success and doubled company revenue.[1][3]

In 2005 Harvey moved the company to Irvine, California. In order to secure outside capital to develop lower-cost custom earpieces, Harvey contacted Bob Allison of the investment holding company Innovate Partners.[1] Allison convinced Harvey to create a Super.fi line of Ultimate Ears for the mass consumer market for $250, and helped them open a manufacturing operation in China. The Super.fi 5 Pro was released in April 2005, and by 2006 revenue was in excess of $10 million.[1][3]

Allison became CEO of Ultimate Ears, with Mindy as president and Harvey as Chief Technical Officer. By June 2007 the company had 30 employees.[1] After the launch of the UE-11 model, and in August 2007, Ultimate Ears was acquired by Logitech International for $34 million.[3] Harvey left Ultimate Ears ten months prior to the acquisition.[4]