Audio Video News

Tom Nousaine, former contributing technical editor and columnist for Sound & Vision, died June 8, 2014 in Pinckney, MI. He was 69.

A life-long audio enthusiast, Tom’s work appeared in numerous publications, including Stereo Review (predecessor to S&V), Audio, Sound & Image, Video, Car Stereo Review, Mobile Entertainment, Road Gear, Audio/Video International, The Audio Critic, The $ensible Sound, and Telephony.

Tom was a long time member of the Southeastern Michigan Woofer and Tweeter Marching Society (SWTMS) and served as regional vice president of the Audio Engineering Society and chairman of the AES Chicago Section. He founded the Prairie State Audio Construction Society and the Society for Depreciation Professionals while employed as director of capital recovery for Ameritech, one of the seven regional “Baby Bell” companies that arose out of AT&T’s 1984 divestiture.

Tom also founded TN Communications, a consulting firm specializing in loudspeaker measurement, listening evaluation, and business communications and served as chief operating officer for Listening Technology, Inc., a consulting firm that conducted third-party listening evaluations for automotive OEMs and their tier one suppliers.

Speakers were Tom’s specialty but subwoofers were his passion. In addition to doing extensive lab work measuring subwoofers, he designed, built, and tinkered endlessly with them, wrote extensively about the quest for ultimate bass, and regularly published tips and advice on how to improve bass performance.

His best known project—an 8-foot-tall home-grown subwoofer with eight (!) 15-inch drivers—was chronicled by Sound & Vision in the amusing 1999 article, “The Subwoofer That Shook the World.” I was S&V’s editor in chief at that time and I can assure you the editorial staff shared many laughs while editing that article and commissioning its comic-book art. On a personal note, Tom was an all-around great guy with a goof-ball sense of humor and a passion for live music. Tom introduced me to the “real” Chicago blues clubs back in the days when Summer CES was held every June in Chicago. I’ll never forget watching the Holmes Brothers jam in a local hole-in-the-wall bar.

Tom, a second-generation Finnish-American, was born in Northern Minnesota and grew up there and in Eaton Rapids, MI. He held Bachelor and MBA degrees from Michigan State University and served in Vietnam. Preceded in death by parents August and Inez, Tom is survived by his children, John Nousaine of Kenosha, WI and Katrina (Christopher) Mann of Chicago; grandchildren Devin, Madeline, John, and Zachary; brothers Dennis of Jackson, CA and John of Superior, WI; former wife Marilynn Donahue Simpson of Kenosha; and companion Paula Ayotte of Muskegon, MI.

A collection of Tom’s work can be found here.

Brent Butterworth’s remembrance of Tom here.

Obituary published in the Lansing State Journal.

Tom Nousaine RIP thread on AVS Forum .