Michael Turner
Past ChairLike many AES members of his generation, Mike spent much childhood time experimenting with electronics – building radios and amplifiers from scrapped TV receivers, and learning the hard way which end of the soldering iron is hot. Having tested the neighbours’ patience with home-built disco equipment and (sometimes legal) transmitters, he got involved in hospital and local radio broadcasting, and after the inevitable degree course in electronic & electrical engineering, began his engineering career in 1985 with the BBC in London. He later branched out into industrial electronics, developing novel servo motors and control systems at University of Leeds spin-out company SR Drives Ltd (‘SRDL’) – where he enjoyed a rich learning experience across many topics including switched-mode power electronics, feedback control systems, analogue and digital signal processing, electromagnetics and mechatronics. Noisy electric motors also led to study of vibration, sound radiation and basic acoustics, whilst the establishment of a manufacturing division led to much learning (some of it the hard way – again) about the business of running a factory and maintaining product quality.
Throughout his 30+ years with SRDL and its subsequent US/Japanese owners (Emerson Electric and Nidec Corporation), Mike retained a keen interest in audio electronics and music recording. A growing realisation that his experience of motor design, feedback control systems and dynamics was readily transferrable to loudspeakers led to a part-time PhD in active loudspeaker control, and later the development of a novel (now patented) control & linearisation scheme for moving coil drive units. Since 2019 Mike has operated his own consulting and technology licensing business, Active Transducer Research Ltd (‘ATRL’), which, in addition to his active loudspeaker IP, also offers Mike’s diverse expertise in power and analogue electronics, Class D amplification, motor control and system design / analysis.
Mike has been an AES Member since 2003, and describes the AES as having played “an invaluable – indeed essential” role in both his PhD studies and the subsequent development of his audio business interests. He is keen to ensure that others – especially engineering students – are aware of, and can benefit from, the exceptional opportunities offered by the AES in education, career development and networking.