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Clair Global

Clair Global, or simply Clair, is a professional sound reinforcement and live touring production support company. It was founded by brothers Roy and Gene Clair, who went into business in 1966 after they were asked to bring their sound system on tour with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band. The company formally incorporated in 1970 as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc.

Brothers Roy and Gene Clair grew up in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where their parents owned a grocery store. Their father bought them a small public address system in 1955 which they started to rent out to bands, schools, and churches. It consisted of a horn loudspeaker, a Stromberg-Carlson integrated preamplifier, a 35-watt power amp, and a microphone. Money they earned went to buying more equipment. Through high school, college and after they continued to rent it out and add to it.

Their first business was a loudspeaker reconing business, Clair Reconing, which fixed loudspeakers. This is where they first started learning about loudspeaker design and how important it is to efficiency.

In the early 1960s Gene began working as a technician for Franklin & Marshall College in nearby Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which gave them opportunities to rent out their sound system. Their sound system consisted of two columns with six eight-inch speakers each, a Bogen amplifier and four Shure 55s microphones and rented for $95 a night.

Their big break came in 1966. They provided sound to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at a local show at Franklin & Marshall College. Their road crew was impressed by the Clair Brothers sound system. Roy asked to be invited into their dressing room, where he talked about why the system sounded so good. The next day the band had a show in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which sounded terrible. They contacted the Clair brothers through a local DJ and asked them to come down with their system. Just before these two concerts they had done a show with Herb Alpert, who had not allowed them to use his superior sound system, and they were stuck with the poor house sound system. This made them realize the benefit of traveling with their own sound system. Once again impressed with the Clair brothers sound system, the tour manager asked them to join them on the road for the rest of the tour, bringing their sound system, for $90 per show. It is believed they were the first professional sound company to tour with a band.

In 1967, Clair Brothers used Altec Lansing A7-500 Voice of the Theater speakers on the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tour.

In 1968, the Clair Brothers main front of house system consisted of stacks of custom designed dual 15 inch bass horns loaded with Altec drivers. These were paired with passive crossovers and Altec 288-C high frequency drivers attached to Altec multi-cell horns. These were powered by the new Crown DC300 direct coupled amplifiers. The new dual 15 inch bass horn design was based on the Altec A7 horn design. They were built in-house.

In 1970, the Clair Brothers officially incorporate as Clair Bros. Audio Enterprises, Inc. and switched to JBL speaker components in their speaker designs.

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