UPA-1  (1980)
Meyer Sound

Meyer Sound UPA-1

Compact Wide Coverage Loudspeaker
From the Meyer Sound website:
The release of the UPA-1 was a milestone for sound reinforcement in general, as well as for Meyer Sound specifically. A repackaging of the technology used in the UM-1 UltraMonitor, the UPA-1 offered several advances that could fairly be termed revolutionary. For a start, it featured a high-frequency section that fully incorporated John Meyer's method of reducing distortion by balancing non-linearities of the compression driver and horn against each other, accommodating the driver's natural behavior instead of generating distortion by trying to force it into different behavior.
Second, the UPA-1 was used with a dedicated CEU. Although the UM-1 also had a CEU, the UPA-1, which was only a year behind the UM-1, created a sensation with its performance, legitimizing for many the idea of dedicated loudspeaker processing.
Finally, there was the UPA-1's trapezoidal cabinet shape. John Meyer was espousing the benefits of point-source arrays, which were not possible to achieve with rectangular boxes. The UPA-1s trapezoidal shape allowed it to be tight-packed or splayed, but to behave as if there was a sound source emanating from behind the cabinets.
With its high output, low distortion, and small footprint, the UPA-1 had exceptionally broad applications, causing it to be widely embraced, but the theatre world, in particular, immediately began making the UPA-1 — which had been designed in part for the needs of Abe Jacobs, dean of Broadway sound designers — into a standard part of theatrical sound systems.

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