David Waratuke
Professionally, David engineers building structures. He has worked on structures of all types and sizes from residential homes to skyscrapers and stadiums. He has half a dozen completed skyscrapers in Chicago including UBS Tower, Chase Center, and 191 North Wacker that he has worked on and several starting or under construction including One Museum Park East, One Museum Park West, and 600 Lake Shore Drive. David has provided primary analysis and design for the lateral systems to resist dynamic wind loading on the majority of these projects.
David is also a musician and a music and audio enthusiast in addition to being an engineer. He has had a love of music from early childhood that lead to learning the trumpet. While not still actively performing due to professional and family time demands, David’s career as a musician included grade school concert bands; concert, jazz, musical pit, and marching bands in high school; and performing with the University of Illinois Bands including the Marching Illini, before nearly 80,000 people at Memorial Stadium, and with Concert Band I at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, during college. To further his understanding of music, David also completed two semesters of instruction in music theory during college.
By high school, David’s interests in music also lead him to realize the importance of quality audio reproduction in the enjoyment of recorded music. Throughout college, every spare dollar went into building a music collection and an audio system. He originally enrolled in the Engineering Physics program in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois with intent to become a speaker designer. After a sophomore year visit to the Engineering Placement Office (EPO), he switched to Civil Engineering, another field that had occupied much of his childhood, building things, when he realized that getting a job as audio designer was as much circumstance as desire. The Dean who ran the EPO had not heard of some of the more mainstream audio companies; if they did not come to a major engineering college to recruit the jobs were likely scarce.
David has also put his engineering education to use to absorb many related engineering topics. Such topics as acoustics, engineering noise control, and the physics of musical instruments have captured his attention. The physics of these various systems under vibrational loads has direct relation to a number of topics from David’s engineering education.
David hopes to bring a little different perspective to a field dominated by electrical engineers. With a background in structural mechanics, mechanics of materials, fluid mechanics, structural analysis and design, structural dynamics, and earthquake engineering, David can illuminate the mechanical side of the electro-mechanical system that is audio reproduction.
EducationBSCE, 1994, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
MSCE, 1995, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Structural Engineer, Licensed State of IllinoisFollow me on Social Media
Latest content created by David Waratuke
- Classe Delta SSP-800 AV Surround Sound Preamp/Processor Review - August 22, 2013
- RBH Sound Signature Reference 8300-SE/R Loudspeaker Review - December 13, 2009
- Elemental Designs eQ.2 Parametric Equalizer Review - July 22, 2009
- Elemental Designs A7S-450 Subwoofer Review - March 04, 2009
- Chrysalis Acoustics Photon-8 Powered Subwoofer Review - August 05, 2008
- Sunfire HRS-12 Powered Subwoofer Review - March 24, 2008
- Onkyo TX-SR805 AV Receiver Review - November 09, 2007
- HSU Research VTF-1 Subwoofer Review - July 09, 2007
- Infinity Kappa 600 Loudspeakers Review - December 07, 2006
- McIntosh XLS340 Loudspeakers - October 31, 2006
- JL Audio Fathom f112 Subwoofer Review - October 31, 2006
- B&W CM1 Loudspeaker Review - October 25, 2006
- Onix Melody SP3 Tube Integrated Amplifier Review - April 29, 2006
- HSU Research STF-1 Subwoofer Review - November 04, 2005
- Human Hearing Acuity Shown to be More Accurate Than Standard Linear Models - October 23, 2013
- Xbox 360 to Take on a New Form, Natal Becomes Kinect - June 14, 2010
- OLET May Render OLED Obsolete - May 07, 2010
- Open Source Blu-ray Authoring Software Sees Light of Day - April 29, 2010
- After Only 2 Years, Sony Drops OLED in Japan - February 16, 2010
- Monster Introduces Noise Making/Power Line Conditioning Home Theater Plug? - January 07, 2010
- Toshiba Goes Roman, Blu-ray Player Due out Later this Year - July 25, 2009
- UK Family has HT Kit Confiscated over Noise Complaints - March 21, 2009
- NHT to Close Doors, Enters Self-Imposed Chrysalis - March 05, 2009
- New Research Shows Sound Helps Primates See - September 02, 2008
- Engineers Develop Working Electronic Eyeball - August 22, 2008
- DISH Network to go 1080p in August - August 05, 2008
- Krell Introduces $4000 Worth of iPod Overkill - July 24, 2008
- Researchers get MPAA/RIAA to bust a Printer for P2P File Sharing - June 16, 2008
- New Snags in the Digital TV Transition - Moola - June 11, 2008
- Photonic Jets Shown to Increase Optical Disk Capacity - June 10, 2008
- Toshiba’s New BD Attack Vector: Modify DVD for HD Content - June 04, 2008
- Sony BMG Sued for Software Piracy - March 31, 2008
- Get Burned in the Latest Format War? Make Red just like Blu - February 25, 2008
- New Technology to Push 40Mbps DSL over Existing Copper Wire - February 25, 2008
- Video Gaming Posts Record Sales in 2007 - February 21, 2008
- Addicted to video games, it’s all in your brain - February 07, 2008
- Miller & Kreisel Loudspeaker Brand Revived - February 07, 2008
- Blu-ray, Say Hello to iMovies, in HD - January 15, 2008
- Pear Cables Earns Honors in Yahoo's Worst Tech Products of 2007 - January 03, 2008
- Panasonic to Intro 150-inch Plasma at CES - December 28, 2007
- Wii-ercise Debunked Go Get Some Real Exercise! - December 21, 2007
- Video Game Sales put the Hammer Down on DVDs - December 12, 2007
- Rumors of Laser DLP from Mitsubishi Surface for CES - December 07, 2007
- Did Wal-Mart Benefit Black Friday HD Player Sales? - December 06, 2007
- MPAA get DMCA Takedown Notice, Taste of its Own Medicine - December 04, 2007
- Forget the Wii, Motion Capture Gaming is In - November 27, 2007
- Consumer Reports Gets It Right - Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are Equal - November 20, 2007
- $55,000 Remote Control Goes Well With $7,250 Speaker Cables - November 15, 2007
- Holiday Sales Frenzy – Friday’s HD-DVD Smoke Clears - November 08, 2007
- Holiday Sales Frenzy - HD-DVD Players as low as $99 - November 01, 2007
- New Sony Players Cheat Blu-ray Specification Deadline - October 22, 2007
- Halo 3 Pushes Xbox 360 Into Lead Over Wii - October 22, 2007
- Radiohead Gives Recording Industry the Boot - October 02, 2007
- Exploring the Depths of Format War Ignorance - September 28, 2007
- MPAA RIAA Mercenaries Have Shady Activities Exposed - September 19, 2007
- China Enters the HD Fray with CH-DVD - September 11, 2007
- Companies Altering Wikipedia to Remove Negative Views - August 30, 2007
- Perfect Pitch May Be in Your Genes - August 28, 2007
- Paramount and Dreamworks Animation Side with HD DVD - August 20, 2007
- Too Much TV Bad for Kids - Disney Disagrees - August 16, 2007
- DRM Renders Google Movies Unplayable - August 14, 2007
- Sony Battery Woes Continue - August 14, 2007
- Sony Sued Yet Again - August 02, 2007
- Grandma Sees the Future of High-speed Internet - July 27, 2007
- Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive Price Reduction Plus 5 Free Discs - July 26, 2007
- iPhones Jam Duke Wi-Fi - July 19, 2007
- Playstation 3 Price Cut to be Phased Out - July 17, 2007
- EU Continues Probe of HD Video Formats - July 09, 2007
- Sony Surreptitiously Confirms 3D Eyestrain Problems - July 15, 2010
- And So It Begins... FCC Allows MPAA to Control Your TV - May 13, 2010
- Warner Starts HD Format War on a New Front: China - March 30, 2009
- Best Buy Caught Tricking Customers Again, Now It’s HDTV Calibration - November 17, 2008
- Universal Attempts to Squash Redbox, Redbox Fights Back - November 10, 2008
- Copyright Royalty Agencies Go After Pirates: Preschools and Community Centers - October 28, 2008
- EU 45 Year Copyright Extension Plan to Net Aging Musicians a Cool €30 - September 26, 2008
- Apple Wants to DRM Your Shoes, Next Up, Apple Users - September 19, 2008
- Blu-ray Prognosis: Samsung gives Five Years to Live, BDA says Life Eternal - September 17, 2008
- Big Brother Jobs Confirms that Apple can Remotely Control What is on your iPhone - August 15, 2008
- Onion Prophesizes latest RIAA Strategy - It's all Pirate Radio - June 26, 2008
- MPAA asks Judge to Eliminate Burden of Proof, Constitutional Guarantees of the Accused - June 25, 2008
- Format War Pricing Aftermath: Blu-ray Up, HD-DVD Down - March 13, 2008
- Blu-ray: After the Format War Will there be Format Civil War? - February 04, 2008
- BD+ Cracked? So Much for Happily Ever After - December 10, 2007
- Radiohead - So did the Boot Work? - November 08, 2007
- Blu-ray's Dirty Little Secret - September 03, 2007
- Free Markets vs. Corporate Greed - Analysis of the HD Format War - July 10, 2007
- Why you won’t be able to take a picture of your burning laptop using your Sony digital camera. - October 09, 2006
- Porcupine Tree Deadwing Concert Review - October 12, 2005
- Demystifying 4K UHD: What Does it All Mean? - March 03, 2019
- Loudspeaker Cabinet Bracing: A Detailed Look on Do's and Dont's - January 02, 2012
- Alternatives for AV Home Networking - August 16, 2009
- Pear Cable Redux: How to Combat Scam with Science - May 10, 2008
- Sonus Faber Tower Speaker Comparison and Design Overview - September 15, 2015
- XTZ Sound Bookshelf Speaker Comparison (93, 95 and 99 Series) - April 08, 2015
- Infinity Reference Series Loudspeaker Preview - July 10, 2014
- Emotiva XPR-1 Mono-block Reference Power Amplifier Preview - January 02, 2013
- harman/kardon AVR 700 & AVR 1700 A/V Receiver Preview - November 27, 2012
- NAD T-785 A/V Receiver Preview - March 01, 2011
- Onkyo TX-NR708 Networked AV Receiver Preview - August 09, 2010
- Onkyo TX-NR1008 9.2 Channel Networked A/V Receiver Preview - August 02, 2010
- Onkyo TX-NR5008 Networked AV Receiver Preview - July 06, 2010
- Onkyo TX-NR808 7.2 Networked A/V Receiver Preview - June 27, 2010
- Onkyo TX-NR3008 9.1 Channel Networking A/V Receiver Preview - June 14, 2010