Tony Andrews: from Turbosound to Funktion-One

Every so often, a rental company should tell you where its gear comes from. Ours runs on Turbosound Floodlight tops and horn-loaded subwoofers, and the story of those speakers runs through one person more than any other: Tony Andrews.

This is a short, fun tour of that story, told from the published record. We are an independent Austin sound company, not affiliated with Turbosound or Funktion-One. We just think the people who built the sound of modern festivals deserve a mention.

A kid at the first Glastonbury

According to a ProSoundWeb interview with Andrews, he was 22 at the first Glastonbury in 1971, already building and running sound for festivals. He had walked away from university after a few weeks, which turned out to be a reasonable career decision if your career is loudspeakers.

Those early festivals were the perfect lab. Outdoors, huge crowds, no walls to bounce sound back and no way to fake it. If a system did not project clearly across a field, everyone found out immediately.

The Festival System

In the mid-1970s, Andrews developed what became known as the Festival System: folded-horn bass cabinets built around double 18-inch speakers, and horn-loaded mid and high sections. Its reputation was for vocal clarity and for carrying long distances with power.

The details matter less than the idea. Use horns to make the drivers more efficient, and you get more sound, cleaner, from less amplifier. That idea runs through everything Andrews designed afterward.

Turbosound is born

In 1978, Andrews co-founded Turbosound with Tim Isaac and John Newsham, initially designing and building rental systems. The company grew into one of the important names in touring sound. Its later designs included the TMS-3, the Flashlight and the Floodlight, systems that Funktion-One credits Andrews and Newsham with designing. Turbosound’s own history puts the TMS-3 in the early 1980s and the Flashlight in the 1980s. (Sources differ on some dates, so we are keeping the timeline loose.)

Funktion-One’s history page notes that the systems were used on major tours and events. One frequently cited example is Roger Waters’ Berlin Wall concert, which drew an audience of roughly 350,000 people.

The split and Funktion-One

Turbosound was sold to Harman in 1992. That same year, Andrews and Newsham founded Funktion-One in Surrey, England, to keep building horn-loaded, high-efficiency loudspeakers on their own terms.

Funktion-One’s stated philosophy is refreshingly simple: reduce distortion, maximize efficiency, and avoid relying on corrective processing. Andrews has summed up the attitude as doing as little to the signal as possible. In an audio world obsessed with processing, that is a bold stance, and it has won the brand a loyal following in clubs and festivals.

Why it matters for your party

You might not care whose logo is on the speaker. Here is why the story matters anyway:

1. Horn-loading is a proven approach. It has been used at festival scale for decades, and it is why our rigs sound powerful without sounding harsh.
2. Efficiency is a feature. More of the amplifier’s energy comes out as sound, so the system runs cool and clean.
3. The designers came from the field. These were people who learned the craft in front of real crowds outdoors. That shows up in how the systems behave at a backyard, a ranch or a hillside.

That is the lineage behind the Turbosound Floodlight tops in every Mo’Pro Crew package, and behind the horn-loaded subs under them.

Hear it for yourself

The best way to understand all of this is to stand in front of it. Our rigs start at $600 for a standard 4 to 5 hour event, delivered, set up and tuned. Check open dates and hear what horn-loaded sounds like at your own party.