History of TTI and Major

[gordonmcleod]

Has anyone know much of the actual history of Major and TTI and what caused their demise
We used to deal a lot with TTI dimmers and I always thought they were well constructed

 

[meatpopsicle]

I don't know about Major. There were a number of factors that spelled the end of TTI. One was the death of one of the co-founders, David Lochlan in the late 70s. An internal power struggle over the direction of the company in the early 80's forced another, James L. Read, out. The MDS system was innovative in its heyday and modularized dimming but it wasn't followed up. Companies like LMI, Colortran, EDI, Scrimmer, and Production Arts all came up with their own modular dimming and did a better job of packaging in larger touring packages and with smaller dimmers. Computer consoles were coming into existance and TTI did have some early computer console production (one went into the Hartford Stage Co. in CT.) But the market share was dwindling with compitition. Additionally, I don't think they were able to successfully move from electronics based system design to logic based system design with success.

James Read is currently the President of the ASTC (American Society of Theatre Consultants)

Fred Lindauer is a vice president with Robert Juliat.

Steve Terry would be able to add to this thread and, possibly, correct any errors in the above post.