OUR HISTORY

In 1973, a young Italian musician named Guido Noselli had a passion for improving the quality of sound heard by audiences.

1966 - Gli Araldi with Guido Noselli (1st on the right)

The emerging Discothèque market and the increasing demand for large-scale sound systems fuelled Guido’s passion and Outline was founded.

In 1976, Giorgio Biffi joined the company as a partner with the role of International Sales Director. With a life already dedicated to audio and the love of music, Giorgio motivated the company to achieve international status.

Throughout the seventies, huge super clubs were designed and built in Italy to cater for the on-going demand for disco. These venues knew no compromise; top quality was the order of the day. In keeping with the Italian demand for flair and design - these clubs were built using the finest marble, wood, gold and leather. True shrines to entertainment, requiring huge sound systems. Guido was invited by many of these entrepreneurs to add the audio dimension, and it was at this point that the quest for perfection began.

As Outline’s reputation grew, so did the enthusiasm to create the ultimate listening experience.

The sixties and seventies saw many bands emerge and play to constantly larger audiences. For instance, if we take the legendary 1963 concert by the Beatles at Shea Stadium in New York as an example, over fifty thousand people flocked to see them perform, but, in reality, they saw the Fab Four, but didn’t hear them. Then In 1969, a crowd of over a hundred thousand descended on Woodstock, a small town in New York State, to hear such stars as Jimi Hendrix; there again, it’s unlikely that many people heard him. This was the start of the professional sound reinforcement industry.

FROM THEN TILL NOW

OUTLINE, a member of the AES and one of the leading lights in pro audio’s international evolution and innovation, continues to push out the boundaries and improve the listening experience.

With over thirty Distributors on five Continents and over 2,000 venues and users worldwide, our enviable position grows daily. Outline is also building it self an excellent reputation in sound system rental and Outline’s ‘Butterfly’ line array is now an essential tool for many touring companies.

Over recent years, the pro audio world’s trade press has in fact published increasingly frequent news stories on numerous high profile events at which leading artists and their FOH engineers have had the possibility of using Outline’s sound reinforcement systems in packed stadia, indoors sports arenas etc.
These key players’ positive opinions and glowing praise for the systems after the events speak for themselves.

Backed by a global training program with certification for system engineers (VIPA) and a worldwide group of Outline ‘Butterfly’ users known as ‘OUTSOURCE’, Outline also protects clients’ investment with guidelines to rental revenue.

THE PHILOSOPHY

Our mission is to continue expanding the boundaries of excellence, innovating, inventing and continually improving the listening experience, reproducing artists’ talent faithfully and understanding that audiences are very discerning and cannot be fooled.
To these ends, OUTLINE holds a number of registered patents (please see patents section in our web site for a complete list).

ON-GOING RESEARCH WORK

Thanks to a patented procedure – the result of studies and research work begun in the eighties by Guido Noselli – we manufacture Unimetal® compression driver diaphragms, which are unbeatable at world level; ultra-thin, but at the same time astonishingly rigid and light, they incorporate voice coil and suspension in the same single sound generating block with extremely high heat dissipation capacity. This complex procedure results in the unit’s exceptional capacity to transform current into the mechanical diaphragm action, with an acoustically noticeable ease of transduction; the acoustic result is crystal-clear extremely dynamic reproduction of music signals. The Outline ET system – a computer-controlled turntable – is yet another of the special “contraptions” that have gained Outline its rightful international reputation as a market innovator. The original idea, once again occurred to Guido Noselli (in 1990) and was initially intended for in-house use, in order to facilitate measurement of the polar dispersion of the firm’s loudspeaker systems. In fact, through time, the ET System has become the most sought-after work tool, by the firm’s competitors (both large and small) and the world’s most famous sound engineers (the specific reference list is on line), as well as leading multinational companies, authoritative institutes and universities specializing in acoustics worldwide. In 2008 the unit’s new version - Outline ET 250-3D - hit the market: this new model’s features confirm the device’s role as the sector’s state of the art.

Guido Noselli, OUTLINE founder. 1946 - 2006

TECHNICAL & ENGINEERING FACILITIES

The Outline factory in Brescia, Italy, hosts a full-blown carpentry workshop, housing a number of leading-edge computer-controlled CNC machines, as well as metal fabrication facilities and an anechoic chamber. Digital and analogue electronics and software laboratories are also in-house, together with the administration, sales and support departments.

Quality control and final inspection before shipping is all done manually, to ensure that the exacting standards set by the company itself are maintained.

THE LEGACY OF AN ARTISAN

It was with great sadness that Outline announced that Guido had passed away in December 2006. Behind him, he left a team that shared the same in-born faith, philosophy and enthusiasm as he had. Many of the firm’s designers have been with Outline for over thirty years and continue the quest that Guido started.

Outline owners Michele, Giorgio and Stefano	Outline HQ - Italy

“We listen to our customers so that we can create the true audience experience”. This motto penned by Guido is the rule that all the staff members at Outline live by.

SO TO THE FUTURE

The new 2008 management is comprised of Giorgio Biffi; CEO, Michele Noselli; Director of Communications and responsible for getting the “word” out and Stefano Noselli, Director of Production in charge of design and patents. It is important to note that Guido’s DNA not only carries on in his sons, but also in the ideas and originality of present and future products. There are many more backstage that are an important and integral part of Outline’s continuing success.

Outline R&D staff.

Our skilled Research and Development team includes engineers specialising in software development, and takes our products from concept to design, completion and final testing. This ground-breaking team is led by a Professor and two graduates in acoustics and physics and other members are accomplished musicians and singers, as well as being highly qualified specialists from a technical point of view. Their fine-tuned ears are thus often a perfect test-bed for the firm’s latest cutting edge technology.
The loyalty and commitment of all the staff since 1973 continues to this day, and many staff members who started with Outline all those years ago are still there and proud to have been part of the success so far. With many award-winning designs and patents to our name, we continue to look to the future.

OUTLINE ‘The Sound of Big Ideas’