Celebrate Don Keele’s 85th Birthday 🎉
This November 2025, D.B. “Don” Keele Jr.—a pioneer in loudspeaker engineering and acoustics—will be celebrating his 85th birthday! Don’s work has influenced generations of engineers, designers, musicians, and audio enthusiasts around the world. From groundbreaking research on constant-directivity horns to his extensive reviews for Audio Magazine, and his most recent CBT loudspeaker invention, his contributions have left a lasting impact on the field of sound reproduction.
We invite you to help mark this special occasion by leaving a personal birthday message for Don. Share your thoughts, memories, or let him know how his work has inspired or influenced you. Whether you’ve known him personally, followed his career, or benefited from his innovations, your words will make this milestone celebration truly meaningful.
How to Leave a Birthday Greeting
- Fill out the form below with your name and email address.
(Your email will not be published; it is only used for registration.) - Write your message in the comment box. This could be:
- A simple birthday wish 🎂
- A note of thanks for Don’s contributions to audio engineering 🎶
- A personal memory or story about how his work impacted you
- Submit your comment. Please note:
- All comments will be reviewed before posting.
- Your message may not appear right away, but it will be published once approved.
57 responses to “Happy Birthday Don!”
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Happy Birthday Dad!
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Happy birthday, Don! I loved reading about your awards and patents. You really are a humble man. May the Lord continue to bless your life!
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Happy Birthday!! Love you 🥳🎉🎁
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Happy birthday Uncle Don. Believe it or not, I still have the hand generator you gave me as a kid. Have a fantastic day!!
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Happy birthday Don was such a pleasure working with you at Harman. Loved seeing your designs.
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Happy birthday from Dongtan S. Korea Don!
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Happy Birthday, Don! You have been an inspiration to so many. Thank you for you humble dedication to advancing the art and science of audio engineering.
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No rust? Keep going !!!!
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Happy Birthday Don,
Hope the next decade is your finest yet! -
Happy Birthday Don.
Besides loudspeakers, I think of you whenever I tie my shoelaces. #KeeleKnot -
✨ Celebrating Don Keele! ✨
Posting my message here to celebrate Don’s remarkable life, brilliance, and lasting impact on everyone who was lucky enough to know him. 💫
Happy Birthday, Don! 🎉
I want to salute your incredible health, your achievements, and most of all, your wonderful family. As the nurse practitioner at the Harman Clinic, I was lucky enough to get to know you and see your brilliance firsthand. It truly was one of those rare encounters in life that stays with you.
Your work in loudspeaker design and acoustics has had an amazing impact on the world, and your mind and curiosity were inspiring to everyone around you. I often shared stories about you with my own family — you’re one of those people I’ll never forget.
Life is great on my end — I’m retired now, have a new grandson, and have settled in Littleton, Colorado. I’m healthy and still following the example you set for living well and staying active.
Wishing you continued good health and happiness — cheers to you, Don! 🥂
— Gretchen Conley 💙
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Happy Birthday Don!
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Happy Birthday Don! Thank you for your great designs that have been appreciated over my many years of listening.
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Happy Birthday Dad! We love you so much!
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Happy Happy Birthday Uncle Don, love you!
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Happy 85th, Don!
-Bill Waslo -
Happy birthday
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Happy Birthday, Don!
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Don,
We met on the shuttle van from the Davis Ranch to the hotel in 1979 (after a Syn-Aud-Con workshop) and have been in contact every several years since.
I write the Tech Feature article series for FoH magazine. If you would like me to interview you for an article we would love that!
A list of article web links (and audio summary) on PA loudspeakers is posted here: The History of P.A. Loudspeakers: A Look Back from 2025 | FOH | Front of House Magazine
I didn’t hear back from an email I sent you a few months ago, so I came up with a short story about your work in my historical article.
Best regards,
David Kennedy -
Happy Birthday, D B. !
Hope you health is holding up.
I beat lymphoma twice…
Live up on the Mendocino Coast these days
Still have my library and archives at my Topanga Canyon place.
Be well. God bless you.
Mark -
Happy birthday Don.
I am the proud owner of a TEF12 plus which runs on software that you wrote many years ago. I heard your curved line array with the 32 tiny tweeters. I was a systems engineer at JBL professional, and have read your papers. I would love to talk to you sometime. -
Happy Birthday Don! It was a pleasure to work with you at Harman in Martinsville. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!!
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Don.
The web site update looks great. I hope all is well. Still running? It would be great to have lunch sometime soon.
Happy happy birthday.
cheers,
steve -
Happy Birthday Don!
Thanks for sharing your efforts to improve our audio understanding and listening pleasure. My CBT24s are readily the best speaker value I have ever owned in speakers and plan to keep them for as long as I can.
Best wishes for continued health and happiness!
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Remembering our friendship when our kids were little. Clarence and Joyce Wold Clarence will celebrate his 90th birthday November 30. Hope your 85th is perfect.
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Happy Birthday Don. Thanks for everything!
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Ramakrishnan M.K
Dear Don, Happy Birthday and many more happy returns of the day!
You have been a wonderful resource in advancing our business in the audio.
Best regards,
Ram
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Dear Don, I wish you all the very best for your 85th birthday, and then many others to come and enjoy 🥳🎁🎈🍀
Without your groundbreaking work, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy as much as I do all the new and some old music that elevate my life so thoroughly 🎼🎶
Thank you so much❣️ -
Happy Birthday Don! Thank you for all your help and inspiration.
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Happy birthday Don! I wish you all the best
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Happy Birthday Don
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Happy Birthday Don. While you have contributed to the industry in may ways, I thank you for the time you took to share your knowledge to the industry and personally. I guess I must have asked a question on the Syn-Aud-Con forum that got your attention. You corresponded about the shaped tone burst and EIA-426-B. Understanding the entire system (components, a loudspeaker’s inherent pass band and resultant interactions, etc) was really informative. Maybe we even talked once. I was honored. Happy Birthday and thanks!
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Happy Birthday Don,
I am always cheered up by your enthusiasm and wonderful personality. Interestingly, my study of your work wasn’t so much the CBT’s, but I was really grateful for your paper, now just over 50 years ago!, on loudspeakers using nearfield measurements, which I am still working on well into retirement. Funny how these older papers of ours keep drawing us back.
Have a wonderful celebration.
John Vanderkooy -
Happy Birthday Don. It has been a pleasure knowing you for so many years. Every time I see your follow up article True Bass in a Large Space in audioXpress to my article True Bass in a Small Space I have to chuckle at the photo of you in the refrigerator sized enclosure for the 30″ Electro Voice woofer. Congratulations on so many important contributions to the audio field and especially for being such a kind, sharing person.
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Happy Birthday Don!
I always enjoyed our discussions when we both worked in Harman Martinsville.
Robin Fites -
I was a 26 year old and the only acoustic engineer at Heathkit in 1974 when I contact Don at Electro-Voice to ask if I could bring a home loudspeaker I was developing for Heathkit (in St. Joseph, MI) to Buchanan to use their anechoic chamber. on a weekend. Don talked to Ray Newman and got his okay and I drove the 25 miles, met Don and he helped me make some measurements. I never forgot that favor and how enthusiastic Don was (finally: a fellow acoustic engineer). I’m 78 and still helping to develop loudspeakers (and head and earphones) at Beats/Apple in the greater LA area. When you love what you do….you just keep doing it. Happy Birthday Don, you won’t be forgotten…you’ve been an inspiration to me for over 50 years!
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Don, Happy Birthday!
Glad to learn you will be turning 85 years old this month. I turned 70 this year.I am living in Apple Valley, Ca and keeping busy with work and local activities in my 55+ development. It was a pleasure and remarkable experience to work with you at JBL back in the 70s and 80s for I believe was about 5 years. Anyone who has had the good fortune to know you, should consider themselves very fortunate, I know I do.
I was glad to find out from Doug Button that your website was updated. I will be checking it out and exploring all the vast knowledge and information I always enjoyed learning from you.
Dean Rivera
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Happy birthday Don. I’m proof that there is life beyond 85, I hope there are many more to come. Audio is a profession, not a job, so it never ends. We are back home in Canada, with old friends, colleagues and winter tires. Just completed the 4th edition of my book. Happiness is . . .
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Happy 85th Birthday Mr. Keele!
Thank you for all your work in standardizing a speaker measurement process back in the day!
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Hi Don, I built a Shaded Array with full range drivers (100% bass signal to all drivers, shaded HF filtering above 300Hz) in 2017, and presented those at the Parts Express design competition and had the privilege of meeting you there. I admire the elegance of your thinking and your integration of mathematics with practical engineering. Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday Day!! Thank you for many contributions to the audio community.
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Hi Don, a very belated Happy Birthday and thanks for your work and insights onto constant directivity horn design. Your comments on my first AES paper, ‘A Wide Dispersion Constant Directivity Dual Concentric’ were both kind and helpful.
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Happy belated birthday Don. Keep up the good work. The ocean of human ignorance is vast and deep. No matter where we drop anchor the bottom is elusive. You have humbly gone much deeper than most.
Blessings!
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Happy Birthday Don, great to see you are still going strong! All my best wishes, Tim
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Happy Birthday Don!
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Happy birthday Don.
I really enjoy the PreSonus CDL12P loudspeakers in my home theater. Thanks!-
I’ll be adding a post about the CDLs and Hugh’s Blaze speaker also!
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Best Wishes Don, you are one of the greats!
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This is a voice from your long ago past. I remember you and Carol from First Baptist Chuch in Alhambra. They were such good times! It was great reading about your life here! It sounds like a life well lived! Happy Birthday, Don. I hope the next year will be filled with wonderful adventures and good health! Diana Farren Lee
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Happy Birthday Don! You are an audio God. My present dream is to make a pair of CBT speakers using Fountek FE89EX drivers and a subwoofer. It is just a dream, I heard a pair of your original Parts-Express two-way CBT design speakers and have never forgotten the sound. SB Audience also makes a driver, as I am sure you know, using XBL2 motor technology, but they cost so much it kinda kills the dream. Unfortunately, the dream is just that and will likely never come to be. I think of you whenever I go to a concert and see the (usually JBL) PA speakers hanging from the ceiling and stretching to the floor and the sound is clear everywhere. I hope you have many more productive happy years to come in life.
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Happy 85th year Don !
Bravo for all your successful projects !
were you involved in Patrician 2 ?
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