John P. D'Arcy

Who was John P. D'Arcy?

John Paul D'Arcy, was an American electrical engineer and inventor closely associated with designing commercial subwoofers and lasers for Photorefractive keratectomy.

He attended Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles County from 1972–1975, and graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon preparatory school in 1976, before enrolling at Brown University. He worked at A Broun Sound in San Rafael, California, reconing loudspeakers for the Grateful Dead before taking a position at Miller & Kreisel Sound Corporation, where he worked from 1980-1984. His contributions to the filter and amplifier sections of their powered subwoofers, and to the development of the Satellite speakers helped establish M&K as an early leader in the satellite/subwoofer market. M&K Executive Vice President Charles Back called D'Arcy "the best digital engineer we ever worked with.". He subsequently worked for Spectra Physics Corporation in San Jose, California, designing lasers for supermarket scanners, and for VISX Corporation of San Jose where he developed lasers for optical surgery until his death.