LARES is an electronic sound enhancement system that uses microprocessors to control multiple loudspeakers and microphones placed around a performance space for the purpose of providing active acoustic treatment. LARES was invented in Massachusetts in 1988, by Dr David Griesinger and Steve Barbar who were working at Lexicon, Inc. LARES was given its own company division in 1990, and LARES Associates was formed in 1995 as a separate corporation. Since then, hundreds of LARES systems have been used in concert halls, opera houses performance venues, and houses of worship from outdoor music festivals to permanent indoor symphony halls.
Early versions of LARES were incorporated into prefabricated practice room products offered by Wenger Corporation, and related sound-shaping algorithms, based on the LARES research, have been implemented by Lexicon for home and professional listening spaces. In 2008, LARES was reorganized into E-coustic Systems. This coincided with a change from previous proprietary hardware to Intel server class processors and hardware. In addition, new algorithms were developed based on research into human perception of sound. David Griesinger was awarded the Wallace Clement Sabine Medal by the Acoustical Society of America for this body of work.