It started with broken speakers from drive-in theaters.
"My father used to drive around in October when the drive-in theaters closed for the season," Dan Digre, MISCO’s CEO, recalls. "He'd collect all the speakers and they’d tell him, 'Bring them back in March so we can get everything ready to go to open up in April.'"
That repair work laid the foundation for what MISCO would become and how we would approach audio quality for drive-thrus, kiosks, and other point-of-sale systems. Digre remembers working alongside his father as a child, taking apart weather-worn speakers piece by piece.
"You had to catalog all the parts because they needed re-plating when the metal rusted. The early days were all about understanding why speakers failed. Did the cone deteriorate? Did the adhesives give out?"
Soon, drive-in owners started noticing something unexpected: after MISCO repaired their speakers, they sounded better than new ones.
"That's when customers began asking, 'Why don't you start making your own speakers?'" Digre explains. "They saw that our speakers lasted longer and didn't fail as frequently."
The Drive-Thru Revolution
Then came the 1970s, and with them, a new challenge: drive-thru restaurants. A customer approached MISCO with a problem. They needed speakers for their menu boards–but not just any speakers. These needed to handle two-way communication while surviving rain, snow, and summer heat.
"They came to us because of our expertise in developing outdoor audio transducers, specifically for drive-in applications. They asked if we could develop a speaker for a menu board," Digre recounts. "It was a slightly different implementation of the technology and required modifying our speakers to work in a bidirectional communication interface. Now you have a speaker that also needs to function as a microphone because it's two-way."
That project launched MISCO into a new era. As drive-thru restaurants expanded, the demands grew more complex.
"First focus was mostly on durability, but eventually audio quality expectations evolved, Digre said. “By then, they’re asking us: ‘We still need durability, but can you make the audio better?’"
New Challenges, New Solutions
Each new industry brought its own technical hurdles. Take gas stations, for example.
"There are several safety considerations to place audio in a fuel dispenser that you don't have in a menu board," Digre explains. "Once a company went through the approvals necessary for a fuel dispenser, everything had to stay the same. It was frozen."
This meant MISCO needed to guarantee parts availability not just for years, but decades. While other manufacturers might discontinue products, forcing companies to restart their certification process, MISCO committed to supporting products for 5, 10, or even 30 years.
Inside restaurants, the challenges shifted. Kitchens needed compact, reliable speakers for order management and timing systems.
"We developed a very small speaker that can go into their kitchens, point-of-sale, things like that," Digre notes. "That's a very important product for us and them today."
Customization and long-term durability remain priority goals for our drive-thru, kiosk, and point-of-sale speakers, including these examples:
- The DC3WP combines precision engineering with environmental resilience in a compact 3-inch frame. Built around a robust steel basket and powered by a 2.4 oz ferrite magnet, this 8-ohm driver delivers clear voice reproduction at 87 dB SPL. Its 0.6-inch copper voice coil, wound on an aluminum former, pairs with an acrylic-treated cloth cone to maintain consistent performance across an impressive temperature range of -67°F to +185°F.
- The 90274 is an engineering feat that marries rugged durability with exceptional audio performance. At its core, this 4-inch powerhouse delivers an impressive 94 dB SPL output through its polypropylene cone system while maintaining crystal-clear sound reproduction across a wide frequency range. The speaker includes a stress-resistant plastic housing and adjustable steel mounting brackets, complemented by a protective PVC screen with foam backing.
- The 88104-B horn speaker commands attention with its exceptional 107 dB SPL sensitivity rating, delivering crystal-clear voice reproduction through its precision-engineered 5.5-inch frame. The 88104-B combines a robust ABS plastic horn assembly with a phenolic diaphragm driven by a ferrite magnet system capable of handling 40 watts of power. It achieves an impressive maximum SPL of 123 dB while maintaining clarity across a critical 2 kHz octave band.
- The 70094 powered speaker is designed specifically for point-of-sale applications. It features a treated cone and high-power neodymium magnet housed in an environmentally resistant plastic enclosure. With its built-in mono power amplifier delivering 4 watts at 8 ohms, it provides clear, low-distortion voice reproduction without requiring external amplification—making it ideal for quick installation in restaurant kitchens, drive-thru systems, and self-service kiosks.
The Future of Point-of-Sale Audio
Now, as retail moves toward self-service kiosks, MISCO is solving a new problem: audio confusion in spaces with multiple ordering stations. The solution? Beam steering technology directing sound precisely where it needs to go.
"We're creating systems where I hear the audio because I'm standing in front of the speakers, but the person next to me doesn't hear what I'm hearing, and I'm not hearing what they're hearing," Digre explains. "We're even looking at incorporating AI where you have optical tracking that can actually follow the person."
These emerging audio technologies are transforming the retail experience:
Beam Steering Audio
This technology uses multiple carefully timed and phased speaker elements to create focused "beams" of sound. For quick-service restaurants with multiple self-order kiosks, beam steering concentrates audio instructions or confirmations within the customer's personal space.
"It's like creating an invisible audio booth around each customer," Digre notes. This technology can also adapt to the user's height, ensuring optimal sound delivery whether the customer is a child or an adult.
Directional Audio Applications
Beyond kiosks, directional audio technologies are used throughout retail environments. For drive-thru lanes with multiple ordering positions, directional speakers can eliminate cross-talk between stations. In grocery stores, product-specific messaging can be delivered to shoppers in specific aisles without disturbing others. Even ATMs and banking kiosks can benefit from increased privacy through focused audio that prevents sensitive information from being overheard.
Immersive 3D Audio Experiences
By combining tracking technologies and advanced speaker designs, retail environments can create immersive audio experiences that follow customers' shopping journeys.
"The goal isn't just clear audio," Dan notes. "It's creating a natural-sounding exchange where the technology disappears and the interaction feels personal."
The applications extend beyond traditional retail. Museums can deliver exhibit-specific audio without headphones, hospitality environments can provide personalized check-in experiences, and transportation hubs can direct announcements only to relevant passengers. With each advancement, the technology becomes more seamless and the experience more intuitive.
Testing Makes Perfect
Behind every MISCO speaker lies extensive testing and validation.
"We probably have the best loudspeaker measurement technology in North America," Digre states. "When validating a design, we have the test and measurement tools to show customers exactly how their product will perform. It's not just because we listen to it and think it sounds good–here's the data."
This includes measuring the 3D acoustical output of the speaker system so that we can visualize the directionality and loudness of the system, not only from the front but all sides, top and bottom, and even from the back of the speaker. We often call this an acoustical “balloon.”
Examining the acoustical balloon is essential because we want to put the sound right where it’s supposed to be: on the listener, not on reflective surfaces that might be detrimental to intelligibility. These measurement techniques allow MISCO to enhance the performance of speakers used in drive-thru restaurants, kiosks, and other point-of-sale systems and ensure that audio output is clear and intelligible, even in noisy or acoustically challenging environments.
Building Tomorrow's Solutions
Today, MISCO brings this deep experience to every project. When engineers come to us with new challenges, we offer more than just speakers.
"We can design it, help them design it, prototype it, test it, manufacture it, and deliver it all over the world," Digre explains.
From that first repaired drive-in speaker to today's AI-enhanced systems, our mission remains constant: building audio solutions that work reliably, sound clear, and last for decades.
Contact our team to discuss your point-of-sale audio requirements.
