Innovation and the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound

I have been thinking a great deal about prior attempts to bring about technical innovation and what constitutes "successful innovation." My thoughts wandered to the Grateful Dead and their Wall of Sound. A picture of the Wall of Sound can be found here. It was a behemoth of a sound system. Each of Phil Lesh's bass strings had its own speaker. Legend has it that after the Grateful Dead ended their Wall of Sound tour (it only lasted for a part of 1974), the audio system served as the foundation for a hundred other smaller sound systems. 

The Grateful Dead has released some of its best archival recordings on CD. A few of these focus on the Wall of Sound. One is from the Dick's Pick's series. (Dick's Picks, Vol. 24: Cow Palace, Daly City, CA 3/23/1974). This is the first show where the Wall of Sound was used. Another is from the "Road Trips" series. A link to the recording is here. There are a few other "unofficial" releases, some of which can be found on archive.org. (The Dead permitted people to audio record their shows, so archive.org contains many of these recordings.) Given that I wasn't at any of the Wall of Sound shows, I don't know if these recordings accurately capture the sound. My suspicion is that you had to be present to get the full sonic experience. 

The question becomes whether the Wall of Sound was truly an "innovation." I don't believe that any other band has attempted to create such a sound system since the Dead retired their Wall of Sound. There were many practical reasons not to do so, some of which were explored by members of the Dead and their crew in this video.

However, I contend that an attempt to push the limits of sonic technology constitutes innovation regardless of the long-term success of the project. The Wall of Sound is a historical curiosity at worst. However, it also serves as an inspiration to other bands/musicians/people. It represents an attempt to move the live concert experience forward. It represents a break from the staid status quo. As with many things Grateful Dead, their Wall of Sound is a questioning of well established principles with the hope of doing something new, different, and beneficial for their fans. The best technology companies take similar approaches for the benefit of their customers.