👉🏾  HOME 👈🏾 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8   S  + 




 Left and below, the EMI 300C most ambitious and most carefully designed of US mass-market Benjamin, is today one of the world's rarest speakers, here awaiting the trash picker on a sidewalk of New York City, some fifty four years after purchase.  Chipboard is veneered over and braced delivering 10Hz-20KHz Frequency Response with wide-band amplifiers with a tube rectifier.  On the American west coast, a pair of 300 discovered in a beach house were broken up and sold off in component parts.  Cloth grilles at the sides were decorative over solid panels.  10Hz low note is unlikely bettered with modern sub-woofers, relatively high in distortion but manage a deeper 5Hz.
Left, the lower-middle-class Acoustical Manufacturing Co. had offered this massive elite only Ribbon horn speaker in 1951 for the British nobility instead of WERC Dual-Concentric then followed with the 1960s QUAD ESL57 imported to the US by Harvard Law graduate Irving 'Bud' Fried.  Right, the mass-market 1960s Ribbon speaker, Mordaunt-Short MS-700 with DECCA Kelly horn and Fane cone speakers.
Right mass-market take on the late 1960s Mordaunt-Short MS-700 right above is the 1976 year Sansui SP-5500X normally partnered with a 1975 year Kenwood KR-9400 of Damping Factor 50 on account of the five drivers and ported reflex.  The woofer has a stiff, pleated edge to compensate for poor low-frequency control of the lower-market amplifiers.  The squawkers are 13-ohm 1KHz-5KHz 16 watts, the large knob adds sound effects.  The speaker system doesn't need 120 watts from the KR-9400 receiver working at low power turnover but such Japanese receivers need a deep bass woofer and don't run near full power.  Internet searches help before buying.
Left & above, the upper middle class Radford STA.100 for the extra large 60 watt Studio 360 loudspeaker of 16 ohms impedance, back in the year 1967 when most Radford speakers were 50 watt, the 360 having ten drivers in each cabinet, a Transmission Line needing extra power of the STA-100's Kinkless Tetrode, KT120, today found in Rogue Audio's Stereo 100 and recommended for affordable, American Magneplanar LRS+ speakers with 86dB SPL.  Radford's Studio 360 used Goodmans drivers, the Kinkless Tetrode of the QUAD II, thought the supreme audio Beam tube, the amplifier above and left following 'double mono' symmetry construction.  
 
Right KEF B139 woofer in a Radford Monitor, a polystyrene flat diaphragm in upper-middle-class speakers used where EMI wasn't available.  The most sound comes from the Goodmans squawker and other drivers add realism.  BBC Lockwood cabinet, a Radford TT100 above would've been used.  Danish Dynaudio 4-inch voice coil woofers beat KEF B139 but the Radford Monitor and Ferrograph S1 enthusiasts use Beam Echo DL7 35. Goodmans Dome Radiator tweeter, metal or plastic-bodied doesn't suit QUAD 405-2.  HF1300 right is so fragile, powerful digital sound kills it.
Left, a later Radford Monitor resides by a molding, from a demolished stately home once dear to its owner.  A speaker stand is fashioned from scrap wood, possibly in a yacht club.  Radford speakers used a number of special tube amplifiers, in later years the 'Class A', MA50 wasn't well received, needing certain matching equipment suited to vintage and social class standing, and likely using cheaper supporting equipment.  The squawker speech dome is given a hole, seen in many speakers of the time.

Tristar T90, Monitor M90, Auditorium A90, Studio S90, Monitor 180, Studio 270/50.

Below Richard Allan and Fane belonged Batley in West Yorkshire, HMV brand.
Left, Richard Allan of the vintage tube amplifier are mounted in large baffle corner speakers with the rectangular port to maximize low-frequency effect but are aimed at large volume rooms with high ceilings.  These speakers need low Damping Factor tube amplifiers and are followed by a West Yorkshire country set.  In smaller cottage rooms such speakers deliver a less effortless, spacious effect but still hold an audience.  Of no use to lower society  BBC LS3/5A listeners.

Right, landscape and portrait painter Gainsborough worked in his native Sudbury and then Ipswich until 1759 when he moved to Bath and established a fashionable portrait practice. Settling in London in 1774, he was Joshua Reynolds's only real rival as a portrait painter. Quarreled with the Royal Academy over the exhibition of his pictures; he was highly-strung in personality, a lively letter writer and devoted to music.

Croft tube amplifiers were bought by the upper class in 'Series V' form as more suited to EMI in using EL84, a smaller low power tube compared to the modern classic revival amplifier's KT88, it has a sweet sound very similar to KT66, some say even better.  Left KT88 in Radford TT100 is an inferior, high power, high distortion musical instrument tube.
 The Electro-Voice Baronet loudspeaker was aimed at people like 11th Baronet of Anstruther, Sir Sebastian right, a title of lower aristocracy or landed gentry, in some titles given as 'of that ilk'The upper aristocracy are the British nobility.  Both groups attend Eton school, remaining separate.  Higher in social rank than British nobility is a separate category and group connected with European royalty.


Right, Bristol, CT Clock & Watch Museum.  Favorite wristwatches that were chosen by the most powerful people in business and finance.


John Harrison demonstrated Longitude clocks to members of the Royal Society who'd spoken on his behalf to the Board of Longitude and considered it worthy of a sea trial. In 1736, Harrison sailed to Lisbon on HMS Centurion under the command of Captain George Proctor and returned on HMS Orford.  Harrison was no specialist in wire springs and the Longitude clock made slow progress.

 Tapio Köykkä of Finland hero of late-1960s hippies.  Brita Bonde of Charleton.


Below Tannoy speakers were made in Scotland from the 1973 year until recent Chinese globalization.  Old Tannoy was once made in London.

Typical, lower-social-class (from the peasantry) Pittenweem local.  Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Right, an audition of Manley Snapper power amplifiers using a louder Super-Tweeter on top to lift treble and avoid the usual, midrange dominant tube sound.  Manley amplifiers persist with Output Transformers despite the American 1950s lead from Electro-Voice.

Right American Bozak of the 1950s used varying thickness woofer cones with aluminum squawker and tweeter.  The mass-market elite speakers aren't widely discussed.  The Bozak B501 was an American tube speaker found in Queens NY with bespoke dealer EMI, few share what equipment was used.  They'd a sharper treble so suited certain equipment better, a closed, elite society speaker.  The Japanese B501 link shows a custom speaker with an Altec-Lansing 605A core in a B501 cabinet.  The tube amplifiers that work best with 605A are better known but most prefer the 604C.  However, these are Americans with a lifetime's experience in matching up tube equipment.  Roy Cohn.

Below the Beard P100 was downmarket from Radford TT100 tube amplifiers.






























Left the B24 Liberator advanced use of electronic warfare and equipped Search Bomber (SB), Low Altitude (LAB) and Radar Counter Measure (RCM) squadrons making a significant contribution to Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-boats. Aircraft had the ability to undertake surprise air attacks against surfaced submarines with England's RAF Coastal Command in 1941.

Note the EMI 550 tweeters in the DLS629 from the EMI 19 x 14 inch 901.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Right, EMI LE.3ss was an expensive version of  LE.3 that had looked identical to the LE.2 below.  So the 3ss had an extra tweeter for wider dispersion and a double wound voice coil of 1950s EMI 46600 13 x 8 style with low frequency much more efficient than a standard 750 woofer, intended for Solid State amplifiers and more power than the tube era 711 13 x 8 woofers above in the DLS629.  EMI speakers of the early 1970s were largely used at RAF (Royal Air Force) military installations where their purpose remains unknown but was likely to have been in Audio Visual use for film or recorded broadcasts as professional speaker systems.
  Left British early 1970s LE.2 with 750 woofers.  Cone tweeter mounted on J. Arthur Rank Organization foams in the ready-built version, not available to the mass market.  LE.2 is most commonplace of the BBC Lockwood series LE.1 - 7 but all are very rare today.  750 is most seen in the mass market Monitor Audio MS-400 series.  The next model down is the LE.1 and upmarket the LE.3ss looks like the LE.2 but is a very early Surround Speaker for four-channel systems of the day and the only Lockwood EMI model wound on the voice coil's inner and outer surfaces in order to obtain higher sensitivity.  LE.4 has a 14 x 9 as the LE.7.  Left curious EMI tweeter in 1966...
  ...vintage Benjamin issue of the Scope EMI 812 bears a speech dome similar to the EMI squawker right of a 1970 year Mordaunt Short MS077.

Right a bullet entry hole in a tweeter from British Rhodesia that had been in a mansion.  The German features of the tweeter used are very interesting to enthusiasts.  The double asbestos resin board for strength, the heat, and flaking of paint caused by the bullet.  Rola H4BG 3187 are similar solid back four inches.  Bullet damage at the front of the tweeter cone that goes to 18KHz.
Cabinet construction of Rhodesian SUPERSONIC speakers looks outsourced.  Rhodesia was never directly ruled by Britain; after 33 years under the administration of the British South Africa Company, she was granted full internal self-government in 1923.  So Hi-Fi is partly homegrown with speaker cores imported from Germany.  Garrard AP75 record players resembled Perpetuum Ebner 3015.

 Above US design 5881 military tubes, adopted in USSR and optimized for fighter aircraft, useful for portable guitar use.  Very small Output Transformers suggest a modern, OTL type tube amplifier, a speaker impedance matching coil - not matching an output tube.  From Japan, those used by a European elite, only for sale in Greece as too expensive for the UK, are of dubious suitability for vintage EMI left.  The 1967 year flatter looking diaphragm KEF T-27 Mk.2, 8 ohms, 6535 tweeters and the crossover is of some rarity value.   The fan in the power supply above likely retains the sweet sound of carefully matched components, higher quality power usually needs a much bigger, heavier amplifier.  Right, the EMI front mount cutout for a 205 14 x 9 is seriously complicated using high-density chipboard, somehow crafted, not something for everyone.  Yet some machining process is likely to have done it in an instant.  The brown staining is from an H.J. Leak style post that braces the front and rear baffles for ultimate strength and deep bass.  Again the thickness of the baffle seen aims to get the deepest low note available.  Note the thin wire is likely pure silver strand, so pricey new but available in old cabinets of elite origin.  Left the tweeter in the elite only EMI 205 cabinet above is a rare, early aluminum...
...dome version of the plastic dome 6535 KEF T-27 but made to mesh with an equally short-lived, aluminum domed KEF M65 mid-range, elite only as unsuited to mass production, difficult to make and enthusiasts struggle getting a stereo pair as matched only at the factory from many examples.  Aluminum dome T-27 meshed with an aluminum mid-range of EMI 14A/770N.   Below EMI 14A/1720 aren't horn-loaded nor the later mass-market T-27.  1960s EMI has a real 'clear...
...dome' not the white of early KEF T-27 so that enthusiasts might wonder if, through all the confusion of early years, a so-called 'clear dome' of the BBC LS3/5 and KEF Cresta was from someone discussing an EMI tweeter.  Monitor Audio had acquired a good supply of surplus 1960s EMI dome tweeters used in their 1970s M.A.7 small studio monitor, originally with a long excursion EMI woofer.  Left another view of EMI 14A/1720, these being elite only in the 1960s and with the rest of the...

...mid-nineteen sixties 14A series, likely aimed at Solid State of early vintage.  Mass market-ready hard domes like the Wharfedale XP2 arrived a decade later after a great many development issues.  EMI 14A/1720 are best used with elite 1960s equipment and viewed as very expensive to make, they were used in Expert Gramophone, reflector speakers yet to be seen on the internet. Below effect of power supply and amplified spurious noises on Frequency Response.
Right, before Mo Iqbal launched his early 1970s 'Monitor Audio' MA7 for the Cambridge University community, it was an elite only SIROCCO model available direct from the His Master's Voice building at Hayes.  The speaker would be aimed at the EMI 1515 amplifier and toned for then expensive germanium semiconductor sound.  Iqbal later moved to Essex importing drivers.

 Left, HACKER L.S.1500B of 1973 with Peerless middle-range, dome tweeter and an EMI 711 on a thick chipboard baffle.  The British Dynatron radiogram company began trading in 1927 and the Hacker name came from two brother engineer owners.  The LS1500B speakers were made under the 1967 Dutch Philips buyout ownership and very specialist germanium circuity was still being used in their radiograms of the early 1970s.  The factory was based at Maidenhead, near the Henley-On-Thames yacht event and had a number of EMI speaker models, the L.S.500C, L.S1000 and L.S.1500.  The year 1972 was the last year before the new European Britain.




Right, the late 1970s Marantz 2016 was replaced by a 1980 'B' version and predated by the 2015 and 2010 from 1973.  Lowest power has the sweetest sound complicated by higher Damping Factor of 45 in 2015 for the JBL L100, below and F.R. 15Hz-50KHz, THD 0.9% and 15 watts.  2.2 micro V tuner sensitivity in 2010 is aimed at areas nearer broadcast masts than a critic's preferred location...
 
...Wrong location user claims that 1980 2016B sound less good stems from its relatively high 47 micro V needed for best FM stereo sound within city suburbs and nearby broadcast masts but similar FM receivers made by Carver etc are even less sensitive.  In the later 2016 receiver above Damping Factor was reduced to 35 in a bid to make secondhand 1960s speakers sound better.  F.R. is only 20Hz-20KHz, 16 watts has 0.5% THD as aimed at the 1960s KLH Model Six below and its subsequent competition.  In the 1980 model 2016B, Damping Factor was reduced to a late 1960s 30 of the 1972 harman/kardon 930 up page, it's aimed at the 1973 year JBL L55.  THD is reduced to 0.15% at 16 watts.  Note the KLH Model Six below and JBL L100 left each sound best with different equipment.
Low power 1970s Japanese receivers are largely aimed at improving upon some old 1960s tube amplifiers and receivers in need of servicing at a time many radio techs were unhappy to help.  Old, asbestos resin printed circuit boards below have solder tracks coming easily unstuck.  Tube amplifiers best for servicing are 'point to point' soldered.  For the amateur, the best for tricking out has most components under chassis.  Ones with a very few components need service techs familiar with test equipment to best match replacements to other elements.  The ECL 83 output stage below is in fact very complicated despite its few parts as it was a tube optimized for double-ended, push-pull operation.  Many such tube amplifiers could prove beyond most amateur abilities.  Kit amplifiers like Dynaco are best.



 Rare power amplifier made from a Rogers HG-88/II integrated chassis.

Left in the mid-1950s Fisher 100 there's a Damping Factor control, its effects not too clear with versions of Altec Lansing Duplex and at the time, most amplifiers under 11.  But an amplifier with Damping Factor 30 will suit some 1960s speakers better than one with the same power and Damping Factor 60.  The Marantz PM94 has a Damping Factor of 200 for the speaker right, since controlling many voice coils is more difficult.

Right although Altec Duplex is still made today, here in Urei form, experts claim the length of speaker wire is all that needs our attention.  The Marantz Model 8 was a 1950s tube amplifier of the American academic middle-class, and comes in an early Al-Ni-Co motor Model 8 and slightly more powerful 8B for the less sensitive and 1960s ferrous, ceramic magnet motors, both versions used germanium rectifier stud diodes and Damping Factor was 20 for the Altec-Lansing 17, a very complex area of devotees.
<<Urei model 809 (a remarkable 'Baby' 800 model) crossover has glass fiber printed circuit board, electrolytic and solid caps with only one air core coil and the brass screw cored coil.  The Frequency Response plot suggests results couldn't be smoother.
 
>>Yamaha NS-1000 sports an asbestos-resin board with all electrolytic caps partly p.c.b. soldered, wired and point-to-point soldered on the plastic speaker connector, a typical Japanese High Fidelity x-over.  This will follow the best possible sound quality with only one capacitor clamped, and also wired to terminal posts.  Note the hobbyist preference for upgrading x-overs with film caps cannot be recommended, as they can go bad quickly when using bargain-priced components.
 Left Pioneer CS-901 styled after the American behemoths above use the older cellular horn throats for a cheaper 3D image with more distortion than EMI 319.  Success with speakers depends on the equipment matched up, not T.H.D., or any particular paper specifications, the amplifier has to partner the speaker and cable is important, the secrets are very expensive know-how, consider how much traveling or searching you'd need to get it right.  Pearls before swine just to give them away.  Square-wave outputs still used for the 1970s Japanese amplifiers were less common in the 1980s and the wrong amplifier won't match best.
 
Right, 1950s Stephens Trusonic with the British elite listeneing to an Eames speaker.  Pioneer uses the Altec pattern horn with the more cells creating a 3D image and the rear bass horn seen.  The Frequencies produced may have sounded deep but more than anything were very loud, only about 60Hz in bass despite the volume effects.  The plywood baffle is rigid and helps give a sharp image but is expensive and harder to work with than chipboard.  The wood finish is interesting and these need special amplifiers with a low Damping Factor and expensive low power, giving deep low frequencies.  Modern Bang & Olufsen can give reasonable results.
Left REALISTIC STA-18 and 18B are based on the 1973 Marantz 2210 and instead of only 10 watts, give a mere 3.5 watts from Sanyo devices using a Panasonic GN1039D IF chip stage.  The 18 sound so good on account of their construction and quality components.  Below the 18B has a deeper wood finish than the 18.  Such low power needs alnico magnet speakers.


Right an alnico magnet 10 watts Coral CX10-1 from a range of high output low power tube speakers around 25Hz-16.5KHz F.R.  STA-18B above has 4-16 ohm ability to power all such vintage items.  Coral among other brands offer speakers that buyers of STA-18 already had in gramophone cabinets.  Today it's possible to get such items but they're rare.
Left a small voice coil and magnet are best suited to Hi-Fi amplifiers like the STA-18.  They don't take much power but deliver 20Hz-20KHz in room-filling style.  The bigger more powerful receivers are suited to speakers with more drivers but fewer sound so good when operated at minimum powers.
In matching to low power like an STA-18 or Marantz 2210, a lighter magnet and smaller voice coil diameter are better as is the widest Frequency Response and least power.  In those days few speakers could handle more than 20 watts and tube amplifiers with more power weren't known by a majority.  Even powerful Hi-Fi tube amplifiers weren't run at full output powers.  Sugden amplifiers were run with Richard Allan speakers but rare.

Left a Rola Celestion speaker with a lightweight magnet, small voice coil, and GEC coaxial tweeter may sound very good with REALISTIC STA-18 receivers as very loudspeakers but not as polished as more modern items.  If there's any hum or noise, it is heard where many modern designs mute it.  Below Akai made Marantz 1515, a low output version of the powerful 1550 don't use the Sanyo power modules found in 1010 and 2000 that Sanyo crafted before the downmarket Technics SU-Z2.  Note the horizontal tuning dial style makes a return.  2000 has Damping Factor 36 with 30 watts and 8 ohms, THD is only 0.04%, 15Hz-50KHz.  These sets are very good if carefully rebuilt using the highest quality components.  Otherwise, they're not too great as stock.











Marantz 1010 steel case and single Sanyo power pack module.
Marantz 2000 wooden case and two Sanyo power pack modules.












Right downmarket Coral brand, mid-1970s high output for receivers with only 8-ohm capability.  Alnico V magnet and stamped steel basket similar to the early 1970s SONY.  Sanyo STK power pack modules below don't suit alnico magnet speakers, a 36 Damping Factor doesn't best match a stiff rubberized paper edge right.  1960s cloth edge need adequate power.  Sanyo STK better suits the colder ceramic magnet sound in peasant market Technics SU-V4 right below, not in the middle-class SU-V6 with other speaker systems.
















A 1970 year British Metro-Sound Plus tuner is FM only from RCA integrated circuits.


 Similar front ends in expensive Metro-Sound above as the rare REALISTIC STA-48 below.  Enthusiasts make some conclusions about sound or tuning quality. The most basic comprise a small cube of portable radio style miniature tuning capacitors where expensive sets had more metal in variable capacitors, many of the better, boxed as above.  Small mains transformer sound quality depends on the materials used and in these old radio sets, may be surprising.
Right, in the expensive Solid State upper middle class Radford radio tuner, component quality can be compared, the tuning cap in a box as above and below.  A grain-orientated mains transformer, tuning transformers, large as in the RT-VC below.  Separate power supply board with chassis-clamped smoothing can.  Note the flywheel-assisted dial tuning.
 
Below a unique photo of a very rare RT-VC stereo tuner from 1972.  Left, 1971 year idealized 'low cost' receiver of  L. Nelson Jones F.I.E.R.E. in the April issue of 'Wireless World'.  The RT-VC below is an Integrated Circuit demodulator below left top corner.  The Jones tuning capacitor is in the metal box left lower side and central in the RT-VC tuner below.  
Right, the RT-VC tuner from 1972 that in today's money amounts to £323, (US$406) is seen below for its surplus build quality.  The main tuner board from a portable radio was transformed to stereo with a single de-modulator Integrated Circuit, then a know-how breakthrough.  An early Tannoy styled Metal Rectifier is used with point to point soldered smoothing cans, striving for a tube radio sound quality that RT-VC reckoned equaled the best.

The REALISTIC STA-48 up page has Solid State Output Transformers where the RT-VC right has grey Siemens brand Output Capacitors (QUAD 303 and Marantz 2015 vintage) needing known speakers for the best match.  Marantz 2010 is an Output Capacitor (OC) type.  Later amplifiers are OCL and OTL types, the precise meaning of lacking the Output Transformer or Capacitor is best studied in their circuit diagrams.
Left, AMSTRAD or Solavox Executive Series as an easy to upgrade cap-decoupled project, using simple-circuitry, depends on the health of the g.o. power iron, is it worn out?  Can you get a spare one?  As soon as sellers get wind of a product as worth saving, sale listing prices go sky-high so that buyers best opt for a Technics or Pioneer instead.  If Amstrad or Solavox were priced next to nothing they'd be worth rebuilding as musical sound is very good indeed, probably better than Japanese but only with special high sensitivity speakers, old cap-decoupled output speakers of the early 1970s vintage:  Seas, Goodmans, EMI, British ELAC, German ITT, not Wharfedale or Celestion.
 
Left Marantz is rated in the US as CTS of Kentucky tailored speakers, here an alnico magnet woofer suits their rare and sought after 2010 OC stage receiver.  2010 owners are likely using other Alnico V magnet woofer speakers.  Although Mr. Shimada of Japan invented OTL in 1952, the sets were largely developed for a US elite by Wiggins of Electro-Voice with variable Damping Factor.  Japanese Solid State engineers gave it much thought, early elite tube designs from Carad are rarely viewed.

Right the Audio-Services Dyna-Sonic 4T.  In the United States, this EMI 92390AL was offered in the mass market DLS529X.  The 4T baffle is in mass-market chipboard and four German BBC Lorenz tweeters of 18KHz Ferrite magnet type on plywood with Tannoy origin onboard crossover that EMI began using in later versions of 13 x 8 and 14 x 9.  Brown wadding as shown is how BBC Sound Engineer Alex Shackman would damp a 92390AL.  The tweeters are only 2W each and connected to give 8-watt handling at a time when the AlNiCo EMI 97924 below was 10W rating.  The AlNiCo Lorenz LPH65 gives 17KHz but at only 2WRMS and so loud that in the 4T, resistors and a master volume fit them best with the amplifier in use.  The 2T uses two elite only 17KHz versions of the 97924.












Right the AlNiCo V magnets in these yoke type EMI 97924, differ greatly in size suggesting some are 17KHz, the 15KHz magnet thinner.



Left the types of Lorenz LPH65.  'A' is the 37KHz Ferrite grey basket with a screw for repair.  'B' is a gold basket type.  C is the 18KHz Ferrite in the 4T above and SABA Studio A with a much larger size magnet although only 2W rated.  D is the 2W rated 17KHz AlNiCo.  Note the tone of the Ferrite type is colder than AlNiCo.  The Ferrite EMI is over 3 inches in size and 20KHz.  The Lorenz LSH-85 electrostatic of 3.5 inches diameter fits the early 1960s broadcast core EMI 319.  Below types of Lorenz electrostatic tweeter.  Upper is LSH-85 for Hi-Fi and lower are LSH-75 for Lo-Fi.














Right the Lo-Fi was an elite only, early and more expensive bespoke dealer adjusted system often Single-Ended and with narrower Frequency Response than Hi-Fi.  The copper mesh is a gold foil type.  Click on the image for full view.  DuKane Duke-30 1961 year.  Fane Ionofane 1965 year.
Left a mass-market Lowther speaker, the Accolade 4 that in prohibitive shipping weights resemble IMF Transmission Line Systems coming at knockdown prices secondhand.  Lowther sells over IMF TLS on good sensitivity, depending on whether AlNiCo or ceramic magnet drivers are chosen, a suitably large listening room is available and a very high-quality tube amplifier.  Although large-diameter speakers of this style with black 'dispursement' cones are seen in elite houses of the United States, Lowther units sold in the UK are usually of small diameter as seen here. Who'd made the large diameter remains a mystery?  Below 'green box' 40-1341B used Luxman L-230, a 10Hz low note had cheap build.  1341 low notes and quality were artificially enhanced.
 Right REALISTIC 40-1341B, an Ohio Rube's take on Lowther Voigt 8 inch above.  Green box, 90dB/1w/1m foam edge, 15KHz top, 35 watt, Res 55, 15.2oz magnet.  Aqua box color '40-1286C'. 9.8oz magnet resembles Wharfedale Chevin XP2 but 93db/1w/m 18KHz, Res 57, 30 watts.  1970s cloth edge 1286 was 25w, 30-20, 70Hz resonance - we could feel deep notes below the Res values but didn't hear them.  The 1983 year REALISTIC bass enhancer helps.
 Left an upmarket Lowther speaker advertised on a Persian Rug.  The wooden center part helps disperse the treble.  Such folded-horn speakers often get criticism for an odd low-frequency tone.  The expensive tube amplifiers used need their efficiency and accuracy.  The AlNiCo magnet motor seen below isn't in all Lowther cores, some are Field Coil and others Ferrite.  The 1951 year Permoflux below and 1955 Electro-Voice Baronet are suited for small baffle mounting.  The 1940s and 50s had large enclosures, Wharfedale with sand-filled panels to deaden the 'boxy' sound often resulting.
Below far removed from Lowther of Queen Anne's Gate, Mission is popular in a lower market part of London, England, known as Chelsea.  It may be surprising just how affluent we'd have to be to have enough time spare to indulge in such pursuits.  AlNiCo magnet speakers suit different amplifiers from Mission Cyrus 1 below, for the Mission 780 Argonaut with SEAS Norwegian tweeter or Freedom 770 - Farad Azima's only Anglo-Iranian speaker, it has a point-to-point soldered crossover.  Engineers hired by Mission won the early 1980s lower market buyer.


Maryam Eisler
Right Anglo-Iranian design Mission Cyrus acquired a 'Lion badge' power transformer, lower noise resistors in a fiberglass board replaced carbon types in asbestos resin.  Far-eastern type finned heat-sink and stereo balance control, the minimalist original above with no Balance knobs.
 Right SANYO Technics SL1200, a later disco version of the broadcast studio National Technics SL-150 below, neither needed in domestic settings, downmarket models prevent feedback howl at high volumes, the sound quality may fall short of Garrard, Thorens, Goldring, AR, etc.


Right the larger type of Output Transformer capable of driving speakers with a separate squawker and tweeter.  These amplifiers are Hi-Fi 10 watts and need careful matching.  It's best if possible to use a similar core to the one in the console as trial and error with other vintage speakers may take some time.


Left, SONY turntable PS-4750 was a Trio-Kenwood design with a stone-resin cast plinth.  Modern reviews rate these above Rega Planar 2 in abilities but in truth, they have a dull, opaque sound lacking in detail, and whilst very good for loud music in the same room, they're not going to beat an American AR turntable, Ariston, or Linn Sondek.  The pick-up arm may well limit the available quality.  Some low-cost turntables are good if recorded, or in a different room from speakers, their sensitivity to howl spoils a sweet, detailed ability.
Right, Sugden Connoisseur is an idler drive with 78rpm and strobe used in Consoles both in the US and in England.  The later BD1 is a belt-drive used with the SME arm in transcription plinths and with straight arms in lower-cost versions.  The BD1 was chosen by followers of the Bedale Hunt in England.  Sugden was Yorkshire based.  Below, the Pioneer turntable always had mass-market friends, this being the PL-7-UB with a 78rpm position.


Below, the AR Revival is a US-made turntable based on the 1970s AR turntable that the Scottish made Linn Sondek was created from.  In Scotland, the turntable is fitted with a Linn Basik LV X tonearm seen below but in the United States, a Grace G-747 tonearm is used as seen left below.  The tonearm is mounted on a floating chassis to prevent














 feedback howl. The US tonearm is slightly better than the Japanese LV X.
Left, the Logic DM101 was an important record player in the 1980s with a very heavy metal plinth in which sat a sprung arm and platter assembly, easily set rocking wildly by an unsuspecting touch of the pickup.  Below, a British elite QUAD II radiogram with Garrard 301 transcription deck and SME arm.


 
Left, members of the British elite, the typical buyer of QUAD 22 above radiogram consoles.  Although trickle down over many years changed the owner appearance of British Hi-Fi tube equipment, most today follow a British Empire cult.  QUAD for the most part was viewed as lower middle class, perhaps inferior to Bang & Olufsen, but nevertheless seen as an affordable Hi-Fi system when using Goodmans Axiom loudspeakers.  The BBC in England used the QUAD II in studios, they're also hooked up to Whiteley Stentorian (WERC) but EMI speakers are better parternered with old Leak before the Rank Organization buyout.  The QUAD long struggled to use its own brand electrostatic ELS-57 speaker system and even with the launch of the ESL-63, new QUAD amplifiers were thought inferior.

















<<29th Earl Of Crawford.  Photo credit: Alamy

Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, 12th Earl of Balcarres,[b] Baron Balniel,[c] KT, GCVO, PC, DL (5 March 1927 – 18 March 2023),[1] known by courtesy as Lord Balniel between 1940 and 1975, was a Scottish hereditary peer and Conservative politician who was a member of Parliament from 1955 to 1974. He was chief of Clan Lindsay and also acted, from 1975 to 2019, as Premier Earl of Scotland.[d]

28th Earl of Crawford

27th Earl of Crawford



Above Photo IMS Vintage Photos


<<30th Earl Of Crawford Photo credit shown

Lindsay was born on 24 November 1958, the son of Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, and Ruth Beatrice Meyer-Bechtler. He was educated at Eton College and at the University of Edinburgh.[1]

Lindsay works as an investment banker in London.[2] and he married <<Nicola A. Bicket, daughter of Captain Antony Neilson Bicket, on 12 August 1989. They have four children. His eldest son Alexander, Lord Balniel, is heir apparent to the earldom.


 .^.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

   C. Hoffbauer     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   S A bove , E M I 319, a wesome products of their day, build quality suggests impress...