We did blind testing of the 15As at Munich. I played some Ray Charles.
Materials available today are different. For example, plywood is different...using urethane glues instead of natural resin. Metals can be made purer, which GIP applies to WE designs with good effect, but other metals are uneconomic to reproduce. 10000 pound minimum melts of diaphragm alloy would supply the universe for 1000 years. They don't make iron like they used to in the pre-OSHA days.
Exact WE reproductions may be impossible, especially considering the unknown effects of aging, but availability of new parts allows modern experimenters to pursue the WE Wide Range topology, an approach that offers a lot of promise.
What properties of the iron are different now? What qualities would that give the sound that can't be reproduced by other means? I don't see how the alloy used would be an obstacle to reproducing these designs.
Fascinating pictures. I always like engineering history and how engineers of past solved problems without some of the materials, manufacturing techniques, and design methods available today.
I think all the promise of the design was realized by evolving into mode modern systems.
Fascinating pictures. I always like engineering history and how engineers of past solved problems without some of the materials, manufacturing techniques, and design methods available today.
I think all the promise of the design was realized by evolving into mode modern systems.
In addition to the Western Electric 555 receiver (driver) were the :
521-W, 540-AW, 543-W
548-AW, 548-CW, 548-DW
549-W, 551-W
In addition to the 15A horn were the :
1A, 3A, 4A, 6A horns (3 feet or less air column), 10D Loudspeaker, 11A, 12A, 13A Horns (6 to 11 feet air column), 14A horn (monitor, 3 foot air column).
My guess would be the model numbers are in order of design release.
If that is the case, there are lots of options pre-dating the 555/15A combo, rated for 6 watts "speech" .
W.E. also had plenty of multiple receiver options for applications where 6 watts was not enough.
Later drivers, such as the 594A had phase plugs very similar to the ones in use in most current production drivers. By the 700 series drivers, power handling had climbed to 25 watts,within 3-6 dB of most large diaphragm modern drivers.
Art
Here you go, photos galore, 7.4 MB worth:
Western Electric Horn Compendium - Audio Voice Acoustics
Quite a ride down audio history.
Adjusted for inflation, the W.E. was pricey stuff even back in the day.
Art
OK, does anybody have any measurements?
If not, maybe you just imagined the whole thing...
Thank you for the expected 'report" in detail. Subjective reviews are sure worth a lot.
*sigh* Never mind, you KNOW where this is heading (4 pages of "oh yeah?!........"yeah!!") of course listening counts but never at the expense of leaving out measurements. Have fun guys... not going down this path for the infinite time.
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