Loudspeaker book

[falcott]

I've just come across a book entitled "Loudspeakers" by Briggs, from the 1950s if I remember correctly. Looks like it was a quality publication in its day.

I'm a newbie when it comes to speakers, but I know that speaker design has moved on somewhat from those days. However, does anyone know if this book is worth anything more than novelty value? Worth buying?

I flicked through it only briefly. Incidentally, it includes an interesting looking design, mounted in the corner of the room on bricks, firing upwards towards the ceiling. Another looks like a polystyrene sphere.

[Moondog55]

I think Mr Briggs is/was the founder of "Wharfedale" so probably worth buying, even if only for historical interest.
I suppose that all depends on your avaliable resources and how much it is, you could always read it and then sell it on to another interested forum member.
Regards Ted

[rjb]

Well worth keeping. Although modern math methods for cabinet design have overtaken the cut and try used in the book, and speaker drivers have improved considerably, there is still much useful information in it. It is easy to read as well.

[sreten]

Hi, It is probably very collectable and worth a bob or two depending on condition, /sreten.

[Scottmoose]

Grab it if you can. It's an entertaining read, and as noted above, some things never change. We have more refined math etc available to us now, but that doesn't invalidate what went before.

[falcott]

Thanks for your opinions guys. I'll rush to see if it's still available. I'll dilute what it says with the info from the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook.

[Moondog55]

Don't forget to offer it for resale if you find you don't need it, I am willing to make an offer, or scan it and make it avaliable for us all ( if copyright won't be an issue that is)
regards Ted

[rjb]

By the way, he wrote eight other books, including "Cabinet Handbook". This of limited use, but has some interesting designs if you are into vintage drivers.

[falcott]

Okay, I've bought the book. It's in very good condition, hard cover, missing the dust jacket however. And it's quite heavy, being on art paper. There are 336 pages.

Title: Loudspeakers
Author: G.A. Briggs with R.E. Cooke, B.Sc. (Eng.) as Technical Editor.
Published by Rank Wharfedale Ltd.
Fifth edition (revised and enlarged) 1958, reprinted 1972.

The introduction tells us that the first edition appeared in 1948 with card covers and a mere 78 pages.

This book has a nice aerial view photo of Wharfedale, showing a rather pleasant country estate and the river Wharfe. Chapter 1 is a short autobiography of Mr Briggs and his company. An entertaining read.

A humourous little quote from ch.1:
"The delicate work of cone and coil assembly needs the feminine touch, so every evening I took home two hat boxes containing cones and coils which Mrs Briggs assembled. I took them back to the Bradford cellar next morning, ready for our day's production. I can say this: when Mrs Briggs put a coil on the neck of a cone it stayed put; we never had a loose joint. She also became a first-class solderer of speech coil wire to eyelets in cones.
"Incidentally, this accounts for the adoption of the name WHARFEDALE, as we lived in Ilkley, one of the beauty spots in the very beautiful valley of the River Wharfe. I recall that 20 years later I was giving a demonstration in Toronto, when at question time someone jumped up and asked why our speakers were named Wharfedale when they were made in Bradford, which is in Airedale. I pointed out that the beauty of Wharfedale matched the beauty of the product (ahem!) and that we could not risk using a name like Airedale in case dissatisfied customers wrote and complained that we were dirty dogs; whereupon a lady observed very brightly that we might at least have adopted Airedale as a suitable name for our woofers."

According to the title page, Mr Briggs wrote 13 other books, namely:
Sound Reproduction.
Pianos, Pianists and Sonics.
Amplifiers.
High Fidelity.
Stereo Handbook.
A to Z in Audio.
Audio Biographies.
Cabinet Handbook.
More About Loudspeakers.
Audio and Acoustics.
Aerial Handbook.
Musical Instruments and Audio.
About Your Hearing.

[Moondog55]

Any book that has more than 1 printing is usually good, to have gone thru five editions it must be worth reading, congratulations on your purchase; -0 iIadmit to just a twinge of jealousy.
Read well and enjoy