Rare folded horn Opus 1

[Walloffound]

Has anyone ever seen or heard a Stan White Opus 1
I'm trying to figure out what were the original drivers or something that would work for this cabinet 8" and 5" holes.
They were made in 1957 and may have had Quam Nichold speakers the holes are shallow.
Thanks

 

[Walloffound]

Hey everybody, it's my first post... Anybody there ... Mic check one two...
Thanks for any thought you might have

 

[freddi]

all I know is that must be very rare - I heard that Stan had some very big (and loud) speakers with high power amps for some of the early HiFi shows. What are the dimensions including the mouth? - can you figure out the path and expansion? It would be interesting to load it, get input impedance and see what it does. ( "White cathode-followers" are cool )

ah - here's a page on the Opus 1 http://www.itishifi.com/search/label/Stan White

 

[ErnieM]

Neat little box! A modern 8" fullrange/prosound driver would probably do better than the original. Can you measure the depth to help narrow down possible replacement drivers? I would cover up the 5" whole and maybe put a nice little 2" or 3" fullrange for a mid tweet. Or keep it super simple with a nice fullrange 8".

 

[xrk971]

A sketch of what the dimensions and horn geometry/flow arrangement would be very useful. I cannot picture what is going on from the photo. It is indeed rare.

 

[freddi]

perhaps we can find Stan's patents - here's a nice brochure http://www.technicalaudio.com/pdf/G...Multi-Flare_exponential_horn_loudspeakers.pdf

here's one blh patent https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US2866513.pdf

 

[Walloffound]

Thanks y'all !! I will take some measurements and try to see what is going on inside. The one I have has the opening on the bottom and not the front, the way it looks in the patent. I can tell you that the corners of the inside folds are rounded off with the addition of curved piece of linolium. I found one guy on this forum who built one and I private messages him but he hasn't been active in a while. I was hoping to restore this piece to original since it's sort of rare. But it turns out that the original had seemingly unimpressive PA type Quam-Nichols drivers. I have a Jansen PA8 driver but the square magnet is just a bit too wide to fit into the existing round hole. I just wanted to do some research and consult the experts before starting to hacksaw things. I'm a beginner of audio so I really appreciate your help and experiencen.
Thanks

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/138060-horn-plenty-three-way-x-over-help.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mult...rial-stan-white-curled-horn-reproduction.html

 

[Walloffound]

Here are the measurements:

 

[Walloffound]

"The horn has an equivalent axial length of 12 feet" - from the brochure

 

[freddi]

very cool and nice drawing - be interesting to see how it measures once loaded with a woofer

 

[Walloffound]

What am I measuring? Should I cut the plywood and make the Jensen fit or try some other driver that is more shallow? I can't tell what the folds are inside ?!? What is the next step?

 

[ErnieM]

I wouldn't cut into it just yet. There are some nice fullrange drivers that will fit if you make a mounting ring to increase the space behind the driver. It looks like both holes share the same space? Block the smaller one off if that's the case.


How much are you looking to spend on this project?

 

[xrk971]

Here are the measurements:

Thanks for drawing! That helps a lot - are you sure there is only 1 divider and not 2 or 3? Given how they said it is equal to a 12ft horn it would take more than 1. It would be useful to get the internal spacing between the divider and front and back. Is is equidistant? With more geometry one can easily model this and predict what driver would work well in there.

 

[Walloffound]

I'm just reading about full range drivers (new to me)
I don't have a huge budget for this but could do around one or two hundred $

I'm not sure how to get inside and see how many dividers there are. i know that through the front I can see at least two more deviders through the holes cut for the drivers to fit in. I only drew one divider because I don't know where their other ones go so I drew a question mark.

So I'd like to set up a tube powered mono system. What are my speakers options? Would an 8" fostex full range speaker work or are there some vintage 50's speakers that would work.

 

[DrBoar]

It really looks to be more of a Voigt pipe than a classical horn.There seems to be two internal baffles making up 3 sections with the driver situated a third away from the closed en of the first section.

The patent applications is as verbose as is it unclear. The drawings depict some severe constrictions in the sections of expanding pipes otherwise they look quite ordinary.

 

[ErnieM]

Dayton Audio PS220-8 8" Point Source Full-Range Neo Driver

Cut out a mounting ring and drop one of these in. Will it be optimal? No, but it'll probably still sound pretty good.

If all else fails you can use that driver in an optimized box and have a very nice mono system.

 

[freddi]

you might be able to excite it with a Visaton BG20 - they were a good deal at introductory price of ~$23 each at Partsexpress and something like a BetsyK in character and form. Price jumped up to ~$37.40 and out of stock til late January.

Don't cut it open - its rare - you might try to snake something down the throat and hope the linoleum guides it all the way out the mouth. I think an impedance test might show something of its nature but it may have a tight constriction at the throat as indicated in that one patent (?)

Visaton BG20-8 8" Full-Range Speaker with Whizzer Cone 8 Ohm

 

[freddi]

anything with low mass and fairly stiff suspension and cheap might be a start =

" --you'll have to pry this blankety speaker from my cold dead hands"

 

[Walloffound]

Haha! That's a great ad I have to print that out. Thanks guys for your recommendations I will try a few things without damaging or modifying this cab. I've enjoyed researching and starting to learn about sound and speaker engineering, it a fascinating world. Stan White is a mystery in itself. If anyone else finds this thread and has info about Stan or ideas about his work post it here.

 

[freddi]

maybe there's still a tiny chance Stan is still kicking (?) - look at this fascinating website from a few years back

Stan White - tube amplifiers and ShotGlass loudspeakers

also, a thread Stan White speakers - worth a look? | Page 2 | Audiokarma Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

you can try writing to the address in this page http://hifi-products.com/Stan-White-Audio-manufacturer-D97744C51F16FF31.html

Heston had some competition on the endorsements

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

White Powertron amplifier schematic http://lilienthalengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/White-Powrtron-5881-PP-1953-edt.png

White's physics book seems out of print http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Proper-Foundation-STARTLING-REVELATIONS/dp/1418435589

On "The Big Bang" http://www.meta-religion.com/Physics/Cosmological_physics/a_fresh_study_of_cosmology_1.htm