Western Electric 1928 - How far have we come in the last 100 years?

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#541
A side Note:

The Silbatone /WE setup is voiced as one, amplifiers and electronics are tweaked for that certain sound ( based on JC's past comments) most demonstrating at such shows would not have had such an opportunity, exception being those in partnership's and or building their own amplifiers (MBL for eg.) Voicing and selective engineering can produce an exciting sound, throw in special recordings and bingo it's a done deal ...


I wished JC had invited members of the press in for a private session, with their own selective recordings, it would have been interesting to have heard their take on the setup...
 
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#542
Pano said:
He keeps promising, but never takes his bow. Maybe we need the hook 😉

As for me, I can't attest to the measurements of the W.E. gear I've used, never got a change to measure it. It did sound very low distortion, but sounds can be deceiving.

What impressed my, beside the clean sound, was the openness, the lack of "speaker sound", the real life scale of the music. Never got the impression of listening to speakers, just musicians in a real space. From girl with guitar to jazz combo or chamber music all the way to orchestra and choir, it all seemed the right size and height. Yes, height. I've never heard anything else do that sense of space and absolute ease. Not even bigger systems. The term Holographic gets thrown around a lot, this really was.
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Interesting , When are you going again .... ? Plan on building one ..?
 
#543
I don't have the space for it. Almost, tho. Much to my eternal chagrin, I let a pair of Vitaphone 11ft horns slip thru my fingers (smaller brothers of the 15A). They could have been the start of a great system.
Don't know when, or if, there will be another Paris demo. Last time I asked, I was told no. I hope that has changed.
 
#548
Reality check?

Hey all,

This is sounding a lot more like Audio Asylum than diyAudio.com... can we try to keep the respect up, and the potshots down?

It sounds to me like there are a lot of people with some useful opinions (opinions people - not facts - if there was a factual way to get "the best stereo ever" we'd not be here) regarding how to approach sound reproduction from the speaker side.

Offhand, I'd say that assumptions that the Western Electric gear is magically superior to modern technology is silly, and that those who haven't heard the Western Electric gear but insist it doesn't sound so good are equally silly.

Let's try to be adults about this.

cheers,
-Tal
 
#550
If you compare the two topologies, horns vs direct radiators it is not hard to understand why horns are better at reproducing believable sounds.

Direct radiators are very compromised devices, the proof being their shape being rather incidental. They are relatively cheap, great for mass production.

So why are horns better? Superior acoustic coupling, because they are so efficient, a smaller, lighter more tactile voice element can be used.

Direct radiators are heavy in comparison, have small radiating surface area, therefor poor coupling.

A saxophone without a horn is just a kazoo.
 
#552
tomtom said:
The distortion isnt from excursion. It is from air nonlinearity which in case of compression driver cannot be avoided.
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Which becomes an issue at high SPL levels in the main... when used for PA/SR. At relatively low levels that one would find in a home listening situation they have *less* distortion than almost all direct radiators (there may be some exceptions with some particular modern drivers, although that would have to be determined)

_-_-bear
 
#553
a.wayne said:
You dance very well for a Bear ..... :rofl:
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Mr. Wayne, I have noticed that you studiously avoid committing yourself pretty much all the time.

Perhaps you would care to back up your assertions and answer the direct questions posed to you in the course of this thread??

_-_-bear

Fwiw, I can name some direct radiators that will almost certainly be lower in distortion than almost anything else, but above 1500Hz. Your turn?
 
#554
Ahhhh... and yes, the elusive "6 foot tall" direct radiator speaker system. Circa 1976. And yes that thing was effortless to listen to... the hf section not shown. Gen-you-wine Polaroid print!

Edit: forgot to mention it sucked power for lunch...
 

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#558
Why did WE stop making these snail horns? There must have been a good reason. I cannot think of any other product where the first generation was thought to be the best, and it could not be made better over time. Very interesting these WE speakers.
 
#559
Cost and size. Direct radiators overwhelmed the market.

Same reason they don't make many new tube amps anymore. Not financially practical from a business model point of view.

I'm sure they could be improved upon if they were still making them.
 
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