Yup, my experience too. Kind and patient to me too on several occasions.
He had a whole bunch of careers - starting with diving and SCUBA, recording the young Joan Baez, and later with special chemicals for deoxidizing contacts.
He had a whole bunch of careers - starting with diving and SCUBA, recording the young Joan Baez, and later with special chemicals for deoxidizing contacts.
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Hi Ben
That was part of his rant the day I was there. He was talking about some new chemical he had patented called Stabilent 22 .I think it was also an audio product called Tweak . I think he made out quite well with that product.Here is a link to Dayton Wright that tells most of the story
http://www.dayon-wright.com/
Andy
That was part of his rant the day I was there. He was talking about some new chemical he had patented called Stabilent 22 .I think it was also an audio product called Tweak . I think he made out quite well with that product.Here is a link to Dayton Wright that tells most of the story
http://www.dayon-wright.com/
Andy
Not sure how Stabilant 22 relates to Craig Lab stuff (Deoxit and Gold families) but might be derived from is work.
I believe Mike Wright is still among us and merits far more admiration for his work than he ever got. He is truly a giant of creative engineering in the best sense, if not known widely. If there are shortcomings to any of his products, they are mostly compromises forced on him by circumstances and the exigencies of production.
There are other, darker aspects to his personality and style, at least in later years; but, I suspect apparent throughout his career. These are really irrelevant to his accomplishments.
I believe Mike Wright is still among us and merits far more admiration for his work than he ever got. He is truly a giant of creative engineering in the best sense, if not known widely. If there are shortcomings to any of his products, they are mostly compromises forced on him by circumstances and the exigencies of production.
There are other, darker aspects to his personality and style, at least in later years; but, I suspect apparent throughout his career. These are really irrelevant to his accomplishments.
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Thanks guys for sharing the personal stories and background info on Mike Wright.
Anybody know know if he ever produced ESLs that were not bagged in SF6?
Anybody know know if he ever produced ESLs that were not bagged in SF6?
Me, again!
Yes, first met him at an audio show at the Royal York Hotel, opposite the train station in Toronto, around 1970. He had large ESLs, multi-panel, and driven by Hafler-wound transformers on his own tube amp. The step-up was maybe 2 times. Good concept, eh!
No gas at the time, except the gas normal to HiFi shows. Don't remember if they were inside dust membranes but I think they were.
The meter-square boxes he is famous for started not long after and fair continuity from there till Leigh Instruments period and after. I rather like the early ones with the full treble power rather than the late ones which needed a super-tweeter for the last 8ave.
Not absolutely certain about any of the above.
As mentioned above, the SF6 confers certain advantages in power and range but you need to enclose the drivers in the sealing membranes. OK if your ambition is theatre sound. With the bias set lower, no special advantages for domestic music-making without the gas. He sold me quite a bunch of drivers and I've had ecstatic happiness with 8 of the panels mounted in something that looks like a big curved window frame, for each channel. Someday I'll make a wall-of-sound with all my panels... when I figure out how to handle the rear wave.
I hope others with more technical sophistication will help to clarify these issues for all of us.
Yes, first met him at an audio show at the Royal York Hotel, opposite the train station in Toronto, around 1970. He had large ESLs, multi-panel, and driven by Hafler-wound transformers on his own tube amp. The step-up was maybe 2 times. Good concept, eh!
No gas at the time, except the gas normal to HiFi shows. Don't remember if they were inside dust membranes but I think they were.
The meter-square boxes he is famous for started not long after and fair continuity from there till Leigh Instruments period and after. I rather like the early ones with the full treble power rather than the late ones which needed a super-tweeter for the last 8ave.
Not absolutely certain about any of the above.
As mentioned above, the SF6 confers certain advantages in power and range but you need to enclose the drivers in the sealing membranes. OK if your ambition is theatre sound. With the bias set lower, no special advantages for domestic music-making without the gas. He sold me quite a bunch of drivers and I've had ecstatic happiness with 8 of the panels mounted in something that looks like a big curved window frame, for each channel. Someday I'll make a wall-of-sound with all my panels... when I figure out how to handle the rear wave.
I hope others with more technical sophistication will help to clarify these issues for all of us.
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In previous post, I say "With the bias set lower, no special advantages for domestic music-making without the gas." What I meant is that there are no important advantages, for home music, in using the gas.
The bias might have to be turned down or it might still be OK in low-humidity homes but easy enough to lower the bias. I don't think capacitance or other electrical parameters are confused enough to matter.
The bias might have to be turned down or it might still be OK in low-humidity homes but easy enough to lower the bias. I don't think capacitance or other electrical parameters are confused enough to matter.
DATA POINT
When a single DW cell (XG-8 series) is tested in "free" air, the output has a peak around 150 Hz. But with an XG-10 speaker (fairly similar cells) with 35 year old SF-6 gas charge that's never been re-charged, the resonance is around 60 Hz.
Not super low, but it should impress a lot of people who dismiss the possibility of getting crystal clear sound from an ESL as well as ESL bass range down to maybe 45 Hz. (Not sure what is means, but REW seems to show more harmonic distortion at the low end; maybe real or maybe artefactual.)
Ben
From the Ooooops Department:
From my re-reading of the DW website, it sounds like XG-10 cells have a substantially larger membrane area because they don't have the centre beam bisecting the membrane down the middle of the long dimension, like in the XG-8 cells.
My data above remains factual: the later generation XG-10 with gas shows a resonance measured by mic about 60 Hz; the XG-8 cell in air at about 150 Hz.
Since I only have XG-10 cells in gas and XG-8 cells in air, not sure if I can provide much helpful data on the effect of the SF6 gas.
Ben
ok very old thread. but i had a question bentoronto you have any pictures of the elements being in the bag? i was wondering how they sealed it and where the valves are. i realy like the idea of the SF6 . its not that hazardous and the biggest polus for me is lowering resonance. higher voltage is a plus to but in my design i would like to keep voltages waaaay lower🙂
I presently am using 6-cell panels I built around 1976. Frankly, I like them better than cells-in-a-gas-box, at least as far as treble goes. I'm not sure how high the XG10 cells go, but these older generation cells play high. My panels don't go as low as XG boxes pooping off below around 120 Hz - I suspect mostly due to cancelation geometry.
The answer your question, the XG boxes are formed by U-sections welded all around. The enclosing plastic sheets simply glue straight across to the U's. Simple. One meter square.
There is a familiar Schrader valve on the bottom - same as for automobile tires. Gas management is simple since the gas is heavier than air - so simply turning the boxes bottoms-up lets you add more gas or remove excess air (varies a bit every few seasons of the year).
Ben
The answer your question, the XG boxes are formed by U-sections welded all around. The enclosing plastic sheets simply glue straight across to the U's. Simple. One meter square.
There is a familiar Schrader valve on the bottom - same as for automobile tires. Gas management is simple since the gas is heavier than air - so simply turning the boxes bottoms-up lets you add more gas or remove excess air (varies a bit every few seasons of the year).
Ben
Nice I would like to make something more compact dedicated at mid high frequency. So not much gas needed , but it could proof being useful 🙂
Wonder if it's the panel or the gass that limits you freq response ( or transformers) the gas should not be any problem. You probable like the panels better 🙂 then the gass filled ones
Wonder if it's the panel or the gass that limits you freq response ( or transformers) the gas should not be any problem. You probable like the panels better 🙂 then the gass filled ones
Mike Wright wanted full-range speakers that could be used in pairs in movie theatres. That goal led him to the gas concept. And resulted in great speakers built like a military device and very durable, for the most part.
But for most design purposes, hard to see enough value in the gas approach to justify the problems using gas in a sealed bag.
All kinds of trade-offs involving bias voltage, efficiency, peak loudness, stator spacing, resonance, etc.
From an ESL-purist approach (and someone who thinks Rice-Kellogg drivers are crude), the theoretical advantage lies in matching better the weight of the diaphragm to the weight of the gas to the weight of the air.... instead of shaking heavy pieces of cardboard to make sound.
Ben
But for most design purposes, hard to see enough value in the gas approach to justify the problems using gas in a sealed bag.
All kinds of trade-offs involving bias voltage, efficiency, peak loudness, stator spacing, resonance, etc.
From an ESL-purist approach (and someone who thinks Rice-Kellogg drivers are crude), the theoretical advantage lies in matching better the weight of the diaphragm to the weight of the gas to the weight of the air.... instead of shaking heavy pieces of cardboard to make sound.
Ben
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