SkinnyBoy said:We are all interested in them... possibly too interested, most of us can't live without them, but who actually invented the modern loudspeaker as we know it??
ststone could be right, but here's a nice link:
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynam...tory.acusd.edu/gen/recording/loudspeaker.html
/Hugo - thinks we could start a new forum on this topic...
A German, Ernst Siemens, patented the first moving coil loudspeaker in 1877, although Philip Reis made some sort of diaphragm loudspeaker in 1860.
Even before this, in 1837, Charles Page of Massachusets discovered that sound would be produced by placing a horseshoe magnet in front of or around an electrical coil.
In 1924, two General Electric researchers, Chester W. Rice and Edward Washburn Kellogg patented the modern, moving coil, direct radiator, loudspeaker. This became the basic design for all subsequent moving coil loudspeakers.
The first loudspeakers in a box were produced in 1958 by a French company called Cabesse.
The most advanced, high quality loudspeaker drive units available today are made by Bandor, a small company in England which produces hand-made units capable of astonishing acoustic performance.
The best modern proponent of the "box" loudspeaker is, without a doubt, the British company Seventh Veil.
The most biased posting in this thread has been posted by Steve Margolis of Seventh Veil Loudspeakers.
I hope that you find this illuminating.
Steve
PS: If you would like to see a photo of the Bandor units in a Seventh Veil cabinet (circa 1990), please click this link.
Then watch this space for an exciting, new system being released within a few weeks.
Even before this, in 1837, Charles Page of Massachusets discovered that sound would be produced by placing a horseshoe magnet in front of or around an electrical coil.
In 1924, two General Electric researchers, Chester W. Rice and Edward Washburn Kellogg patented the modern, moving coil, direct radiator, loudspeaker. This became the basic design for all subsequent moving coil loudspeakers.
The first loudspeakers in a box were produced in 1958 by a French company called Cabesse.
The most advanced, high quality loudspeaker drive units available today are made by Bandor, a small company in England which produces hand-made units capable of astonishing acoustic performance.
The best modern proponent of the "box" loudspeaker is, without a doubt, the British company Seventh Veil.
The most biased posting in this thread has been posted by Steve Margolis of Seventh Veil Loudspeakers.
I hope that you find this illuminating.
Steve
PS: If you would like to see a photo of the Bandor units in a Seventh Veil cabinet (circa 1990), please click this link.
Then watch this space for an exciting, new system being released within a few weeks.
Steve Eddy said:
Absolutely not Steve. I won't go too far back in history (early Goodmans, etc.) but Doreen Band (Bandor) was married to Ted Jordan (Jordan). When they worked together, he did the theoretical design work, she was in charge of getting the units built. After their divorce they both gained the rights to use the designs.
When Doreen started Bandor she had the opportunity to try a number of innovations that she had never been allowed to try with Jordan. One of these, for example, was to form the cones by spinning. So, Bandor was the first company to use spun anodized aluminum cones. Jordan followed Bandor's example.
Jordan was the first company with a 2" full-range aluminum unit; Bandor's units have many innovative features and have evolved their own way over the last fifteen years.
Ted Jordan is, in my opinion, a brilliant and innovative designer. Doreen Band ain't bad either!
Of course, Doreen's experiences in production have allowed Bandor units to achieve a consistently high standard in practice.
Steve Eddy said:Careful. Saleshacking can get you into trouble here.
Oh, come on, I'm working all hours on my new designs right now. I'm living, breathing, eating and sleeping speaker design. Let me come out of my haze and have a little bit of fun occasionally.
SY said:
Well, of course it is a linear array even though the units are only 2" diameter and are very close together. As a result, the imaging is sublime. The frequency response is fine to over 20kHz provided you listen from 3 feet or more away. But, I have to come clean - this is a "sit down and listen" speaker. Stand up and you lose it (the high frequencies, that is).
I don't doubt that I would make the same design choices again today (come to think of it I am making them
)Steve
Thanks for the history. I knew the two were married and allowed each other to use the technology after the split. But wasn't aware of what exctly happened afterward.
Hey, it doesn't bother me. Just a friendly reminder that some others don't take so kindly is all.
Mmmm. Dunno that I'd want to listen to an array like that at 3 feet with all the comb filtering in the high frequencies.
Y'ever thought of using a symmetrical array (say two over two)with the center driver crossed over from the others around say 500 Hz? That would certainly give you better imaging in the nearfield.
se
7V said:Oh, come on, I'm working all hours on my new designs right now. I'm living, breathing, eating and sleeping speaker design. Let me come out of my haze and have a little bit of fun occasionally.
Hey, it doesn't bother me. Just a friendly reminder that some others don't take so kindly is all.
Mmmm. Dunno that I'd want to listen to an array like that at 3 feet with all the comb filtering in the high frequencies.
Y'ever thought of using a symmetrical array (say two over two)with the center driver crossed over from the others around say 500 Hz? That would certainly give you better imaging in the nearfield.
se
Steve Eddy said:
I feel that the coherence of the crossover-less design more than makes up for any problems that I've encountered.
You may find that it's not as bad as you think. In practice, as long as you're listening from more than 3 feet away (which most do) and you keep sitting, there are no problems. Personally, I can't hear anything missing at 2 feet away.
There's a very good program that you can download called "VPR" (Vertical Polar Response: Line Array). This is available from FRD Consortium . Just input the driver diameters: 52mm and gap between drivers:20mm. Run the program with 4 drivers and you'll get the complete picture.
Better yet Steve, if you're ever in England ...
I'm coming over to Colorado in a couple of months but don't know whether I'll be able to make it as far west as Sacramento. There's really no substitute for listening.
Steve
7V said:
What's missing for me is that added coherency that you get with a point source in the nearfield.
And if you can keep the crossover point well below that critical region of around 2-3kHz, there's really not much of a penalty to pay for it.
Thanks. Does it have graphics output? It mentions Excel spreadsheets. And I don't have Excel.
Hey, I'm a big Anglophile so someday...
True.
Though at this point I'm moving toward high efficiency single driver designs (I'm working on an amplifier that I can only realistically get about 6 watts out of).
Prior to that I was looking at doing a single driver speaker using the Jordan JX-92. Have you tried a single JX-92 compared to the four Bandors?
se
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