Do you have contact info for this cabinet builder in TN?
Loudspeakers have we really made that much progress since the 1930s?
Since I have a slight grasp on the history or loudspeaker design. And what is possible with modern. I do wonder if we have really made that much progress. I have access to some of the most modern transducers and design equipment. I also have large collection of vintage. I tend to spend the most time listening to my 1930 Shearer horns. For they do most things a good bit better than even the most advanced loudspeakers available. And I am not the only one to think so I have had a good num of designers retailers etc give them a listen. Sure weak points of the past are audible. These designs were meant to cover frequency ranges at the time. So adding a tweeter moves them up to modern performance. To me the tweeter has shown the most advancement in transducers but not so much the rest. Sure things are smaller but they really do not sound close to the Shearer. http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/lmco/shearer.htm
- ...
- 274 posts total
It might be useful to think about the evolution of the automobile as an analogy here. A car from the 1930s would be immediately recognizable to us, but over time cars have gotten lighter, smaller, safer, they handle better, are more reliable, routinely go faster, are more efficient, and the list goes on. These improvements (and yes, I think we can all agree that these are improvements) might also be said of speaker design. The industry has access to vastly improved measuring techniques, materials, and about a century of design experience to draw on. Fundamentally, the components of a car haven't changed much since the 1930s: an engine, transmission, suspension, steering mechanism, exhaust system, and a body to enclose it all. Same with speakers: a magnet, a basket, a vibrating membrane... What HAS evolved in a major way since the 1930s is music itself and therefore how we listen and what we listen to. Every day, we hear sounds my grandparents could never have imagined. Reproducing those sounds requires innovation not only in speaker design but also in amplification. I'm wondering if the invention of the transistor might not have been one of the driving forces behind speaker design and innovation over the last 50 years or so, and now that we're in the early(ish) days of the popularization of class D amplification, what changes might that precipitate, us having grown so used to today's hyper-resolving electronics? |
So..it appears that John is right, there is no innovation in a true meaning of it, just some improvements in certain areas, maybe. Speaking of cars, not from 30s. The original BMW M3, small and light, was a true driver's car. The same with Porsche. Now look at those modern computers on wheels that those cars have become. I don't need them. |
Spot-on Inna and John..... I get to compare vintage to modern every day in both cars http://i.imgur.com/ASYO1cY.jpg and audio http://i.imgur.com/ddKNHVx.jpg Give me vintage....😎🎼 |
As I opined here earlier, technology has advanced the performance of home audio gear greatly over the years. The Shearer system that the OP mentioned is not a home audio system but an enormous thing designed for theaters and movie houses; it is totally impractical for normal home use. The Western Electric systems of the day were essentially cost-is-no-object designs that were too expensive for even the theaters to own and were mostly leased out. They were built when labor was relatively cheap and so it was possible to build handmade items in somewhat smaller production runs. Home audio profited greatly from technological advances that allowed for much smaller speakers that could be manufactured on more capital-intensive production line basis. The sound of home audio was completely different from that of the large theater systems, and over time that sound evolved to where we are now--a different aesthetic from those old horn systems. I am certain modern designers could build systems that sound like those old school systems, and using modern materials and science, provide superior performance in the areas those old designs are lacking. For the most part, they don't because the mass market has no exposure to that sound and so there is not much demand. There are modern builders who cater to this niche market, but, they can only build on a small scale and cost, particularly labor, is extremely high so the stuff is EXPENSIVE (e.g., Goto). Atmasphere is, in my opinion, correct that these vintage systems cannot deliver the kind of deep bass that modern systems deliver. Even the massive Shearers and Western based systems do not have much in the way of punchy, deep bass. The light paper cones with low-compliance suspensions that don't allow the cones to move in and out very far are not capable in that respect. But, aside from that, they deliver a VERY special kind of sound. If that is your particular taste, there are not many modern alternatives (and certainly not many reasonably-priced one), so it is mostly an academic exercise saying that modern designs are, or are not, superior. The Classic Audio Reproductions field coil speakers certainly do deliver the incredible dynamics and clarity of the old school systems, and I will take Atmasphere's word that they deliver much lower distortion, but, I think they are voiced like modern systems and so they are not really "replacements" for such systems. |
- 274 posts total