Antique speaker identification challenge

[DanMan]

Just received one of dad's first speaker drivers.

Anyone guess/know:

Make:
Model:
Year:
Value:
How it works:


71174

71175

[mech986]

Field coil driver
other than that don't know

[Horn Fanatic]

Just received one of dad's first speaker drivers.

Anyone guess/know:

Make:
Model:
Year:
Value:
How it works:


71174

71175
The speaker is an armature speaker, which pre-dates the field coil type. Armature speakers were used in the first table top radios manufactured in the early 20th century. By the holes, the basket resembles the type Philips and Siemens used, but the speaker could have been manufactured anywhere around the globe. The basket with one respect resembles the early ALTEC Lansing baskets, which used a ring on the front to capture the cone surround.

The way it works is by means of an actuating rod in the magnetic field attached to the cone center. Very much in the same manner a solenoid operates.

Examples of armature speakers:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/37/06/24/37062406647e584d9092403928cb9559.jpg


http://www.crystalradio.net/misc/rca4t.jp

(http://www.crystalradio.net/misc/rca4t.jpg)

[DanMan]

Ding! Ding! That was quick! :)

Here is the backside with the manufacturer name or location <?>.

(do I dare hook it up? ... 30hz test tone??, lol)

71178

[Horn Fanatic]

Ding! Ding! That was quick! :)

Here is the backside with the manufacturer name or location <?>.

(do I dare hook it up? ... 30hz test tone??, lol)

71178

Hook it up to what? An amplifier? I would suggest consulting someone most familiar with such a device before firing it up. I certainly would not subject that speaker to 30Hz.

I'm going to take a wild guess. Is the surround made of leather? Utah was one of the first large scale loud speaker manufacturers in the U.S. The company was in direct competition with Lansing Manufacturing Company for radio speakers.

[DanMan]

I suppose it could be leather. Very very worn leather. It is super soft to the touch and very pliable; at this stage, it feels more like velour.

[Horn Fanatic]

I suppose it could be leather. Very very worn leather. It is super soft to the touch and very pliable; at this stage, it feels more like velour.

Your speaker is nearly 100 years old, and the surround is still pliable? That is amazing.

[Steve Schell]

LOL! Utah is the company that drove Jim Lansing out of Salt Lake City to Los Angeles in 1927, as Utah had captured nearly all the local business. As horn fanatic pointed out, this is a reed armature speaker, predating all moving coil speakers both field coil and permanent magnet. Lansing built similar units before 1930 in L.A. This type speaker featured a thin reed suspended between two high impedance windings which push pull drove and matched the high impedance of the driving output tube(s). By about 1930 the moving coil cone loudspeaker, with its much greater excursion and potential for greater output and for bass (!) had taken over and the reed armature speaker was no more. I have a few of them in the shed... they won't do bass but have quite lively mids/vocals! To drive one of these things with a modern amplifier it is useful to hook up an old output transformer backwards to present a high impedance to the speaker.