Lansing 175 and Multicell - Swap Meet Find

[Izzy Weird]

Wow, what a find! At today’s annual swap meet for the Puget Sound Antique Radio Association, I was very lucky. I picked up this small multicell horn with a 175 driver attached. The seller wanted $40.00. I immediately produced two twenties, no haggle whatsoever. Before I even got it to the car another local Lansing Heritage fan had offered me $400.00. I declined, I want to keep this horn.

The driver has continuity (it clicks really nice with a battery), but I guess would rather not break the seals to examine the diaphragm.

A visit to the site library revealed the following (please correct me if I am wrong). This appears to be a D175H horn/driver (the horn appears to be a H-1000) which was sold from 1948 to 1950, and used in the D1004, 5 ,6 corner systems, as well as the D1000, 2 ,3 (and the D1050) systems.

Wow, this may have been made while Jim Lansing was still alive.

Any other information on this item (or the speaker systems that used it) would be helpful.


Thanks in advance,
Izzy

[grumpy]

Nice find. Last unit I saw like that (even earlier version) was over at Mssr. Schell's.

[Robh3606]

What a nice find!! Good for you enjoy it.

Rob

[eso]

Nice find. Last unit I saw like that (even earlier version) was over at Mssr. Schell's.

Does Steve have one of those? I know he's got several Iconics...

Silly question: of course he has one of those. His collection is extensive.

Nice find, and quite the score too.

eso

[Steve Schell]

Nice score, Izzy! The H-1000 was the last horn designed by Jim Lansing, in 1946 or 1947. The ones built by him (his daughter remembers helping to solder cells together) had a mixture of sawdust and glue covering the cells for damping. Izzy's example looks to be one of the examples built slightly after Lansing's death in September 1949. JBL continued to build the H-1000 until it was replaced by the first version of Bart Locanthi's "Koustical" perforated plate lens horn, probably in 1951. The 175 driver in the pictures looks to be several years newer than the horn.

I've only got one H-1000, as part of a circa 1948 D-1000 two way system.

[robertbartsch]

...great find - enjoy!

What will you do with this - I suppose it could be used with a woofer and it would make an interesting and effective center channel for a HT?

The multi-cell horn reminds me of the old Altec horns.

[Izzy Weird]

The thought of using this as a center channel occurred to me. But I have spare drivers and horns closer to what I have up front right now. Creating five channels can be really expensive when you are adding-on to a four-way amplified system.

I have a pre-war RCA 76-B2 console that I want to put into service driving a low-power AM transmitter to provide programming for my radio collection.



I need a monitor speaker to complete the AM “studio”, and although this clearly isn’t 1930s era stuff, that horn has a very vintage look. Perhaps a D120 and my own reproduction of the appropriate JBL passive crossover would make a nice reproduction vintage monitor. All I need is a somewhat deco looking 1930s style studio monitor cabinet.

Thanks for the info.
Izzy

[Mr. Widget]

Perhaps a D120 and my own reproduction of the appropriate JBL passive crossover would make a nice reproduction vintage monitor. All I need is a somewhat deco looking 1930s style studio monitor cabinet.

That sounds like an excellent plan... that horn and driver appear to be in particularly nice shape, congratulations. I think you would have had a hell of a find at $140 or far more!


Widget