Westrex speakers

[grumpy]

...fortunate to have these great loudspeakers.

Indeed.

[Mr. Widget]

So, my experience is:

• Well engineered modern speakers sound very good
• Well engineered old classic speakers sound very good
• Well engineered very old classic speakers sound very good
• It certainly helps if the manufacturer has a background in professional Cinema / theatre / studio / broadcasting. i.e proper engineering

And I and consider myself fortunate to have these great loudspeakers.

Agreed...

Though I am skeptical about a few of the details... I have no doubt they are a magnificent speaker and you are quite fortunate to have found them.


Widget

[JoMoCo]

Interesting, looks to be similar size but not the same as the Shindo Latour .. I wonder were the HF's earlier than the Acoutilens or just another implementation .. ?

[andywin]

Interesting, looks to be similar size but not the same as the Shindo Latour .. I wonder were the HF's earlier than the Acoutilens or just another implementation .. ?

I my search to find out more about these speakers I have been in contact with two former Westrex employee's. One left in 1961 and couldn't remember them but the other had some recollections about them. So far I have uncovered:

• They are Westrex model 2326A
• They were developed around 1960/61
• They supposedly were intended as a replacement for the larger Acoustilens so post date them
• They use the same base componants as the Acoustilens with the exception of the horn but do have the slant plate lens from it.
• One of the aims was to have a greater HF extension than the Acoustilens.
• The first development models has two HF units although they may have been GEC presence units
• The HF unit (2390A) was a develpment of the 2090 using the principles of the GEC HF units
• The GEC anechoic chamber was supposedly used to develop them
• With the L pad adjusted for the room they apparently gave a very flat response. Listening seems co support this.
• The cabinets are original

Thats about it so far but I'm still searching for any further info or recollections.

[audiomagnate]

Yes you are very fortunate indeed. No speaker is perfect, but you own a pair of what I consider the most realistic sounding speakers on the planet, the 1400s. The Mark Levinison HQD system from the late 70s was my previous jaw dropper. How could this speaker go unnoticed for 50 years?

[stephane RAME]

My WESTREX horn
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...l=1#post262291

Stéphane

[louped garouv]

How could this speaker go unnoticed for 50 years?

perhaps limited availability/distribution and lack of internet 'brouhaha' --
for lack of a better term is significant?

[andywin]

perhaps limited availability/distribution and lack of internet for lack of a better term is significant?

I would have to agree with you. They were the last Westrex domestic / studio loudspeaker before Westrex pulled out of that market. They were very expensive, I don't know how much as the only references say "price on application". I can find no contemporary reviews of them so, apart from a reference to them in the 1962 HiFi Year Book with no accompanying picture there was little public exposure.

I have found only reference to one other person who once owned a pair so they do seem to be rare.


I have found a site that shows four 2080E woofers owned by a Serbian. http://'http://www.german-vintage-lo...0e.htm' --


These are the same as in my speaker with the added mass ring. The owner has measured the speaker parameters


Brand: western electric
Model: 2080.E
Thiele-Small Parameters:
Fs: 34.00 Hz
Vas: 149.27 l
Qms: 19.3111
Qes: 0.1998
Qts: 0.1978
Sd: 693.60 cm2
Vd: 0.0694 l
XMax: 1.00 ±mm
Revc: 12.0000 Ohms
ZMax: 1171.7574 Ohms
ZNom: 12.0 Ohms
Bl: 35.8684 N/A
Rms: 1.1093 kg/s
Cms: 0.2185 mm/N
Kms: 4.5767 N/mm
Mms: 100.2717 g
Mmd: 79.2648 g
Levc@1kHz: 2.5270 mH
Levc@5kHz: 1.0722 mH
Levc@10kHz: 1.3017 mH
Levc (Ave): 1.0793 mH
no: 2.8480 %
SPL @ 1W,1m: 96.56 dB
SPL @ 2.83V,1m: 94.80 dB
Measurement Info:
Method: Delta Mass
Added weight: 32.00 g

[JoMoCo]

Andywin
Would you mind sharing the dimensions of and any other info on the cabinet .. ? It is hard to tell from the pictures about the porting .. maybe a tapered resistive vent style .. ? Wow xmax 1mm .. Thanks in advance

found this and though it was useful also .. http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...d.php?t=115080

[andywin]

Andywin
Would you mind sharing the dimensions of and any other info on the cabinet .. ? It is hard to tell from the pictures about the porting .. maybe a tapered resistive vent style .. ? Wow xmax 1mm .. Thanks in advance

found this and though it was useful also .. http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...d.php?t=115080

Speaker cabinets are 37.5 " x 22.75" x 16.25"

I'll take some more pics of the porting arrangement.

The link you posted is of my speakers. I posted on pfm in my quest for further information.

I've just been listening to Paul Simon's Graceland through them and I stand by all I've said before.

[audiomagnate]

I would love to hear these speakers. Are they truly the Holy Grail? Too bad you're so far away. The 1400s float a voice like nothing else for me, Sinatra in the room. Can they really do that?

[tomt]

what a bargain this was -

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...-Westrex-2080A

[pde2000]

hi andy, just seen your post. where did you find them? im jealous. you remember i had a single bth 5b driver, it went to a japanese ebayer for not a lot. he also bought a 30150a for £860 + etc, so at that price i will be keeping mine. my grandad tried using a 2090 back to front in his setup, with a 2080. he ended up using a 12" westrex 30928 on its own, with a bit of treble lift and was very happy with that. that lens looks diy-able, is it simply alloy plates bolted together, with a v notch out of each? you know the 2090 is better than the altec if it still has the original diaphragm. i bought a replacement from gpa, which sounds poorer to the original and has a narrower ribbon (and the alloy is a bit crummy, not smooth and creamy). i finally succeeded to solder the voice coil, using a tinned piece of copper wire and a high temp, still going strong, crossed at 500hz with an old we xover with no attenuation (ie a pair of aircore chokes and a pair of big dubilier caps) and a fibreglass 805. i could have saved a few quid if id persevered with repairing the old coil. a very nice chap bought my gaumont 379 and a 12" gaumont (goodmans) at a very fair price. i had no idea the gaumonts were so popular (a pair just sold by emporium for nearly 3grand). i am still kicking myself for missing a 20/80 a few years ago, being sold by a lady in ascot from this site. she only wanted £750 but divorce was making that difficult and my dad didnt think it was a good bet. damm

i see they now fetch $35000 a pair and then some.

my dad thinks gec shared some research with westrex, because he was shown round there once. they used to give away their designs, like the presence unit which became the celestion hf1300 and the ribbon mike that made reslo famous (it must have helped that the m.d. of reslosound had been head of gec labs before he moved to romford). gec, like litton were an aerospace and military contractor, doing secret work for the government, so making music was a sideline eventually.

my dad finally talked a bit about his dad's work and remembers being taken to ireland when he was about 2, in 1935, while the cinema's were being converted to sound. he caught chicken pox and his mum blamed the ferry journey. before working for we my grandad had been installing radio for hmv, having apprenticed at eveready. he wanted to settle down and get married. they bought a home near caterham (warlingham) and then along came the war so they moved up to newcastle. they lived in warlingham then until they both died, about 10 years ago, with pop going about looking after his cinema's and kay keeping accounts for an artists agency in bayswater.

[dave fenner]

I was a field engineer at Westrex, my patch was NW London. I left to set up my own company and Westrex were my main Distributor, so I was often in and out of the Works at Coles Green Road. The following paragraph is not for the squeemish.

Most UK cinemas using Westrex sound and projection equipment were on a lease plus service contract, the gear was owned by Westrex. During late 60's cinemas were fast being converted to multiples, bingo halls or bowling etc, so masses of equipment was being removed. Having no storage space they put large skips behind the works. These were daily filled with 2040 40 watt tube amps (best ever), 2080 bass drivers and 2090 drivers and horns, and sold as scrap. Bass bins were broken up on site. Crying is allowed.

One day when visiting I saw lying by the skip a 2090C driver complete with Book Radiator. I grabbed it and remarked to the warehouse manager (Mr Bill Diamond) 'pity there is not a pair'. 'Wait',we are having a clear-out' he said and went inside and returned with another, which was obviously a prototype, having a rough looking makeshift bracket for mounting but otherwise identical.

I beleive these speakers as shown here were intended to superceed the original Acoustilens model, I cannot be certain but few if any were sold, in which case they are extremely rare. The only ones I knew of were owned by a very few of my fellow engineers. The guys that had them were the cream of the West End sound men, like Gorden Isaacs and Billy Bell. I heard them on a system consisting of a pair of 2040's, a Decca FFSS cartridge and tone arm. I never heard before or since such gorgeous quality from vinyl. But I must say the best systems I ever heard were the circa 1954 4 track mag Cinemascope movies with 3 Westrex bins with cellular horns. Its all gone backwards since. It is no surprise to me that efficient speakers sound far better, its the tight control by the huge magnets and small accurate gap, and stiff ouput of the transfomer coupling, damps overshoot and flapping around.

Back to the Book Radiator; I do still own the original prototype. At one time I pondered copying the perforated sheild and the Book 'pages' and offering them as conversion kit for 2090A. Too old to bother now. I am not familiar with the type number 2390, my memory is fading but as I recall the original horn driver was 2090A (24 ohms) and 2090C (15 ohms and no phase plug) but I could be wrong.

[Earl K]

Hi Dave,

It's wonderful to hear about this stuff from someone who was actually there .

Were these drivers & horns ( 2080 & 2090, etc. ) made on the premises ( at the "Works" as you put it ) ?

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to fill in some of the details.