Anyone ever heard one of these?
Anyone ever heard one of these?
I have never heard that name " Ubangi " before. but of course the horn on top is an Electrovoice. I have several of those horns with drivers and they sound very nice indeed. Now at the same time a freind of mine also has a set and they sound awful at his house. Differant setup I suppose.
That just goes to show you that the same horn and driver can sound so differant when using differant equipment and rooms. This points out the need to tune each horn system after setting it up.
Anyway I bet that cabinet kicks out some serious bass.....look at the size of the cabinet behind the woofer. Very large volume indeed. These ultra big boxes really put out the low grunt because of the huge volume behind the woofer.
That bass enclosure is an RCA model MI-9462, designed by Mr. A.J. May of RCA in about 1950. Mr. May was the understudy of Mr. John Volkmann, famed RCA speaker engineer and inventor of the radial horn. They were built from the early 1950s through the 1970s.
The 9462 was the heart of RCA's larger postwar theatre systems. It is a combination front horn and bass reflex enclosure, similar in concept to the large Altec Lansing VOTT enclosures. Where it differs is that it was intended to be used horizontally only, and incorporates a 90 degree radial exponential front horn. This horn closely matched the horizontal pattern of the cast aluminum 90 degree radial mid / high frequency horns typically used with it.
As to the term "Ubangi", it is a slang term often used to describe the 9462, based on its appearance. Here's and excerpt from a post by Patrick Currie on the Joelist in 1997:
"...there was an African tribe that went to extreme and, depending on one's perspective, grotesque measures in stretching out there lower lips by punching a hole in the lip and then inserting progressively larger flat wooden discs in the hole. The results ultimately were hugely stretched lips with impressively large wooden discs inserted. So: a) these may have been the Ubangis, and, b) this would account for someone naming a large horn system, perhaps politically incorrectly, after the tribe."
Now having covered all of that, I have to admit I have never heard a pair of these set up as intended. Many of them have been cut down to more manageable proportions by hobbyists over the years and retuned to a lower resonant frequency. They were originally tuned for maximum efficiency rather than ultimate bass extension, like the big Altecs.
It looks impressive doesn't it ?
I bet they thump.
I've searched the internet for more info, but there's not much. A place called Mann's Chinese Theatre in California had them for it's P.A. system but that was years ago. Wish I could find some blueprints..........
Very, very interesting..................
Guy
How's this for thump?
My 4WD Jeep Liberty looks pretty small eh?
Guy
What are the drivers?
What is this system for?
The 1958 edition of "Loudspeakers" by G.A. Briggs gives a good description and illustrates the RCA Mid/High horns designed to partner it. There is an obvious typo on the hight dimensionsOriginally Posted by Steve Schell
Thanks for the cool photos.
Guy
That photo in Mr. Briggs' book depicts the PL-301A system. Top of the line was the PL-301, similar except that it stacked two of the bass enclosures. The horn above the MI-9562 is an MI-9595 90 degree radial horn. Above it is an MI-9594 60 degree radial horn. These were also designed by A.J. May. In this setup, two compression drivers on a Y throat fed a splitter which fed the throats of both mid/high frequency horns. The 60 degree horn was aimed at the balcony in a theatre installation.
RCA Ubangi - u betchya
I actually have access to three of these cabinets without the speakers and two horns without the drivers. Along with 4 MI-9377 amps which are all coming out of a theater in Indiana. I plan on putting them on Ebay for the people renovating the theater to raise some money. Anyone interested?
medwin say he might sell some of his
http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?...ubangi&session=
RCA Ubangi - u betchya
Hello, Packrat!
Nice to say hello to you.
I am really interested in Ubangis and MI9595 horns.
May I open private discussions with you?
Please send emails to [email protected] at your earliest convenience.
Thanks.
Last edited by icarus53; 08-06-2005 at 10:21 AM. Reason: wrong address
I just came into 3 ubangie cabs and a pair of A7 votts. One RCA is empty. Two of the RCA's are loaded with a single 31 lb #9449 15" woofer and #9597a crossover complete with coils and both cans and weighing in at 25 lbs EACH complete unit. The woofers are pristine. I haven't been able to find much on these. The cabs had the factory RCA number on them but I did not write down the cabinet number, just pulled the components. I knew better when I left the cabs but didn't want to spend my vacation running around renting and driving a Uhaul home. When I got home I found this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ADME:B:EF:US:1
I've already contacted the man and will be retrieving all the cabs this weekend, if not sooner. ANY information on the RCA's would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dave
Hi Dave,
This RCA equipment has historically been shunned by collectors, being regarded as inferior to the Western Electric gear. Now that the supply of W.E. has dried up, there is new interest in RCA and prices have been rising steadily over the past couple of years.
The bass enclosures you described, if similar to but shorter than the MI-9462 and configured for a single 15" woofer, are type MI-9588. They seem to be less commonly encountered than the 9462.
The 9597A crossovers operate (I think) at 250 ohms in and out. They sell well on ebay, and I often wonder if the buyers are aware of their impedance. If you have the round, black cans, these are model MI-9471 impedance matching autoformers. They were used to transform the 250 ohm impedance down to whatever was required for the high and low frequency driver(s) used in a particular system. These are high quality, wide band autoformers and can be used for level matching by do it yourselfers as well as impedance matching. I am using a pair of these to pad down the midrange/high frequency drivers in my home system. They have been selling on ebay lately for at least $100 each.
The MI-9449 woofers are very fine horn drivers, similar in concept to the earlier Altec 515 woofers. These often suffer from failure of the outer hinge on the cone, but are worth quite a bit if the original cones are in good condition. Be careful with these, as the cones are thin and fragile, and no suitable replacement is available as far as I know.
I was surprised at the selling price of the MI-9462. Until recently it was difficult to give these away due to their size and weight, although there has always been a cult of enthusiasm for the robust performance of these boxes.
the Ubangi is sold and on it's way to Las Vegas now. It was just taking up too much real estate for my 2 car garage system...gotta maximize floor space. When we measured the response on the PC, the mic registered 120db average SPL with music with 110 watts on it.
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