Stewart Hegeman's handbuilt speakers - Omni-Directional

[oldsoundz]

I have recently acquired a set of ('73-74) Hegeman Labs Model 1a Omni directional speakers. To my knowledge, these were some of, if not the first omni directional speakers to be developed.

A. Stewart Hegeman apparently is responsible for quite a few audio achievements. The Harmon Kardon Citation amp was designed by him, as well as The original Dynaco tuner, I believe.

Hegeman's original design utilized his own hand spun aluminum woofer cones/woofers. These first models contained a Philips AD 0160/T8 tweeter.

The idea is to perfectly recreate a room where a good, old fashioned stereo recording (only TWO microphones) had taken place. I must admit, even with my lowly receiver, and acoustically challenged room, on a quick dry run, they gave quite a remarkable soundstage. I have never heard a more accurate upright bass, nor have I been able to walk 360 degrees around the bassist as he plays near my china hutch. Johnny Cash never sounded better.

In '77 Hegeman, for a number of reasons, decided to hand his knowledge and speaker company down to Don Morrison. Some may know his E.L.A.D. preamp, or other products. The innitial design of my model 1's have since evolved under the new name, Morrison Audio (http://morrisonaudio.com).

Morrison still hand makes every speaker/amp and is completely a one man operation.

Here are a couple of pictures of the speakers.

Wondering if anyone has ever experienced any Morrison Audio or Hegeman speakers. Would love to hear your opinion.

[spwal]

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/duevel/side.jpg

[Hoerninger]

To my knowledge, these were some of, if not the first omni directional speakers to be developed.
In the beginning of the seventies there were some manufacturers with 360 degree sound distribution.

I remember the Swedish SONAB OA-6 Typ 2 (1970) with build-in amp for the woofer.
http://www.carlssonplanet.com/oa6ii.php

It was the basis of a speaker project of mine. At that time I liked the sound stage - maybe it was because it had been my best speaker so far. Today I prefer a direct sound with less room influence.
___________
Peter

[JBL 4645]

oldsoundz

Not bad buy mate a little restoration of the grill as it’s in need of sanding and a new coat of primer and spray paint should come up then looking brand spanking new.:applaud:

Is that a rubber edge surround on the bass mid driver, as its kinder hard to tell, it looks like its got water or a soft spray of water on it in the third picture down it?

[oldsoundz]

It is a rubber surround, It looks like it will last for ever. It's different than most rubber surrounds, it feels more like a foam.

There was slight water marks/damage here and there, as the people I got them from had them outside for sometime trying to yardsale them. I have cleaned them up and about all that is left is to sand/repaint the grilles and possibly find a cloth to put on them.

I do know there were others around the time, and that Hegeman introduced his to the public in '69 I believe. Anyone have any more light on the subject?

[SEAWOLF97]

I have recently acquired a set of ('73-74) Hegeman Labs Model 1a Omni directional speakers. To my knowledge, these were some of, if not the first omni directional speakers to be developed.
The idea is to perfectly recreate a room where a good, old fashioned stereo recording (only TWO microphones) had taken place. I must admit, even with my lowly receiver, and acoustically challenged room, on a quick dry run, they gave quite a remarkable soundstage. I have never heard a more accurate upright bass, nor have I been able to walk 360 degrees around the bassist as he plays near my china hutch. Johnny Cash never sounded better.

The Walsh design was started and produced ealier. With a downward looking 12+ inch long tapered cone (apex at the top - 4 inch throat and 12 inch opening (18 inch on the A model)) and radiating off THE OUTSIDE OF THE CONE ,(made of titanium ,ss and paper to maintain phase coherency) it produces 360 radiation and an incredible soundstage as well.

more info: http://cgi.ebay.com/OHM-WALSH-MODEL-F-SPEAKERS-TIME-CAPSULE-PAIR_W0QQitemZ200126236846QQihZ010QQcategoryZ50597 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nice find ....looks like they will clean up well.:applaud:

[kurt Elliott]

486014860048599
I have recently acquired a set of ('73-74) Hegeman Labs Model 1a Omni directional speakers. To my knowledge, these were some of, if not the first omni directional speakers to be developed.

A. Stewart Hegeman apparently is responsible for quite a few audio achievements. The Harmon Kardon Citation amp was designed by him, as well as The original Dynaco tuner, I believe.

Hegeman's original design utilized his own hand spun aluminum woofer cones/woofers. These first models contained a Philips AD 0160/T8 tweeter.

The idea is to perfectly recreate a room where a good, old fashioned stereo recording (only TWO microphones) had taken place. I must admit, even with my lowly receiver, and acoustically challenged room, on a quick dry run, they gave quite a remarkable soundstage. I have never heard a more accurate upright bass, nor have I been able to walk 360 degrees around the bassist as he plays near my china hutch. Johnny Cash never sounded better.

In '77 Hegeman, for a number of reasons, decided to hand his knowledge and speaker company down to Don Morrison. Some may know his E.L.A.D. preamp, or other products. The innitial design of my model 1's have since evolved under the new name, Morrison Audio (http://morrisonaudio.com).

Morrison still hand makes every speaker/amp and is completely a one man operation.

Here are a couple of pictures of the speakers.

Wondering if anyone has ever experienced any Morrison Audio or Hegeman speakers. Would love to hear your opinion.

I Have a pair of model ones, and loking at the pictre there is a high frequency diffusor missing on the metal grid.

I am a JBL Fan too. I have compared this Hegemans with my L100, 4311b, lancer99, L19,
and this small towers beats them all in presence, detail and realism...
I would never sell them because of their soun and rarity.

[jfbundy]

I just want to share an early memory of Stewart Hegeman: when I was attending Rutgers U. in the late 50's, an audiophile student friend of mine somehow got wind that Hegeman's studio was near his house in Newark NJ, and we managed to wrangle an invitation to visit Hegeman. It was a stunning evening, and we heard, c. 1956, a pair of Hegeman speakers, with his then conical paper tweeter extension, glued to the woofer. However, many of his recognizable design features were already in place, including the slightly forward canting of the top woofer placement, transmission tunnel maze within the box, with the "whizzer" cone acting as both 360-degree sound dispersal and high end enhancement. The speakers were fed from twin Dynaco amps, which in turn were fed from a stereo reel-to-reel tape deck, playing the [still] incredible RCA/Stokowski recording of Menotti's Sebastian. Wow, what a night that was! I would love to get my hands on a pair of Hegeman's, and evidently there are some out there.

Still hunting for the sound I heard that evening, long ago...

[twoofer]

My buddy Billy became a Hegeman "dealer" in 1974. You had to buy at least 6 spkrs and pick them up at the factory ( A garage in a REALLY bad neighborhood) in Orange NJ. We drove up from Philly, met the BossMan and got hooked up. I got 2, Billy got 2 and we sold the third pair. I was powering them with a 45 watt kenwood and that was the bare minimum as they were power hungry! They had great 3-d effect and the bass was amazing considering the small size of the woofer. My neighbors told me the cockroaches came running out of our basement when they were cranked. But alas! the aluminun cones quickly cracked (We were told they were hand-burnished over a wood form resulting in inconsistant thickness) and we took all 6 back to be repaired which Hegemann cheerfully did. The cones quickly cracked again and I sold my pair to Billy and he replaced the woofs with some nice Altec paper ones. Now he had 4 of them and bought a big Marantz Quad receiver (the one with the joystick balance) and the 4-D effect was amazing and enough power to rock the house. I replaced them with some reliable JBL-36's but with the JBL ported box the bass seemed muddy by comparison. AND you didn't get the Phillips TWEET, never matched until Pioneer came out with the HPM film tweeter- My next speakers after the JBL's but that's another story! Twoofer

[Cooljjay]

Here is a great link to omni directional speakers, which includes some of Hegamens. I believe he designed speakers in the 50's also. I have a Lafayette KT-600 preamp, that was also designed by him. Not many people know this, but there is enough people that know about them to bring the prices up to the citation level. I've been wanting to find a pair of Eico HFS 2 speakers but they are extremely rare.

http://www.roger-russell.com/eico/citation.htm

[ghgsell]

I grew up across the street from Mr. Hegeman. Not until I entered high school in the late sixties did I realize who this man was. At the time the H/K Citation line was the ultimate, but unfortunetly beyond our budget, nonetheless it was nice knowing that an audio legend live nearby.
After Mr. Hegeman retired (which he never really did) and decided to start building speakers, he would hire local high school kids to work in the "lab" in East Orange NJ. Mr. Hegeman's son Phil "Heggie" Hegeman ran the lab. My first job was adhereing the "wood-like" vinyl veneer to the cabinets. I eventually graduted to blowing the foam woofers. You could get paid one of two ways, either $2 cash per hour or $3 per hour credit towards new speakers. Most kids took the speakers.
I went to a thirty-five year high school reunion in 2010 and the sound system was fronted by a pair of Hegeman 1a omni directional speakers that a classmate had obtained while working at Hegeman Labs. The sound was still able fill the whole room.

[Hempopotamus]

I have recently acquired a set of ('73-74) Hegeman Labs Model 1a Omni directional speakers. To my knowledge, these were some of, if not the first omni directional speakers to be developed.

A. Stewart Hegeman apparently is responsible for quite a few audio achievements. The Harmon Kardon Citation amp was designed by him, as well as The original Dynaco tuner, I believe.

Hegeman's original design utilized his own hand spun aluminum woofer cones/woofers. These first models contained a Philips AD 0160/T8 tweeter.

The idea is to perfectly recreate a room where a good, old fashioned stereo recording (only TWO microphones) had taken place. I must admit, even with my lowly receiver, and acoustically challenged room, on a quick dry run, they gave quite a remarkable soundstage. I have never heard a more accurate upright bass, nor have I been able to walk 360 degrees around the bassist as he plays near my china hutch. Johnny Cash never sounded better.

In '77 Hegeman, for a number of reasons, decided to hand his knowledge and speaker company down to Don Morrison. Some may know his E.L.A.D. preamp, or other products. The innitial design of my model 1's have since evolved under the new name, Morrison Audio (http://morrisonaudio.com).

Morrison still hand makes every speaker/amp and is completely a one man operation.

Here are a couple of pictures of the speakers.

Wondering if anyone has ever experienced any Morrison Audio or Hegeman speakers. Would love to hear your opinion.

Yes, I sure have... I've messed around with, listened to, and done extensive modifications and upgrades to them.....

I have also modified the woofers to use a HEMP fiber cone, and have done experimenting with the aluminum "whizzers" on the woofers as well as the tweeters...
// hemp fiber coned Hegemans are a BEAUTIFUL thing....
... if you fellas' need help repairing/restoring Hegemans, just ask!!!

[lush1]

I saw a pair of Model 1a's on Ebay in 2009. I was intrigued by the description so I Googled them. This post and several others gave me some good background so I bid and won them for just over $400. It was by far the best money I ever spent on audio equipment, most especially speakers. They aren't going to win any beauty contests, but they are easy on the ears.
I love my Model 1a's but they have spoiled me. I now find most all monopole speakers to be unlistenable. The sweet spot on traditional front-firing speakers is just too small and room acoustics are critical to the quality and consistency of reproduction. The Model 1a's use the room acoustics to their advantage, not as a side effect that must be overcome. You can set them up in most any room and they sound amazing, even with no sound treatment, calibration or special setup. They have a very focused center and wide stereo spectrum at all but the most ridiculous listening locations, like between or behind the speakers. But even in non-optimal locations, you can still listen and enjoy these speakers. Everything sounds great on them, even at low volume. In fact, I listen to 1a's at much lower volume than I typically listen to monopole speakers. These speakers deserve quality, artistic program material, but even listening to TV from the bed is a real treat. I can lie down, sit up, stand up, move around the room, but the point-source of the sound doesn't move. From across the room the sound seems to be coming right from the TV screen. The low frequency response is astonishing for such small cabinets. In fact, I had to get some sorbothane to acoustically decouple the Hegeman's from the hard wood floor. I like a big bottom, but when listening to some sources the subsonics were overwhelming. If I want to play thumping dance music with a phat bottom, I can just pull out the sorbothane and the room rocks. The highs sound quite clean and bright. In fact, I run the tweeters with the HF control near the minimum position, so if I want to listen to a violin concerto but find it dull due to poor recording, or due to my aging ears, I can easily roll on more highs. All this without using an EQ or touching the tone controls on my audio system.
Half a year after I got my Model 1a's I stupidly moved an equipment rack with the volume fairly loud. An RCA plug pulled 1/2 way out and the dropped ground sent too much energy to my right speaker, blowing out the crossover and ruining the tweeter. I was beside myself, but the story has a happy ending. My first problem was determining the values of the old capacitors. One was burned and the other had a color code I didn't know and couldn't find a key to after much searching. I started searching forums and posting my problem. A fellow Model 1a owner suggested I contact Don Morrison, the heir to Model 1a's production after the sad and untimely passing of Stewart Hegeman. Mr. Morrison has refined and developed the since the 70's and currently still sells his omni speakers in beautiful, highly polished, black lacquer cabinets http://www.morrisonaudio.com. Anyway, I emailed him details of my dilemma. He promptly replied with some very helpful information and some suggestions on how I might improve my bone stock Model 1a's and coax a bit more out of the 1st generation iteration of the speaker line. I found a pair of OE tweeters on ebay for under $100 and thanks to Don and an ebayer in Belgium, I was able to save my damaged speaker. A few days later I received a big envelope from Mr. Morrison containing articles, scientific data, abstracts, and other cool stuff about speakers and audio theory. He included a CD of music recorded in "true stereo" using only 2 mics and no compression, PA or other processing which might alter the reproduction and compromise the fidelity.
I must regress again. I spent 45 years in broadcasting and music production, mostly rock based. I have done a lot of music recording, both live and multi-track studio work, so I have listened to a lot of pretty good speakers and mixed plenty of music in my life. I had read Don's opinions on recording and reproduction. I understood his points and agreed in principal, but felt I he was a bit rigid and extreme. However, after listening to his music, projects I have since recorded with a pair of mics, and many well recorded classical music records, I have to say, Morrison knows what he is talking about. Sadly, there is not a lot of music recorded this way. Some genres just don't work without PA, processing, multi-track, etc. Everything sounds good on Model 1a's, but good stereo recordings really spring to life when reproduced through omni speakers. The playback is almost identical to the performance. I have tested this several times by recording small jazz and classical ensemble performances. When I play back my recordings and close my eyes, it feels like the group is performing before me. I have a recording studio in my house with decent monopole speakers. The difference in fidelity is night and day. The Hegeman's win every time, with any content. In fact, when listening to TV, movies, etc, periodically, scoring, soundtracks, sound effects, even individual instruments which were recorded with an X/Y pair, will be revealed in a mix. It is funny when listening to a multi-track mixdown. Any true stereo content will seem to come forth from the mix and envelope me. I keep an oscilloscope on my system. When I hear something jump out, I glance at the scope and can usually confirm what my ears tell me. It's an interesting phenomenon. Even blasting guitars in rock records can pop out, if the producer put a pair of room mics into the mix with close recorded speaker mics.
BTW, I have kept in touch with Mr. Morrison and find him a smart, delightful, generous man. I plan to sell my big city home soon and downsize. My first splurge with the house money will be to buy a pair of his latest speakers. They aren't cheap like the 1a's, but they are not even close to being expensive compared to many other inferior monopole speaker systems. Whatever they cost, I'm quite sure they are a bargain. I can't wait to actually hear modern Morrison's in his listening room. I have a hard time imagining them. The Model 1a's sound so great and they are the only speakers I have ever truly loved in a life filled with many speakers, used daily in a professional capacity, but I fully expect the Morrison's to expand my imagination.
That's my rave on these rare treasures. If you ever get the opportunity to snag a set, go for it. They are in demand. If they aren't your cup of tea, you should have no problem finding a buyer. They don't come up often and they go fast. The converted are a small, but loyal group.
Thanks to all here for posting info on Hegeman Model 1a speakers. Without your sage advise, I might have passed on these special speakers.

[Earl K]

Very Nice Testimonial !

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

And Welcome to LHF.

:)

[lush1]

Very Nice Testimonial !

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

And Welcome to LHF.

:)
Thanks. Great website. Really appreciate all the valuable input from audio buffs.

[One Bad Ear]

I am another one of those students who worked at Hegeman Labs in East Orange and came away with a pair of Model 1As that I still have. My dad grew up with Stewart Hegeman, which is how I got involved with him. At the time I was there he was also building a larger version, Model 2 or 2A, and later tried his hand at some bookshelf speakers in an attempt to make money. I don't believe business was his calling. I did most things involved with assembling the speakers, but nothing to do with the electrical components. The high frequency diffusor mentioned above was just a ping pong ball filled with plastic and sliced. I spent a lot of time in a hot loft in the "Lab" mixing plastic to pour in molds for the tweeter housing. I recall his son going by "Pete" not "Phil", but that was 42 years ago, so who knows.
I don't use my 1As much, but they still sound fine and I never had any problem with the aluminum speaker cone. The foam grill covers long ago disintegrated, though.
Pat

[Lee in Montreal]

Mid-1960s Zenith omnidirectional cabs/coffee tables...

http://mypicsonline.net/gallery/d/755-2/_W7G6133.jpg

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/xRsAAOSw6ShZPH1z/s-l1600.jpg

I also remember French Elipson speakers from the 1960s that were similarly omni-directional. The concept behind avoiding a point-source seemed logic. There's no point source when you go to a concert.

http://newlaunches.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/elipson-BS50-speakers-1.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRxWCrNstfylPy0FrRrHgnJj4Ej55Idh gg7-7HnLMUrulJXRSQK

[srm51555]

Welcome to the forum, thanks for sharing

[hsosdrum]

Mid-1960s Zenith omnidirectional cabs/coffee tables...
I also remember French Elipson speakers from the 1960s that were similarly omni-directional. The concept behind avoiding a point-source seemed logic. There's no point source when you go to a concert.

The proportion of direct vs. reflected sound heard at live concerts forms the basis for Dr. Amar Boes's early designs* all the way through whatever the current iteration of the Bose 901 is. (Most people here find Bose's logic a bit suspect, to put it kindly.)

My feeling is that if a recording is accurate, the proper proportions of direct vs. reflected information will be encoded into it. A two-channel playback system that makes no attempt to properly decode this direct and reflected information but instead introduces an additional proportion of reflected vs direct sound via its only two speakers is going to take the reproduction of that recording further away from accuracy, not closer to it. A system that can properly decode the direct and reflected information and send each to a properly-placed set of speakers will bring the reproduction of that recording closer to accuracy. (This is why I stopped listening to two-channel stereo about 25 years ago.)

Two-channel stereo (compromise that it is) can trace its roots back to the original Audio Perspective experiments carried out by Bell Labs in 1933. Although audio hardware technology has incrementally improved since these experiments were performed, the principles confirmed by those experiments establish the basis for our hobby [passion/quest/etc.]. Those interested can find the original Auditory Perspective paper at the following link: www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/bell.labs/auditoryperspective.pdf (http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/bell.labs/auditoryperspective.pdf)


*Except for the 2201, which was an attempt at placing a 1/8th-spheroid element with 22 drivers into a corner and using the resulting acoustic reflections to create an omnidirectionally-radiating sphere. I was always curious to hear that one.

[Kenny]

Hello Pat!

I just found your post on LH re Hegeman 1A's. Wow I've had these speakers since 1974 when I found them in Denver for $160 a pair, got 2 pair. They wanted the JBL sound. Reason Im writing is that I have one fried tweeter and want to to know what to replace them both with.
If you have an idea please email me at [email protected].

Thanks,
Kenny











I am another one of those students who worked at Hegeman Labs in East Orange and came away with a pair of Model 1As that I still have. My dad grew up with Stewart Hegeman, which is how I got involved with him. At the time I was there he was also building a larger version, Model 2 or 2A, and later tried his hand at some bookshelf speakers in an attempt to make money. I don't believe business was his calling. I did most things involved with assembling the speakers, but nothing to do with the electrical components. The high frequency diffusor mentioned above was just a ping pong ball filled with plastic and sliced. I spent a lot of time in a hot loft in the "Lab" mixing plastic to pour in molds for the tweeter housing. I recall his son going by "Pete" not "Phil", but that was 42 years ago, so who knows.
I don't use my 1As much, but they still sound fine and I never had any problem with the aluminum speaker cone. The foam grill covers long ago disintegrated, though.
Pat

[Don C]

It's kind of hard to see the tweeters, but they resemble some Phillips tweeters that I've seen.