Originally Posted by
Steve Schell
Nice speaker. It was Bob Stephens' first permanent magnet model of coaxial speaker, circa late 1940s to early 1950s. If the badge says Los Angeles then it predates Stephens' 1947 move to Culver City. The high frequency compression driver on the rear fires through the woofer center pole into a nicely made little eight cell metal horn. Evidently inspired by the Altec Lansing 601 and 604, though Stephens claimed in his catalogs that he had been the first to build and sell a coaxial speaker of this type. The cabinet was Stephens' cop... I mean homage to the Altec 612 box, itself a carryover from the Lansing Iconic bass bin of 1937. The red with hammertone grey color scheme was a Stephens favorite; they continued this theme at least until Bob Stephens' death in 1957. Earlier examples of this cabinet cabinet used steel screen treated with red flocking.
These coaxial systems were a big deal in the late '40s. I just scored a Jensen type H, same type of thing except for a Tannoy-like arrangement of the woofer cone forming the horn in front. It is also in its original factory box.