Super rare Western Elecrtic speaker on the bay

[tom1356]

I don't think it ever appeared in a WE catalog.
Bragging rights for some museum somewhere.


http://cgi.ebay.com/1-western-electr...-/160431629853

[SEAWOLF97]

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/1726893418.html


Thomas Edison C4 System - $500 (SE Portland)

Date: 2010-05-05, 9:38PM PDT
Reply to: [email protected] [Errors when replying to ads?]

Up for sale is an Edison Electric Company (1928 or there about) power unit (shown in picture), tuner and phonograph — The C4 System. These units are nearly complete but will need restoration to work properly, as I have never attempted to power them up. There is no cabinet with this system, just the units themselves and the original paperwork including the operation manual and spare tubes true to the period. The top left image is what the power unit looks like when restored, the top right is the power unit that I'm offering for sale. I will post pictures of the tuner and phonograph when I get a chance to photograph the items.

• Location: SE Portland
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

[herki the cat]

[QUOTE=tom1356;287368]I don't think it ever appeared in a WE catalog.
Bragging rights for some museum somewhere.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-western-electric-18-coaxial-speaker-field-coil-/160431629853[/QUOTE]

herki
This 18 inch woofer with WECO 555-W HF Driver mounted coaxiallly similar to Altec 604 except for the Hf horn for 555- HF Driver, other than the conical configuration of the 18 inch woofer cone, does not look like any commercial product WECO ever made, Still if it is a one of a kind WECO experimental item, & indeed be a field coil woofer, this could be a very good sounding Duplex Speaker up to 7 KHz.

Seems to me This thing has been around in archieves before.

[Steve Schell]

As I understand it these two way horn systems were manufactured by Western Electric in very limited numbers in the late 1930s. I have also seen them referred to as Langevin products. Quite a few of them were used at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, some using an extended flare for a larger bass horn mouth size. These were contemporary with the RCA Twin Power, another giant corporation's effort to impress with a formidable two way horn loaded coaxial loudspeaker.

This W.E. speaker used a Jensen 18" woofer in which the center pole had been bored through the center to provide a path for the high frequency section. The Jensen 18s were used by W.E.'s ERPI division in their theatre sound systems. A Western Electric 555 compression driver threaded in from the rear and fed a nine section divided exponential flare midrange horn. This and the bass horn center section were soldered up from sheet copper, very reminiscent in design and execution to the Fletcher System bass horn of a few years earlier.

I have observed the travels of the pair of speakers shown in the auction for quite a few years now. I have spoken to several of the people involved, and probably know more about their history than their current owner! It is funny how these stories come together, a piece here, a piece there. They were owned by a fellow in Texas years ago who restored them, then they sold on ebay to someone in France, and they now reside in South Korea.

Attached are some images from the ebay auction years ago. The first picture shows the driver combo installed in the cabinet. The second is a sectional view, likely from some published article of the era. The third is a most interesting photo of Jack Mullin giving a demonstration of the then-new Ampex tape recorder, probably in the Los Angeles area in 1947 or so.

Keep in mind that these W.E. speakers were built several years before anyone produced a two way coaxial speaker like the Altec 601 field coil unit, Altec 604 permanent magnet unit, or the Stephens, Tannoy, Jensen, etc. I do believe that the presence of these W.E. and RCA coaxial systems at the NYWF likely influenced Arthur Crawford, who is credited with suggesting to Altec Lansing in 1941 that they should produce a Duplex loudspeaker. Mr. Crawford maintained an office in New York City, so it is easy to imagine that he may have heard these two way horn systems in action and been impressed by them.

[JoeRoberts]

For archival value I will add photos of a smaller WE coax unit based on the TA4151 woofer. Both these and the 18" units referred to above are in the Silbatone collection in Korea.

I actually heard the 18" versions in Texas in the home of the original scavenger. They came out of the Municipal Auditorium in Houston, I believe. Then, a few years later, there they were in the collection.

These were amazing bits of handiwork. Clearly one offs.,..or "few offs."

Japanese refer to these as the "Tub" systems. I am not sure where that nomenclature originated.

[srm51555]

Thanks Joe.