Top 10 Most Influential Speakers of the last 50 years!

[matheusgeyer]

What about Altec? The voice of the theatre and 604s? I know they are older than 50 years, but its good to mention.

 

[JohnL]

Steve,


LOL, Your post has worked very well as a recruitment tool!!!!!!!

That's TWO Newbies it has spawned so far!!!

Cheers,

JohnL (Newbie No1)

 

[Dennis Murphy]

It had a total of 9 speakers: 1 ea 12" woofer, 4 ea 1-1/2" hemispherical-dome mid, and 4 ea 3/4" hemispherical-dome tweeters. The cabinet was 6-sided measuring 27" wide, 20" tall, and 9" deep. The back panel was 27" X 20" and
(guesstimating from here) side panels come forward 3" at right angles to the back. The remaining 3 panels were the baffles with the front at about 16" wide. Both side baffles dropped back from the front at about 30 degrees.
The woofer was definitely in the front panel, but I don't remember how the drivers were arranged among the 3 baffles.

There certainly are peaks and dips in the FR I posted, but HF declared them among the most linear speakers they had ever measured.

This speaker was sold primarily for pro use in studios and labs, but AR allowed their distributors to special order them.

Thanks I did some googling, and it was a strange beast. The main part of the crossover looked pretty much like the AR3a, but it had a 2500 uf capacitor stage, the purpose of which is a mystery to me.

 

[KEW]

Thanks I did some googling, and it was a strange beast. The main part of the crossover looked pretty much like the AR3a, but it had a 2500 uf capacitor stage, the purpose of which is a mystery to me.

Likely, it was ultimately a product of some mix of a modicum of technical prowess, trial and error, and dumb luck. I certainly see a nasty ~10dB drop on the 2ax between 4,000 and 5100Hz (and back up 6dB by 7,000Hz). Not something a speaker designer would let slide unless they didn't know what to do with it!

 

[Audiomayvin]

The 2500u cap was to limit the low frequencies going to the woofer and overloading it or even damaging it.
All the best,
Leon(The Audiomayvin, Montreal(514)739-5403)

 

[utubecomment21]

Quad have got to in there somewhere. JBL control 1's. How many pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinema's and other venues have i been in and seen the JBL control 1' speakers bolted to the wall? Loads!

 

[Dennis Murphy]

The 2500u cap was to limit the low frequencies going to the woofer and overloading it or even damaging it.
All the best,
Leon(The Audiomayvin, Montreal(514)739-5403)

Thanks That makes sense electrically. I'm not sure why they felt the need for that kind of protection on such a robust woofer. But it's ancient history.

 

[hk2000]

I can't believe you did not include the NHT 3.3- and I'm not talking about the angled baffle- ingenious though it may be, rather the narrow profile with a side firing woofer/sub-woofer!!!!!!!
Ever since the success of that speaker, just about every loudspeaker manufacturer has copied that design, and to this day many still do. I own a less prestigious model from NHT (2.5i) and just hope it never fails, for I'm yet to find any thing affordable that woulkd even come close to it's imaging and sound quality.

 

[heyjp]

Fun article! I was in high school from 70-73 and worked for my Dad's high-fi shop in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. During a great era of speakers and stereo. I can't tell you how many AR-3, KLH 17's and JBL L100's I sold and demo'd. While I loved the L100's ($273 min fair trade price in 72) I bought a pair of JBL L65 Jubals that also featured that "Bright west coast sound" that I love. The Jubals had a unique prism shaped plastic polymer tweeter in a slotted enclosure. Between the crisp highs and solid yet tight bass, coupled with a Pioneer SX-1010 105watt RMS/channel receiver, I had THE kickass stereo in my MIT Fraternity... While just a freshman! Unfortunately a crook with taste broke into my Dallas home in the mid-90s and took the Jubals which I replCed with Snell Type D's. Nan other great speaker.

I am in the process of picking up a pair of JBL L100's from Craigslist this week. Looking forward to restoring the finish. The components are still lively. Love that west coast sound.

Thanks for the article!

Jim in Boulder

 

[Nestor]

I remember when the Bose Acoustimass system first came out. The dealer set up stands and draped a facade that made the speakers look like 5ft towers, which they could easily pull away to reveal the tiny satellites.

Many people were surprised by the illusion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[utubecomment21]

Bang & Olufsen Beolab 6000 and 9000 speakers

 

[walter duque]

At least I owned 8 out of 10 brands posted. Brings back good memories.

 

[Swerd]

Fun article! I was in high school from 70-73 and worked for my Dad's high-fi shop in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. During a great era of speakers and stereo. I can't tell you how many AR-3, KLH 17's and JBL L100's I sold and demo'd. While I loved the L100's ($273 min fair trade price in 72) I bought a pair of JBL L65 Jubals that also featured that "Bright west coast sound" that I love. The Jubals had a unique prism shaped plastic polymer tweeter in a slotted enclosure. Between the crisp highs and solid yet tight bass, coupled with a Pioneer SX-1010 105watt RMS/channel receiver, I had THE kickass stereo in my MIT Fraternity... While just a freshman! Unfortunately a crook with taste broke into my Dallas home in the mid-90s and took the Jubals which I replCed with Snell Type D's. Nan other great speaker.

I am in the process of picking up a pair of JBL L100's from Craigslist this week. Looking forward to restoring the finish. The components are still lively. Love that west coast sound.

Thanks for the article!

Jim in Boulder

Jim

I had JBL L100s since 1973. A number of years ago, when I was heavily into DIY speaker building, I went through the exercize of designing and building new crossovers for these speakers. The results were worth it. Read about it here:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/the-vintage-jbl-west-coast-sound-becomes-the….25014/

 

[walter duque]

What about Altec? The voice of the theatre and 604s? I know they are older than 50 years, but its good to mention.

Missed out on a pair of Altec Voice of the Theater. Where in the same spot for over 50 years and went for $25.00 for the pair.

 

[haraldo]

Thx guys, IMHO a very very well done list !!!!!

This list will absolutely be geo-dependent, which means it will be quite different overseas....
But as you stated it's an American centric article, so my remarks may not be fully relevant, then....

It's claimed elsewhere that Fisher were the ones inventing the dome tweeter and not AR, is that correct?... but AR then were the first to use it commercially on a large scale...

But I don't understand how you could miss Quad Electrostats, DCM Time Window, Vandersteen Model 1 .... Duntech's also made raging waves, but probably not so much in the US .... Also Joachim Gerhard made a revolution in Europe with the original Audio Physic Virgo. In the hi-end arena, Audio Physic is always there ...... But I guess the Virgo never made it to the US.

Dynaudio Consequence has been sold, more or less unchanged since 1984, Consequence Ultimate Edition replaced the original version a few years ago, but that a statement product of a hi end manufacturer is almost unchanged for more than 30 years is some influential indeed ....

Miller & Kreisel is absent, well..... As I understand, they were the guys that invented subwoofers, how can anything be more influential than that?

Also agree about KEF, they influenced speaker industry at large IMHO

And also about Bang & Olufsen, they were major player on speakers if you go back some years, but probably mostly in Northern Europe markets

Probably there's too many good speakers

 

[KEW]

This thread is really bringing back some fun memories!
Hope this is not too off-topic

The dynamics of audio sales sure were different in the mid to late 70's.
My small home town of Aiken, SC had two Hi-Fi stores, not including the two Radio Shacks (which had some decent values).
Then there was the Singer sewing machine store, they carried Audiovox (which may have been related to Singer, but I believe they somehow used Singer's store network to distribute their audio gear). In the case of my store, they also carried some more prestigious brands than Audiovox - Pioneer, Garrard, BSR, Fisher, and Marantz (if memory serves).
Driving 15 minutes got me to Augusta, GA which had 5 Audio Stores. My favorite was Thompkin's music, because they had a large wall of 30+ pairs of speakers with a acoustically transparent curtain in front of it, and a switching unit. So you could walk in the store and listen to all of the speakers blind, decide which you liked best, then open the curtain to see what I had been listening to. But probably the best about it was the old man who clearly loved music and audio. He enjoyed having a couple of high school nerd-punks who would (sometimes cut school and) come to his store and listen to speakers/music, unlike many of the others that acted like we were just there to waste time (I guess we mostly did!). Thompkins primary business was selling pianos and organs, but they had the most intelligent selection of speakers and even carried exotic foreign brands, like Wharfdale!
Now, there is only Best Buy.

I am curious, was the Singer/Audio Store a common thing, or just my local dealer?

 

[KEW]

This list will absolutely be geo-dependent, which means it will be quite different overseas....
But as you stated it's an American centric article, so my remarks may not be fully relevant, then....

It's claimed elsewhere that Fisher were the ones inventing the dome tweeter and not AR, is that correct?... but AR then were the first to use it commercially on a large scale...

But I don't understand how you could miss Quad Electrostats, DCM Time Window, Vandersteen Model 1 .... Duntech's also made raging waves, but probably not so much in the US .... Also Joachim Gerhard made a revolution in Europe with the original Audio Physic Virgo. In the hi-end arena, Audio Physic is always there ...... But I guess the Virgo never made it to the US.

Dynaudio Consequence has been sold, more or less unchanged since 1984, Consequence Ultimate Edition replaced the original version a few years ago, but that a statement product of a hi end manufacturer is almost unchanged for more than 30 years is some influential indeed ....

Miller & Kreisel is absent, well..... As I understand, they were the guys that invented subwoofers, how can anything be more influential than that?

Also agree about KEF, they influenced speaker industry at large IMHO

And also about Bang & Olufsen, they were major player on speakers if you go back some years, but probably mostly in Northern Europe markets

Probably there's too many good speakers

Looking at my copy of 1977 High Fidelity Test Reports, speaker companies represented were:
ADS
AR (6 ea)
Advent (2 ea)
Altec
Audioanalyst
Avid (2 ea)
B.I.C.
B & O
Bose (3 ea)
Bozak
CM
Design Acoustics
Dynaco (2 ea)
Electro-Voice (2 ea)
Epicure (2 ea)
Frazier (2 ea)
I M Fried
GTE
Genesis
Hartley
JBL
Janxzen
Jennings
Jensen
KLH
Layfayette
Leslie
Magitran
Marantz
Microstatic
Neosonic
OHM
Pioneer
Quad
RTR
Rectilinear (2 ea)
Royal Sound (2 ea)
Scott
Sony
Technics

So, not much international representation aside from Japan who had a long established export industry. B.I.C. and Quad are both British, right? Are any others European?
But you are right, it is a list of the most influential speakers as recognized in USA. I'm sure many innovations crossed the Atlantic, but unless a company was willing to take an expensive gamble, pushing their product overseas was not high on the priorities.
Of the list above, which USA speaker companies had a presence in Europe (and the time frame you are speaking from)?

 

[RichB]

Thanks for the fun nostalgic article.

I bought JBL 112's in college which really needed a better amp than my Technics receiver with .000001% distortion could muster. blah

My older brother bought the L150's powered by a Phase Linear 300 WPC amp. I loved it.
I wonder what that would sound like with some good digital recordings?

- Rich

 

[haraldo]

If we go back quite a few years there are certainly not many US loudspeaker companies around here
There were some people I heard of having DCM Time Window....
JBL Klipsch, Snell, Infinity, Bose have been around a loooong time, not sure how long....
Still today, it's close to impossible to get Thiel's, Vandersteen and a few others, unless you go on and purchase without listening

A few years ago I even tried to purchase a set of Thiel CS 2.4, but Thiel audio refused to sell them to Norway, and there's no local distributor

So in these Internet of age times there are still some geo-boundaries

 

[Reverberocket]

Very enjoyable article. I'm 57yo and have heard and owned some on your list. I'm lucky to have scored a couple later models of AR and JBL fame that still perform very well in my living and music rooms.

I also appreciated the Bose AM-5's. I put those little cubes/sub through so much, I thought I'd blow or wear them out, but never did.