Speaker Porn

[skullguise]

I had recently posted on FB about a visit to an Audio store where I heard a system approaching $500K list price.  A hometown friend pinged me and - among other things - said he has a friend/classmate (Princeton I'd assume) who "runs Oswald Mills Audio."

Maybe you can get a friend-of-friend-of-friend discount 🤣

Edited October 21, 2025 by skullguise

[Knuckledragger]

Edited October 21, 2025 by Knuckledragger

[Jon L]

I got SO lucky with a local listing.  Altec A7-500, and I added the supertweeter.

 

[mikeymad]

I have to admit, when I first saw this, I was like cool. 'Voice of the Theater" ALs. I didn't catch that they were yours. 

Well done!! 

[Jon L]

Removed the grill which removed a "veil" from midrange 😆 and had to rework the crossover and physical alignment of the supertweeter, but yeah, I'm beginning to think the speaker angle was already a solved issue in the 1950's and 60's..

 

 

[HiWire]

Would swapping out the rolling casters with footers improve the sound too?

[GrindingThud]

A few worthy photos from CAF this weekend…

[philodox]

Gorgeous, love horn speakers.

[Grahame]

No 6th floor activity photos?

[Knuckledragger]

A slightly different kind of speaker porn.  In the early 90s I was prone to spacing out and doodling in class, in stead of doing what I was supposed to be doing.  This pattern explains a lot about ...everything that has followed since.  A month or so ago I was going through some of the myriad of paperwork that made it with me from the mainland.  In it I found a really old school notebook.  Most of it was fantastically uninteresting (I have not cared about the Sumerians for 35 years and counting) but I did find one page that had some amusing doodles on it:

We've got a couple cars, an attempt at a Roland TB-303 Bassline, what might be a Marshall half stack and ...two attempts at one very iconic speaker design.  That's a Legacy Audio Whisper.  I was one of the cool kids, I tell you.  

 

[Craig Sawyers]

Imgur are still blocking content to UK viewers. All I see is a blue box with "CONTENT NOT VIEWABLE IN YOUR REGION". Their caps, not mine

Because our on-line regulator Ofcom has decided to sue them under the UK Online Safety Act. Imgur has responded by blocking all Imgur content to people from the UK.

Ho hum.

This is the BBC's article on the Imgur blue screen https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

[jamesmking]

My anti virus subscription includes a VPN. Never needed (or used it) until the UK did the online "safety" act.

access via VPN with IP location set to USA works fine for me in the UK...

I'm just waiting for the UK to ban VPNs, strong encryption and storing anything locally - after all if you have nothing to hide you shouldn't be worried about the security forces, AI or anything looking at everything all the time... Of course politicians, Royalty, celebrities and rich people will exempt from the this.

[Knuckledragger]

I, ahem, like to sing sea shanties, so I cheerfully pay for Proton VPN.

Don't let the UK government back you into a corner!

Spoiler

See what I did there?  Not if you're in the UK, you didn't.

 

[Grahame]

1 hour ago, Knuckledragger said:

I, ahem, like to sing sea shanties, so I cheerfully pay for Proton VPN.

Don't let the UK government back you into a corner!

  Reveal hidden contents

See what I did there?  Not if you're in the UK, you didn't.

 

 

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oi-you-got-a-loicense-for-that-mate

 

[mikeymad]

for scale

None of those chairs are in the sweet spot. 

But I did find a room for Ric.

[Knuckledragger]

"The speakers ARE the room treatment."

[Knuckledragger]

Longtime listeners will be familiar with my obsessions surrounding the music of Oliver Lieb.  OL wears many hats, working as a producer, remixer, DJ and mastering engineer.  In my jaded opinion, he's one of the people best at mastering techno on the planet.  Oliver's productions are legendary for having every element positioned perfectly in the mix.  OL has an on-again, off-again approach to social media.  He'll post a bunch then take a few years off.  He's been active recently, posting a bunch of historical photos and information.

In his own words:

Quote

Let’s talk about loudspeakers 🙂
There aren’t many photos from the studio I had after leaving the one at Harthouse around ’95. 
I worked there until I moved a bit outside the city and built my first proper studio in 1997.
In the second photo, you can see part of my speaker setup back then: on the left, the double JBL subs from a custom horn system, and another pair of double JBL subwoofers, with Quad ESL 63s placed on top on each side.
I started out with the horn system in this room and added the ESL 63s a bit later. Even though the Quads are full-range speakers, it made a big difference to support them with dedicated subs below 80Hz—it just made life easier for them.
The contrast between the systems was fascinating: the horn speakers could get insanely loud, while the Quads… well, they weren’t loud at all. But the sound? Absolutely phenomenal. Being electrostatic, their precision was on another level—probably the best I’ve ever heard.
I used them for quite a while, and when I built my next studio—the first one designed from scratch—I started with the Quads. That time, they had the proper wall behind them to reflect the sound and really let them work as intended. It sounded amazing.
A few years later, I switched to the Genelec 1939A, which I still use today in my current studio as my main system. The two double JBL 15" subwoofers are installed in the back of the studio and can be “activated” when needed—powered by a Parasound HCA-1200II with plenty of power. 😊 
I still own the ESL 63s, along with the original Quad amp. Every now and then I think about bringing them back into use. They’re not exactly ideal for a studio setup, and they’d need servicing first—but that sound… it’s just incredible.

TIL that OL is a big fan of vintage Quad and Parasound gear.  It's like he's pandering to make me an even bigger fanboy. 🤣

[Grahame]

A man of taste!