12 Most Significant Speakers of All Time

mhardy6647

I remember a place in Baltimore called The Discerning Ear that sold ARC back when I was originally in the hifi hobby (late-1970s). I was very impressed by it then, and still am... but revisionist history hasn't been as kind to their power amps as to some other brands. Their vintage preamps are still held in some esteem.

on topic again (what the heck?)... I forget; were the Altec 604 Duplexes on the 12 "most significant" list? If not, they likely should've been. They're certainly on my list.

Gerald W

Lots and lots to respond to here.

Troy - I thought your comment on "statement speaker" was good for the IRS V. Although such monster speakers as the Klipsch K, the E-V Patrician, JBL Ranger Paragon (especially the Paragon), and the Bozak Concert Grand might also fit into that category.

I gave some thought to Bozak, since my first post, and it dawnwed on me that it was really the first tuely "modular" design. E-V had they building block upgrade approach that had some modularity; but Bozak used the same three drivers in all the models. It really presaged the modular approach of Win Burhoe at EPI, and also the Polk line and a number of others today. So I'd nominate the Bozak B-302 for it's long term contribution to the concept of a modular design approach and also to the design of cone materials that evidenced themselves in KLH, Advent, and EPI speakers and others for many years. (the paper woofer cones, not the aluminum mid and tweeter cones)

There have been lots and lots of excellent speakers over the years; but to qualify for something as lofty as "the 12 most influential of all time" takes more than just good sound - to make that list, the speaker has to have an effect for a sustained period on designs that followed.

To Mark Hardy: Right, Tannoy was so pervasive in sound reinforcement and PA that Brits talked about hearing it on the Tannoy when talking about PA. Also common usage on the British ships. However, I do think the Tannoy coaxial predates the Altec 604; but either way, it's still around today.

Ooooh! Wait! Who first used the Acoustic Lens? Was that influential or what. Was the JBL Hartsfield the first? Lots and lots of use still today, although mostly in pro gear, although Bose uses them on cone tweeters.

One of the more fun threads I've participated in.

shack

cstmar01 wrote:

Infinity IRS V

This is one I would love to hear some day, however would not want to ever have to try and move it.

Gerald W wrote:

Infinity IRS V? Maybe not - what influence did it have decades later?

dorokusai wrote:

Jerry - I agree 100% on some of those....the Infinity was excessive for the sake of being excessive....

Yes...the Infinity IRS V was made....because they could.

I don't think we should overlook Infinity. It was a pair of Infinity Q (Quantum Series) speakers that really got me interested in the world of Hi-Fi.

Influence?.... I believe those early Infinity speakers were significant. The Qs were the first to have the EMIT tweeters and Watkins Woofers. The line evolved into the Reference Series that included the industry's first polypropylene woofers, 20 years ahead of their time.

The EMIT tweeter (Electro Magnetic Induction Tweeter) used powerful samarium cobalt magnets covered by a thin diaphragm. It was a ribbon style tweeter that was very light, thin, and super fast. Eventually these EMIT tweeters evolved into ribbon midranges and even upper bass drivers.

A Watkins Woofer (designed and patented by William H. Watkins) had a special dual voice coil to better handle the different frequencies the low end negating the need for a subwoofer!

The Qs and their successors the Reference series were designed in part by Arnie Nudel who also designed the IRS V then later left Infinity to form Genesis Speakers.

mhardy6647

Gerald W wrote: »

Lots and lots to respond to here.

Troy - I thought your comment on "statement speaker" was good for the IRS V. Although such monster speakers as the Klipsch K, the E-V Patrician, JBL Ranger Paragon (especially the Paragon), and the Bozak Concert Grand might also fit into that category.

I gave some thought to Bozak, since my first post, and it dawnwed on me that it was really the first tuely "modular" design. E-V had they building block upgrade approach that had some modularity; but Bozak used the same three drivers in all the models. It really presaged the modular approach of Win Burhoe at EPI, and also the Polk line and a number of others today. So I'd nominate the Bozak B-302 for it's long term contribution to the concept of a modular design approach and also to the design of cone materials that evidenced themselves in KLH, Advent, and EPI speakers and others for many years. (the paper woofer cones, not the aluminum mid and tweeter cones)

There have been lots and lots of excellent speakers over the years; but to qualify for something as lofty as "the 12 most influential of all time" takes more than just good sound - to make that list, the speaker has to have an effect for a sustained period on designs that followed.

To Mark Hardy: Right, Tannoy was so pervasive in sound reinforcement and PA that Brits talked about hearing it on the Tannoy when talking about PA. Also common usage on the British ships. However, I do think the Tannoy coaxial predates the Altec 604; but either way, it's still around today.

Ooooh! Wait! Who first used the Acoustic Lens? Was that influential or what. Was the JBL Hartsfield the first? Lots and lots of use still today, although mostly in pro gear, although Bose uses them on cone tweeters.

One of the more fun threads I've participated in.

So are the 604 Duplexes... sort of :-) www.greatplainsaudio.com

Speaking of acoustic lenses... the topic came up somewhere (AK, I think... or maybe here!) just yesterday.

mhardy6647

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Speaking of acoustic lenses... the topic came up somewhere (AK, I think... or maybe here!) just yesterday.

sorry - here's the reference:
http://www.lansingheritage.org/html/jbl/reference/technical/lens.htm

renowilliams

steveinaz wrote: »

The Ohm Walsh was definitely different. I can't believe JBL's studio monitors aren't listed.

I bought a pair of these (4311's) in 1976 and i remember being very pleased with my choice. In 1991 I moved back from living in Alberta and they were put into storage with some other funiture and they were stolen. A very sad day for me when I found that out. A friend of mine still has a pair and I go over for a listen from time to time.

Gerald W

Shack: I like Infinity stuff, I had a biamped pair of RS2.5's for several years. Great bass; but a VERY difficult load to drive. The Infinity-Watkins woofers in those had a 2 ohm and 4 ohm voice coil in parallel. And because the mids and highs were dipoles, I had to completely redo the sound treatments in my listening room. Unfortunately, we sold the house and moved to a condo and there was no room for them.

I thought maybe the Infinity Servo-Static 1A was a better choice for influential than the IRS V. Motional feedback bass, electroststaic screens, switching power amp on the woofer. A local shop had the IRS at one time, and I was underwhelmed. Still, the question remains; where's the long term influence.

Jerry

sucks2beme

A classic JBL like the L100 has to be on the list, love them or hate them.
The Snell type "E" should be there also. They are still in production
as a tweaked product through Audionote.
How about a top 50? 12 is way too short of a list. You could
do a top ten of each decade and come away with both a more complete
list, and a show of how the hobby progressed. Groundbreaking in
the 60's or 70's wasn't the same as it was in the 80's or the 90's.

shack

Gerald W wrote:

Still, the question remains; where's the long term influence.

Jerry

My point was that there was long term influence by Infinity with their designs like the Q and Reference series that pre dated the IRS V. The EMIT tweeter, the polypropylene woofers, the servo driven woofer system, etc (which were influential in the audio world IMO) had all been in other speakers before the IRS V. That technology was simply incorporated en masse with the IRS V. So while the speakers themselves may not have a long term influence...the individual concepts used to create them did.

mhardy6647

As I understand it (and, admittedly, most of this information was gleaned from teh interwebs, so take it "as-is", no warranty expressed or implied) the significance of the JBL L-100 and its studio monitor twins was to pack the sound of an Altec 604 Duplex into a small box. No mean feat, but 1) I still prefer the 604 and 2) does its modified copycat status make it in itself significant? I am on the fence with that one.

The most significant thing about the L-100 may have been that it (and Bart Locanthi) were directly responsible for the abomination in a box known as the Pioneer HPM-100 :-P

apphd

I'm reading this and trying to stay focused on the difference between significant and great, and wonder if something had to be hi-fi to be significant. Looks like many would qualify as both, but I have to bring one up, which surely wasn't great or even a top 12er but I keep thinking of the Minimus 7. I think this packed a lot of sound into a small package and price that was not normal for it's time, and maybe influenced some things (maybe negatively) about the direction audio was moving.

80'sMan

While not a high-end speaker, back in the age of the battle of the monster receivers (late 70's / early 80's) and the explosion of hard rock, the Radio Shack Mach One's were in every early headbanger's dream list. Made a big influence on the youth of the day, d their hearing!

mhardy6647

Relative to my taste (then and now); awful sounding speakers, the Mach Ones.
Significant? Pretty similar in design concept to Klipsch Heresys (which are, actually, also sort of awful, although with excellent electronics and program material can be listenable).

toucanet

I would like to nominate the Wilson Audio Maxx2. Superb sound.

Are any Polkies also owners of these beasts?