As a retired orchestral soloist, and a recovered audiophile, I would be willing to wager that professional wind and string players would find this 'dynamic', mid-rich, nasal presentation (the live version, not the video recounting it) much closer to their perception of their actual sound. A musician's 'knowledge' of their own sound is forged by decades of playing in all kinds of room, so they know what portion of the sound is come of them and their instrument, and what is obligated by the room and therefore disingenuous, and so are not grown in the habit of conceding an account with the room into their on going understanding of themselves or others of their kind.
Those very same WE theater speakers are on active display at the Pavek Museum of Communications and Radio History in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Awesome place to visit! Radios, record players, TV all from the beginning of time forward. The second Ampex open reel recorder brought to the USA immediately after WWII is there, as well as a Theramin that you can play. Most, if not all, of the display items are operational. And a working, broadcasting 1950s radio broadcast station, too. From Acoustic Research and DeForest to Zenith, it’s all there.
To sit at home listening to a system like this is ludacris. I would rather listen to someone walk us through an accurate explanation of each piece describing the purpose and frequency range coverage of each unit including drivers utilized. I’m sure more than just myself would be interested in the application and source equipment also. Looks stupendous, like old-time art.
this setup is in the lobby of Amore-Pacific cosmetics company HQ in Seoul, Korea. i recognize it cuz if time permits, i've swung around few times to take a look... only thing is... they usually have some cheap mp3 player or laptop connected in the back... yet to see the 'real' amps in action... i've seen or rather heard those speakers play k-pop girl group smh
That says a hell of a lot considering that Bose was founded in 1964, and have been experimenting with audio for quite awhile. All while 100 years ago some genius thought this setup was a good idea. To think that they didn't even know what a speaker was during the time Nikola Tesla invented AC current i would say this is a true innovation. I guess my point is that if Bose couldn't even figure this out something is horridly wrong.
Some things Jonathan Weiss at OMA talks about some people might think is bunk, or that he's really trying to downplay the fact his equipment is all $100,000-$500,000. But he's right in one very important fact: sound waves are big. A 60 Hz sinewave is 6 FEET tall! You cannot possibly reproduce that accurately with small speakers, small equipment, or low voltage amplifiers. So in that regard, yes, nothing in true, accurate, realistic sound reproduction has ever surpassed the absolute best of these giant audio systems in theaters from the horn loaded vacuum tube era. Right before the invention of the transistor, at the peak of vacuum tube technology, and the peak of horn style loudspeakers. These speakers - Western Electric, Altec Lansing, RCA - from about 1939-1955, represents the highest of high end audio if you were to compare them to "today's" high end audio from all over the world. In many ways, sound has never been surpassed the smaller and cheaper it got over the years.
TRUE !! And i bet they don't have any more than 5 watts of power in them , at the time , very efficient , with a bit more than 20 watts they will blow off your eardrums !!
This is the difference between that fake stuff rated at “x” amount of watts and true power output. Guitar amps that will make your ears bleed 20 feet away only run about 50 watts.
All true, but don't overlook the importance of the room in making realistic bass. Not many of us have the physical space to house something capable of making a realistic and natural soundscape like the one in the video.
It does make me wonder how these would measure up with modern speakers? I wonder if they did make these using Flat measurements as well? For me? Its just the wonder of watching and listening to how these work. THank you for sharing them Japan Bro!
Yes. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Mae West, Fred Astaire too. Those Western Electric speakers were designed for and used in big city movie theaters from the late 1920s until at least the 80s. My college 1930-something auditorium had vintage WE amplifiers and arc-lamp film projectors but Frazier speakers instead. All worked!
Exponential horns….. Amplification from tiny input = large, distortion free output. That is the science kiddos. Copied fro big horn mountain sheep horns and conch shells.
The horns don’t amplify, they couple... tiny speakers don’t have enough surface area to work effectively. But if you put a horn on it, it will couple as well as a large speaker.
I heard those speakers at length in Minneapolis (from a long closed downtown movie palace) and they’re awesome. Direct and effortless. No deep bass, tho, as you might expect.
