Lunch with Paul: Transmission Line Speakers
Subscribe to Ask Paul Ask a QuestionSenior PS Audio loudspeaker designer, Chris Brunhaver chats with Paul over sandwiches about transmission line loudspeakers and how they work.
COMMENTS
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
As far as I know, Irving Fried was the importer of the IMF speakers, and he wasn’t responsible for the design or manufacture. The UK-based company created to supply him was known as IMF Electronics, and it was maybe a mistake on the part of the founders to give Mr. Fried a better billing than he deserved.
The name IMF Electronics came after Bud used his initials when the speakers were first introduced. Bud imported a lot of gear from England over the years and often used his initials which were trade marked on the advice of Saul Marantz. The split from the English company went to court and the English company didn;t want to change their name since it was now well known. The solution was that they could use IMF Electronics only as long as they were in business but Bud still owned IMF.
I prefer transmission line to most ported or passive radiators. But I still like sealed the best.
Robert Lee of Acoustic Zen knows Transmission Line speakers… like no one else. They are simply awesome!!!!!
Interestingly eventually Bud Fried decided that transmission lines were even more important as a mid range loading(where most of the music is) and some of his speakers used real lines in the mids. I heard the difference a full mid line made in the G3 speaker versus the G2 with basically a box for the mids when Bud was still testing the change and it was one of those changes you heard in a few seconds. The G speakers never used a line in the bass but a variation of the variovent loading or the Dynaco A25 stuffed port.
I have a pair of PMC EB1’s (enormous box 1) about 12-15 years old now and they are amazing, truly awesome speakers…..up-graded quite a lot of hi-end gear over the years but still hanging on to these.
Check out this link to Roger Sanders’ T/L white paper. This is used on the woofer enclosure of his Model 10e Electrostatic Hybrid speakers. Also, this is part of the reason the dynamic woofers blend so seamlessly with the ESL panels.
http://sanderssoundsystems.com/technical-white-papers/56-transmission-line-white-paper
I have a set of BIC Venturi Formula 6 speakers from the 70’s. They appear to have some of the transmission line details built in.