Copper
Vintage whine
Bang & Olufsen, Part 2
Continuing from Part 1 , we’ll look at more legacy Bang & Olufsen products in the city museum of Struer, Denmark, B&O’s home for nearly a century. In the last issue, we...
Bang & Olufsen, Part 1
In 2013 I was fortunate to have a consulting gig with Bang & Olufsen, in Denmark. Drawing upon that experience, this piece will be partly travelogue, partly the usual brand...
Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used to Be
I’ve previously mentioned audio icon Henry Kloss’ time at AR (Vintage Whine, way back in Copper #5). The time will come for me to do a comprehensive review of Kloss’ post-AR serial...
Torture
Audiophiles are experts at self-torture: “Is the VTA just a hair off?” “Would the titanium spikes be better than the silicon steel ones?” “Should my chair be half an inch...
Ephemera
Back in the ’70’s, Ron Gilbrech, then a salesman at Opus 2 in Memphis, said to me, “y’know, as much as you’ve spent on magazines, you could’ve bought a killer system by...
Horns, Part 5
In response to last issue’s installment, a reader quite accurately pointed out that I’d skipped over RCA’s substantial contribution to the world of theater horn systems. Pleading ignorance rarely results in...
Horns, Part 4
We wrapped up our last installment with the end of World War II, the formation of Altec-Lansing after the break-up of Western Electric, and the arrival of permanent magnet drivers (including Alnico)....
Horns, Part 3
In our last issue we concluded with a mention of the Shearer horn and its influence on subsequent theater systems from a number of manufacturers, including Western Electric. One of...
Horns, Part 2
In our last issue we looked at the historical and physical forebears of horn loudspeakers. Horns—either actual animal horns or manmade constructions that mimicked animal horns—are found being used to...
Horns!
If there’s a more contentious topic in audio than that of horn loudspeakers, I don’t know what it is.—Okay, that’s not quite true: cables are a more contentious topic. I’m...
The Mother Of All Speakers (MOAS)
I had begun writing a piece about the history of horn loudspeakers (still to come, don’t panic) when MOAB—the Mother Of All Bombs—appeared in the news. That triggered a memory...
Kits!
It’s often said that we don’t build anything in America anymore. That’s clearly bunk; we just build different things than we used to. The same could be said of Americans:...
The Old Ways
There is a certain pleasure to be found in driving a vintage car. Many have a purity of purpose and directness of response that are absent in the overweight, safety-cage...
Spica, Part 3
[We started our look back at speaker manufacturer Spica in Copper #26, with an overview of the company’s products. In Copper #27 we began our talk with John Bau, founder and designer at Spica. In this installment, we...
Spica, Part 2
In the last issue of Copper we briefly looked at loudspeaker manufacturer Spica, the company’s founder John Bau, and the company’s speakers, which are still used and revered by many, decades after the company’s demise. Luckily,...
Spica
There are some brands that linger in the memory with a special fondness: I’ve previously said that of Weathers, and it certainly applies to Spica as well. Unbelievably enough, Spica closed up shop...
Quads: 60 Years Young
For at least as long as I’ve been aware of the original Quad electrostatic loudspeaker— close to 50 years now— there have been folks who have tried to improve those...
The Original QUAD ESL
The first question that will probably come to mind is, “what’s with all the caps on ‘QUAD’, Leebs?” Well, faithful reader, I’m glad you asked. I’ll get to that after a...
Everything You Ever Wanted
In last issue’s Vintage Whine I ran through my personal list of the ones that got away—those special pieces of audio gear that I owned in the past and somehow let get...
All I Want For....
If you could ask for one piece of vintage gear that you once owned and regret getting rid of—get it back again, crisply new and fully functional, neatly wrapped with...
Weathers, Part 2
In the last issue , we discussed the initial appearance of the Weathers FM phono pickup. In an era of record-chewing cartridges that tracked at 6 grams or more, the...
Weathers
There are some brands whose influence extends far beyond their ownership base. When it comes to cars, I think of Alfa Romeo: nearly everyone has some sort of emotional connection...
Mass, Massive, Massless
I’m fascinated by materials, which I ascribe to a childhood obsession with spider webs: how could something that’s barely there, be so strong? In college I focused on materials science...
The Once and Future Tweeter
Back in the day, I had many an asthma attack induced by musty old magazines purchased at yard sales and flea markets. I loved car magazines, hi-fi mags, and especially...
VPI: 38 Years and Counting
Harry Pearson, founder of The Absolute Sound, contributed to the success of a number of high-end audio manufacturers, and probably to the demise of a few, as well. But the only...
Versa Dynamics
Every now and then a new company appears in the audio world, seemingly out of nowhere, with high aspirations and novel technology. Versa Dynamics was one such company, appearing in...
Where Are They Now?
For anyone who has been around audio for any length of time, the parallels to spectator sports are obvious. As with sports, conversations about the biz often revolve around the...
Are We Keeping Up? (With Inflation)
This issue we’re going to take a slight detour from our usual bios and company histories. Don’t worry: the Wayback Machine will still get a workout. Along with being a...
Stan White: An Overlooked Visionary/Part 2
A fundamental principle of scientific enquiry was stated most famously by Carl Sagan: “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” And no, he wasn’t talking about the O.J. Simpson...
Jensen: The Man, the Company, Conclusion
In Parts 1 and 2 we discussed Peter Jensen’s journey from his birthplace in Denmark to California, his involvement in the creation of the moving-coil loudspeaker, and his role as...
Stan White: Visionary? Or…?
This column is different from previous installments of Vintage Whine, in two ways: 1. Previous subjects were pretty well known—for anyone familiar with the history of the American audio industry,...