Early Speakers

     In a manner of speaking, the earliest speakers were really headsets, as they did produce a small of volume of audio for the listener.  However, for all practical purposes,  headphones just don't match up with what one will think of when you hear the term "speaker".  Most people, when the hear the term "speaker" as it relates to radio, means a device that will produce sound for a lot of people or at a volume that can be heard throughout a room.  This part of the radio museum is dedicated to "speakers" of the earliest types.  

     In the 1920's most sets were battery sets and as the radios were designed with amplifier tubes it was possible to have a volume of audio that could be reproduced with a "driver".  This is a resonating device that produces sound.  By itself a driver can barely be heard at a low volume, but when coupled to a large "horn", the sound seemed to be amplified at a louder volume.  So all of the earliest speakers were "horn" speakers.  The two examples below were made by Western Electric and Atwater-Kent.  One of the very early horn speaker manufacturers was Western Electric.  The below picture is of their model 10D speaker, which is in rare, mint condition.  This horn is made of a molded composition material and you can see the crazing/cracking that has occurred over the almost 80 years since this one was made.  The driver assembly is made from metal and the driver works perfectly.

This is a type M horn speaker manufactured by Atwater-Kent in 1925.  It was the matching speaker to the Atwater-Kent 20-C compact radio shown in our early battery set section of the museum.  This horn speaker is in mint original condition.  This horn is made of metal and has a typical shape for A-K horns.  Other horns made by other manufacturers have similar shapes and others in different shapes, but all horns operated the same way with similar drivers and sensitivity.

Late in the 1920's, the manufacturers were producing "cone" type speakers.  There were several variations of the way that these speakers were made, but as time progressed, the most prevalent type of speakers were known as an electromagnetic type speaker and many manufacturers either built these speakers as stand-alone devices or built them into the case for their radio.  Electromagnetic speakers worked well but required a high voltage from the power supply to energize the coil of the speaker.  By the mid to late 1940's, manufacturers started producing permanent magnet speakers that did not need this energizing coil voltage, thus making the design simpler and the cost lower.  Permanent magnet speakers are still the type speaker that is used in today's radios.

This is a picture of an RCA model 100 speaker and was a stand-alone speaker meant to sit on top of a radio cabinet such as the Radiola 18 or various other radios.  This speaker housing is made of metal and the speaker has a paper cone, just as speakers are made today with the exception that it is an electromagnetic type speaker.  There were many self contained set-top speakers made that look similar to the RCA speakers.

This is a speaker manufactured by E.H. Scott, and was used in one of the fabulous console cabinets manufactured by their wonderful chrome plated radios.  This speaker is similar to many speakers used in console radios except that this one mounts from the bottom of the cabinet, while most speakers have a metal web around the cone of the speaker with holes for mounting to the vertical face of the speaker mounting hole in the console.  The way that the cone is made with a "bubble" covering of the coil assembly looks very similar to way that most quality speakers are made today.  Also based on the age of E.H. Scott radios, the way that this speaker was made was very advanced for that time.  The orange looking surround is made of a flexible material to which the paper cone is attached and the surround is attached to the frame of the speaker.  This flexible material allows greater excursion of the cone which helps produce richer sounding bass from the speaker.  I would estimate that this speaker weighs near 25 pounds and most of this is in the magnet structure.  That is why is sounds so great - surely this type speaker was the predecessor to the super high fidelity speakers that were manufactured from the early 60's until today!

6-17-00