Unusual Speaker Designs

[pozz]

I was surprised to learn that Earthworks, the same manufacturer which makes measurement microphones, apparently had a line of studio monitors based on the principle of time-aligned drivers.

I found them in the attached catalogue from 2006.

 

[Hugo9000]

There was a review and measurements of the Sigma 6.2 by John Atkinson in Stereophile:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/earthworks-sigma-62-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[amirm]

Boy, they are very odd looking.

 

[DonH56]

IIRC they had very good impulse/step (time) response and decent frequency response. Don't think they ever really caught on for all the usual reasons.

My vote for unusual goes to anything with a plasma tweeter, followed by Ohm F and the big MBL speakers, and all the "interesting" horn designs with separate horns all over the place.

 

[Frank Dernie]

 

[mhardy6647]

Boy, they are very odd looking.

The top one reminds me of the heyday of time-aligned loudspeakers (late '70s/early '80s)

Heathkit 1981

KEF 105(.2, in this case)

Technics SB-7000

Polk Audio Monitor 12, RTA-12 (etc.)

etc.

 

[amirm]

I have seen speakers with stepped drivers but that shape is something else. It looks like a molded plastic like step stools for kids!

 

[mhardy6647]

I see your point -- that Heathkit is similar (and is what I immediately thought of when I saw this thread) -- but, yeah, it'd make a lousy kids' step stool!

 

[Daverz]

Heathkit 1981
View attachment 55956

Looks like a squat Vandersteen 5.

 

[LightninBoy]

When I was shopping for my first full blown HT system, these speakers were getting some press because they had done well in a magazine's speaker shootout ...

http://norh.com/Norh_Loudspeakers/Marble_4.html

Too be honest, I was pretty infatuated with these speakers and was seriously considering purchasing them for the HT room. Their shape, however, presented some placement challenges, so I didn't pull trigger. Good thing too. Here's the Soundstage measurements for the Norh 6.9 - an upscale version of the speaker pictured above ...

Dodged a bullet I think.

 

[Chrispy]

Always one of my favorites

 

[mhardy6647]

Always one of my favorites View attachment 55968

Reminds me of Dick Sequerra's Pyramid Metronome speakers.

 

[Xulonn]

Volya Audio...The large pair of the "Boquet" model in the bottom picture costs $134,000US and they weigh 230 pounds each

 

[suttondesign]

Linkwitz Speakers -- Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the open baffle.

 

[peanuts]

 

[mhardy6647]

^^^ The big Tektons are the stuff of nightmares.

 

[Shazb0t]

Really curious how the Tektons and their tweeter arrays end up measuring..

 

[Frank Dernie]

Really curious how the Tektons and their tweeter arrays end up measuring..

I was too @John Atkinson measured the smaller one for Stereophile and it was much better than I had expected.

 

[mhardy6647]

Really curious how the Tektons and their tweeter arrays end up measuring..

The claims for them are very positive.
Hard for me to imagine, though
So... yeah... I agree. It would indeed be interesting.
Probably not in @amirm's wheelhouse to measure one though, is it?

 

[SIY]

The web is bereft of photos of the Precedent MZ Mod 3. A pity- not only was it unusual looking in the extreme, it also anticipated a bunch of trends in speaker design. Separate modules for woofer, midrange, and tweeter, all alignable in space, transmission line midrange, anti-diffraction treatments- all in the mid 1970s.