HORN OR CONE SPEAKERS?

Shannon News, 12 August 1927, Page 4

HORN OR CONE SPEAKERS?

Frequently one is asked: "What speaker do you recommend for me to use?" or "Should T buy the Rattle 'em Horn or the Cough Cone." This is one of those questions like: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" which cannot b e answered directly without embarrassment. Leaving out the question that tastes differ to the extent that a speaker, which is shown by. every test to have an acoustical atrocity, will have its enthusiastic admirers, while a high quality reproduction is condemned as boxy or muffled. The answer is not simple. The behaviour-of a speaker depends to a great extent on th e amplifier with which it is used.

It might be thought that the effect of the speaker and amplifier are directly additive, that a good speaker will sound better on a poor amplifier than a poor speaker. Such does not prove to be the case. Some speakers are so poor that they are terrible with any amplifier. Between a great many speakers, however, the amplifier will determine the choice. A perfect amplifier will, of course, sound best with a perfect speaker, and generally speaking the better the amplifier the better the speaker which gives the best results. A simple experiment will determine your choice. Get your dealer to arrange his selection so that each one may be cut in at choice. Tune to a station where the quality of the output is good, and the rest is easy. The choice will depend on the item being broadcast, as some speakers have much different outputs on different frequencies, and the test might well be carried over a number of stations where different types of programmes are being transmitted.

Beauty, it is said, is in the eye of the beholder, s©, quality lies in the ear of th e auditor —and lies and lies.