What is the reasoning behind this unique speaker design?

[DJ Bebop]

Never seen anything quite like this before.


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Stanley was using them for a minute…

 

[Wasnex]

I remember reading about a design called the keystone subwoofer that reminded me of the Karlson...may be an evolution the design.

Details for anyone who is curious: Keystone Sub Using 18, 15, & 12 Inch Speakers

 

[RandomKaren]

The Trace with the slot just looks like it would "chuff"

I was in a band (on guitar) with a bassist who used one, sounded little different to other similar size bass combos to my recollection. Every time I see one on Reverb I'm tempted.

 

[agedhorse]

I demoed one in a store and thought it was dark and diffuse sounding. There were also versions with a horn tweeter mounted on the front panel. Never got to try one, but I suspect I would have liked it better.

Toa used to make a series of 3-way PA cabs with a slot in front of the woofer.
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I thought they sounded pretty HiFi.

That's what I remember, there were wedge monitors in that format as well. It acted as a diffraction slot but the other advantage is that in the high mids there were less arrival times from off axis sources of the driver cone.

 

[agedhorse]

The reasoning is that larger radiating surfaces are more directional at higher frequencies, so the baffle is reduced in size to improve directionality, but at the cost of distortion and resonant peaks.

That's not how diffraction works.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

I always called them Peak A Boo cabs, feeling the speaker is peaking out from behind a curtain before a performance.
Too shy to just go on out or lessening their stage fright.

Come on speaker, let your sound ring through.

 

[2112]

Grab eyeballs and separate uninformed folks from their money?

 

[rodl2005]

Call me skeptical but I never trusted em. Not that I ever tried one
My 2 regular EVTL606 115 cabs did everything I needed at the time.
Sadly, cameras weren't everywhere at the time and I've not got pics..... unlike today

 

[Pdaddy1978]

It looks a little bit like wardrobe.
It would be cool if those side pieces swing out and exposed a place where you could hang your jacket.

 

[Johnny Fingers]

Posted this before. 1963 B15N and late ‘50s Karlson. Originally had a 12” duplex speaker (still have it). When I decided to use it for bass there weren’t any 12” bass guitar speakers so I converted it to 10”, can easily be made back into a 12” if I want. Wouldn’t consider it as a stand alone bass guitar speaker without adding a crossover and HF driver. But it adds quite a noticeable bit of bass and overall volume without coloring or overstepping the superb sound of the D140F in the Ampeg. Sure it’s ugly, but I’ve never owned a better sounding amp. Having just 25 watts that sounds more like 50 it’s definitely rugged, and large wheels make ordinary transportation pretty easy.

 

[Carl Hillman]

I demoed one in a store and thought it was dark and diffuse sounding. There were also versions with a horn tweeter mounted on the front panel. Never got to try one, but I suspect I would have liked it better.

Toa used to make a series of 3-way PA cabs with a slot in front of the woofer.
View attachment 7001231
I thought they sounded pretty HiFi.

I was in a band during the 80s that used those TOA 30 SDs for touring in small venues.

http://faq1.toaelectronics.com/media/30_38sd_im.pdf

All I remember about them was, they met our price point, were gray, fairly heavy, and sounded...suboptimal, to put it nicely.

But, they never stopped working. So, they had that going for them.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I remember reading about a design called the keystone subwoofer that reminded me of the Karlson...may be an evolution the design.

Details for anyone who is curious: Keystone Sub Using 18, 15, & 12 Inch Speakers


View attachment 7001237

This looks like something I would have seen in one of the high-end hotel rooms at a CES show in the '80s; same for the Stereophile High End Hi-Fi Show I went to in Santa Monica in 1987.

 

[Wasnex]

...and sounded...suboptimal

Could have sworn our Toas had the slotted panels over the woofers, but I may be remembering wrong. Now I am thinking they may have been Toa 380SE

I last saw those cabs about 31 years ago .

 

[5StringBlues]

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

 

[Jeff Scott]

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

The ones around here certainly can...

 

[agedhorse]

The ones around here certainly can...

It’s not very graceful, but indeed turkeys can and do fly (short distances)

 

[S-Bigbottom]

 

[5StringBlues]

Everything I learned on WKRP in Cincinnati was a lie! Well, except for what I learned from Jennifer. And Bailey.

 

[Iristone]

There's a BLX for sale here in China. From the seller's demo, I find it quite boomy. I think some of the more irregular speaker designs (namely Acoustic 360 and 370, but these are too big to haul) can sound quite good, but most of them didn't last for a reason.

 

[LHbassist]

I worked as a tech at a music store, that was a Trace Eliot dealer. Began there in 1994. I bought a Trace RAH 350 SMX from that store the year before, it was $1300.00 and I NEVER was able to dial it in to my liking. It failed on a gig, due to some poor wire connections, had to have it fixed... I'm not an amp tech.
During my tenure there, I borrowed a store demo BLX 80 for a gig. Played both upright and electric through it. Well, I didn't buy it... there must have been a good reason why I didn't. They did come out later, with a BLX with more power and a tweeter in the front baffle, never tried one.