The 2-way loudspeaker is the cornerstone of audio. A tweeter and a woofer cover the full spectrum of sound.
From the beginning, 2-way speakers had crossovers separating highs from lows.
I am no history buff, as Copper Magazine's editor Bill Leebens is, but my best recollection of an original multi-driver loudspeaker would include the Altec Lansing A-7 Voice of the the Theater.
Horns, yes, but a tweeter and woofer, all the same. I am sure history buffs will point out others I have missed, but an accurate history misses the point of this post. My aim is to point out the how and why of these developments.
The first 2-way loudspeaker I ever heard was one shared by many of my readers.
The 1953 AR-1 by Edgar Villchur and his student, Henry Kloss. My father, ever the hi fi buff, had a pair in the garage that I eventually acquired. Much to his horror, I pulled out the drivers and made them into my own loudspeaker creation, but that's another story.
Though the two drivers both look like woofers, this was Villchur and Kloss' two-way loudspeaker that hasn't much changed since these early days.
Tomorrow I'll show you the schematic for this speaker and explain its operation.
