[Vintage-Audio] Re Speakers From Yesteryear

[Robert Nickels]

> The center channel in a home theater is hardly vintage. (grin)  A horn,
no.

Actually a horn, yes!

The classic Voice of the Theater setup was a single cabinet located behind
the center of the screen, which produced the brilliant mono sound we all
remember from Saturday matinees, way before  stereo and surround sound made
it to the movies.   While it might present a challenge to most decorating
schemes, the Altec Lansing 811B mulit-sectoral horn used in the A7 VOT is
designed to produce a 40 degree vertical and 90 degree horizontal
distribution pattern, with a response of 800 hz to 22 khz when used with an
800 hz cutoff.   The 511B used on the A7-500 like I use to shake-test my
basement is the same, only with a 500 hz cutoff.   The horn makes an ideal
center channel speaker because that's basically what it was designed for,
but the modern type Duane describes is an attempt to produce similar results
without having to have a 24" wide horn in your living room!

73, Bob W9RAN