Karlson speaker enclosure
Douglas Purl
enclosure design some years back. The Karlson was breathlessly
advertised back in the fifties and acquired a certain following. It
purported to be an act of genius. The authors of the article in question
ran the enclosure through all the tests and, moreover, worked out all the
math on the enclosure. It combined reflex loading with a horn. The
baffle sloped back into the enclosure and a "horn" mouth was approximated
by simply attaching two curved face pieces to the upper half of the
enclosure. The authors of the article in question point out that Karlson
had no engineering training whatever and worked from instinct. It was a
remarkable instinct, however, for they demonstrate how at every turn in
his design, Karlson made the worst choice possible. The measured
response of the enclosure is the worst ever published. A side benefit
was that you could use any speaker driver in the enclosure--Karlson said
they were all optimal in it. This was back in the days when folks bought
raw drivers and mated them to an enclosure, before T-S notions (first
popularized by Nowak of Jensen Loudspeakers in 1962) prevailed.
It is not surprising that an electric guitarist fancies the enclosure.
The amplified guitar sounds so ugly that distortions are bound to be
euphonic.
Doug Purl
Ted Grusec
>
>While visiting my mother recently, I came across a loudspeaker and
>enclosure that my father acquired in the late 1950's. I believe it
>was know as a `Karlson Enclosure'. Among it's unique features are:
>
>1. The loudspeaker driver is mounted to a slanted panel inside the
>box. The loudspeaker is mounted behind an exponential slot on the
>front face of the cabinet.
>
>2. I think there are two coupled chambers behind the loudspeaker which
>are vented to the top of the slot.
>
>The enclosure was large, and held a 15 diameter driver. I think my
>father used an Altec 604.
>
>I would tend to believe that this is just one more wacky enclosure
>design that belongs on the scrap heap of audio history, but it does
>bear a slight similarity to some sort of bandpass enclosure. Does
>anyone know anything about this design? Has anyone measured an
>impedance curve, on frequency response?
>
I have had private, casual conversations with a world-renowned
loudspeaker research who said that the Karlson was one of the worst
enclosures he had ever seen, on both theoretical grounds and in
measured responses including subjective assessments.
Jack D. Wills
While visiting my mother recently, I came across a loudspeaker and
enclosure that my father acquired in the late 1950's. I believe it
was know as a `Karlson Enclosure'. Among it's unique features are:
1. The loudspeaker driver is mounted to a slanted panel inside the
box. The loudspeaker is mounted behind an exponential slot on the
front face of the cabinet.
2. I think there are two coupled chambers behind the loudspeaker which
are vented to the top of the slot.
The enclosure was large, and held a 15 diameter driver. I think my
father used an Altec 604.
I would tend to believe that this is just one more wacky enclosure
design that belongs on the scrap heap of audio history, but it does
bear a slight similarity to some sort of bandpass enclosure. Does
anyone know anything about this design? Has anyone measured an
impedance curve, on frequency response?
I have included some bad ascii art in an attempt to illustrate the
design. The #### is the box. **** and ..... is the driver.
######################### ################
# # # # # # #
# # # # # #
# # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # # # # # #
# # # # # ##### ###
# ..#***#.. # # # #
# . # # . # # # * #
# . # # . # # # * #
# . # # . # # # * #
# . # # . # # # * #
# . # # . # # # ** #
# #* *# # # # * * #
# # ******* # # # # *** * #
# # # # # #** * #
# # # # ## #
######################### ################
FRONT SIDE
PS. I have also seen this enclosure on stage in a live Beach Boys
concert video filmed outdoors in Washington, DC. It was apparently
being used by the bass guitar player.
Dr. Jack Wills
Teknetics
430A South Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
voice/fax: 310 821-7670
email: j...@netcom.com
--
Dr. Jack Wills
Teknetics
430A South Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
voice/fax: 310 821-7670
email: j...@netcom.com