Jump to content

Public Address loudspeaker


Delta1on1
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 9 years later...

I know the thread is very old, but I'm researching this and related loudspeakers currently, and since there is a general lack of directly available information, I feel like I should post a response. I would like to find the relevant original documents - for right now all I've got is pictures. I don't have every detail ironed out.

As far as I can tell, this would have come into use early on in WWII. It is hard to discern for certain what year, because so much of the available photography comes after AT LEAST one refit. I can guarantee that they were around by '39 but I would guess a few years earlier.

They're found on large carriers, the smaller carriers often do not have them at all, rather the typical single-driver bullhorn is seen. I would guess that enough digging would turn up photos on the larger battleships as well. They are not found on the destroyers, or any smaller vessels, as far as I can tell. I'm sure people who design models have had to iron-out these details, and I would really like to ask someone like that...

They cease to appear on newly laid-down ships by '55, however where they were already installed, they remain in use clear into the 70's. I happen to know that the drivers and diaphragms ceased production quickly after WWII, so I would presume that they simply don't stop working... that has been my experience - though I don't own this unit, I own six loudspeakers with a single unit of the same driver behind these horns.

It was an optimal, durable driver, used in a whole lot of equipment. The most well known is the beach master, the mobile high-output loudspeaker used throughout the war. The set designation is "PAB-1." They are found in many of the compact bullhorn shipboard speakers, those are the ones I happen to own. Many different manufacturers and designs used the same type of driver with interchangeable diaphragms. The larger bullhorns are different, using a 4" diaphragm RCA driver, which I have also seen loaded on an array like this one but with several differences.

Here are some links to photos of the speaker installed, by no means close-ups, zoom in. There are arrays with any number of horns, 6, 8, 16, etc...

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021058.jpg

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/023370.jpg

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/021235.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, my first post will end up being a double-post to a zombie thread, apologies, but I have more info...

 

I was able to find two pages out of a manual that describe this "an/tip-2" system, and it is a mobile high-output pa system, more or less a replacement for the beachmaster. I would still wager that at least initially, the internals were equivalent to those deck speakers I linked to above. However this may not be the case. The 500 watt power handling does seem very high for the sort of driver I had thought it was. Perhaps the same horn & enclosure hardware was continued past the use of the driver (the speaker component itself) that I have been researching. This is the case with several shipboard speakers I've found, such as the ls-387 or ls-388, which would later be made by companies like dynalec or tabet, with cheaper lower performance components.

 

Photography from the Vietnam War clearly demonstrates that this unit would have been replaced by the mid-60's, I don't have it pinned down exactly & the successor was not simple the "an/tip-3" or something easy to guess like that... until I stumble onto the full answer then....

 

These pages are from a 1958 manual... I could link to the whole 400 page pdf but... here is the excerpt. The photo is from Fort Brag 1960.

Screenshot_20230827_102440_Samsung Notes~2.jpg

Screenshot_20230827_102447_Samsung Notes~2.jpg

EarlyPhoto350thLS.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...