Ross F Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 A recent visit to the shop of a well known US book chain and a shuffle through the mags revealed a recent issue of HiFi News with a short article with pics of John Crabbe's music room. Crabbe (deceased) wrote equipment reviews for HFN and also occasionally for Gramophone way back in the late 1960s. The article (which I didn't read thoroughly) was about the guy who has bought Crabbe's house - his widow is relocating - and what has been inherited with the sale - Crabbe's Garrard 401 with SME arm as was his Quad 33/303. Each corner of the room was occupied by a Voigt concrete horn. These were quite large and according to the article Mrs C had been using one as broom cupboard. One imagines Crabbe had four horns for easy A-B comparisons of amps and sources. The new owner possessed a pair of ESL 63s so a pair of horns was only serving as "sub woofers" The result was outstandingly low, clean bass. This is something a few would die to hear, me included.
got tinnitus Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 Nice read that ex. Crabbe house article. Lucky an audiophile bought the place!
chris1553552679 Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 Ross F;130384 wrote: A recent visit to the shop of a well known US book chain and a shuffle through the mags revealed a recent issue of HiFi News with a short article with pics of John Crabbe's music room. Crabbe (deceased) wrote equipment reviews for HFN and also occasionally for Gramophone way back in the late 1960s. The article (which I didn't read thoroughly) was about the guy who has bought Crabbe's house - his widow is relocating - and what has been inherited with the sale - Crabbe's Garrard 401 with SME arm as was his Quad 33/303. Each corner of the room was occupied by a Voigt concrete horn. These were quite large and according to the article Mrs C had been using one as broom cupboard. One imagines Crabbe had four horns for easy A-B comparisons of amps and sources. The new owner possessed a pair of ESL 63s so a pair of horns was only serving as "sub woofers" The result was outstandingly low, clean bass. This is something a few would die to hear, me included. John Crabbe was editor of Hi Fi News and Record Review. Arguably the most extensive and informative magazine ever from the U.K. It featured regular 'Home Hi Fi' systems from contributors and others that included bass horns made from concrete blocks in an "out house" in the backyard using KEF B139 drivers that ended at the 'horn end' that infact became the end of the listening room where the mid/HF drivers were. I was in postal contact (yes, and around 38 years ago) asking answers to questions about loudspeakers and design. He always answered, so prompt reply was typically six weeks. This was at a time when most people in audio were either fanatical or near too. Our industry lost an important energy and enthusiast when he passed away. Chris
Owen Y Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 H.J.F. (John) Crabbe published a 'Design For A Folded Corner Horn' in Wireless World in 1958. He published a series of 8 articles on 'Horn Type Speakers' in HFNRR in 1961-62, culminating with details of the construction of bass & treble horns built & concealed into 2 corner recesses in his own living room.
Guest Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 A historical footnote but like most of these HFN HiFi@Home stories, an abject lesson in how not to setup a hi-fi system.
Omegaspeedy Posted August 15, 2010 Posted August 15, 2010 Nice read alright and one of the better HiFi news publications of late. Almost stopped buying the mag but the next one has a big writeup about Garrard TT's. Can't wait since I just bought one.
paul300b Posted August 16, 2010 Posted August 16, 2010 omegaspeedy;130424 wrote: Nice read alright and one of the better HiFi news publications of late. Almost stopped buying the mag but the next one has a big writeup about Garrard TT's. Can't wait since I just bought one. Read it. The old, used 401 they test has better specs than most of the high end belt drives they have tested lately. Ha!
gortnipper Posted August 16, 2010 Posted August 16, 2010 Just went looking for a TOC online - man, their web site is a year out of date...
gortnipper Posted August 16, 2010 Posted August 16, 2010 Uhh...not really. But that is not audio related.
Guest Posted August 16, 2010 Posted August 16, 2010 You don't want to read that particular issue of HFN (July 2010) ? It's available now at many sites or wait a few weeks for the hardcopy.
gortnipper Posted August 16, 2010 Posted August 16, 2010 Yeah - I took the hint, but I was just being a smartass and venting my frustration at Google's less than advertised "do no evil" business practices.
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