Here it is -- the mother of all big Westies:
Here it is -- the mother of all big Westies:
Here's some info about the monitor on Tom Hidley's home page:
http://www.rast.com/pageHidley.php?16
I found the above pic here, where one can get more glimpses of it:
http://www.michaelallsup.com/17ch_5.htm
http://www.michaelallsup.com/17ch_7.htm
Fredrik
Seems they are no longer in use (I wonder who has them now?):
http://www.recordplant.com/
At least they've been replaced by custom monitors designed by "our" George Augspurger.
For reference (I've posted those links before), here are other examples of early Westies (or, actually, Easties ):
Studio Bohus, Gothenburg 1977:
http://www.bohussound.com/egna_bilder/history1.jpg
Polar Studios, Stockholm 1978:
http://www.raffem.com/images/Abba5/studios7studioa.jpg
http://www.raffem.com/images/Abba5/studios11studiob.jpg
The pic in my first post was probably taken in 1973 (judging from the text on the site).
That shirt was 72 - I'm sure of that.
I'd say that seems about right (judging from the guy's shirt!)
Thanks for sharing this; It makes me wish studios never left the big monitor days. Looks like some big monitors are making a comeback- the success of Dynaudio, Dunlavy, etc...oh, and Westlake.
Nathan.
EDIT- Damn, Merlin. You beat me to the punchline! lol.
EDIT (2X)- I will share another mother of Westies:
More on the Record Plant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_Plant
Sweeet,
I finally figured out that there was a 1 inch driver behind the tiny horn(?) positioned under the big wooden Smith horn (for years I thought these were just 2-way systems)
Does anyone know exactly what that really short 1 inch horn/throat is?
Was there ever a set of plans available for these monitors?
glen
"Make it sound like dinosaurs eating cars"
- Nick Lowe, while producing Elvis Costello
Anyone know what year those were produced???
OK, Ken P., where are you?
Those are very early model's. I have no idea what circa. They look very similar to the mains we used at Century 21 Studios in Winnipeg (1976-1977)
As Glenn Phoenix pointed out, these are all custom made to the clients preferences. I find it interesting that many engineers picked Gauss/Cetec drivers over the standard JBL. I have not seen any Gauss compression drivers but several pair using 15's and 10's. I have never heard a pair of Cetec 15's but out of curiosity would like to.
Ken
Hi Ken I have heard the Gauss-Cedec 15's in some 4350,s and they kicked ass Nothing was missing
Gauss woofers KICKED, and sounded great. Many guys loved em, their 18,s moved alot of air. Gauss was a bit of a different sound than JBL bass, but, very visceral, really THUMPED ( long excursion ), as opposed to JBL being TIGHT and PUNCHY! The extreme bottom end really roared through Gauss woofers and the transient attack of low end notes was SCARY. We had both JBL and Gauss in my place, and at the same time,. and I loved both. Gauss is a company I wish was still around.
The Gauss compression drivers were also liked by many, the Gauss HF-4000 was said to be sweeter sounding than the JBL 2440/2441. I used to hear the Gauss midrange at a very famous nightclub, The Paradise Garage, and they were in fact really good. Better than JBL? Dont know about that, but they were good. The diaphragm of the Gauss driver was the same type of half roll aluminum surround as the JBL 2440, and had the higher pitch tonality, actually very similar to the 2440.
Then, there was the Gauss Big Tweet. We had these in a club I worked at, really nice, and sparkly top end, but, they were too easy to blow.
It was Edmond May who went over to Gauss in the 70,s and designed their woofers.
scottyj
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