RCA horns on CL in Milwaukee

[Tlarwa]

Century old RCA horn speaker pair - electronics - by owner - sale - craigslist

A pair of RCA horn speakers from the early 1920's These speakers were originally installed in a high school auditorium in northern New Jersey when the school opened in 1923. They were removed from...

milwaukee.craigslist.org

Saw these come up on the local CL while browsing today. I know zippo about these specifically, or this model generally, but thought you vintage horn guys might find them interesting (or not, YMMV).

 

[Audionut]

Interesting indeed and the price of admission is more than reasonable. @RCA NUT ?

 

[Punker X]

Even if they sound horrible. Put some glass tops on them. Would make awesome end tables

 

[targeteye]

Color me skeptical that they are what the advertiser claims.

 

[Audionut]

Color me skeptical that they are what the advertiser claims.

Why would you say that? They look the part, minus the second section.

 

[mhardy6647]

@Topper ?

 

[targeteye]

Why would you say that? They look the part, minus the second section.

View attachment 72074

Date seems a bit early for a dynamic 8 inch driver considering the dynamic speaker was invented in 1925. Also i don't think RCA was doing PA systems at that time? Of course I could be wrong.

So i'm not saying that they are not early PA horns.. just saying I'm skeptical that they are 1923 RCA horns.

 

[Topper]

@Topper ?

Without digging through the library I'll offer a couple of things. First off, if you consult the seller's ebay listing he explains that they originally had field coils in them. Duh. Then, I suspect 1923 is a little bit early, and on this timeline a couple of years can be a big difference, but my guess is that that's maybe 5 years or so off. Lastly, they've been painted from black, which is consistent for early RCA. I can't swear to it but I don't see anything that would eliminate that as a probability. They made a few different versions.

 

[mhardy6647]

1923 is only, what, three or four years post "Magnavox", if memory serves? I wouldn't be surprised if the horn(s) in question were a few years newer, but I also figured if anyone might know off the top of their head, it'd be @Topper.

That said, it is interesting (I'd opine) to look at the pace of innovation in radio (and audio) from the beginning of the 20th century until, say, 1930. Think about the tools and resources available -- the pace of true innovation puts modern tech bros to shame (again, I'd opine)!

 

[targeteye]

Looks like this is an MI-1453 / 1425-A RCA Sound equipment baffle. Or at least very similar. This is from the 1936 RCA Sound Equipment catalog. This most likely places these baffles solidly in the 1930's. Now.. that is still cool and historically interesting. Someone should snatch them up (someone with a big warehouse ) .

 

[targeteye]

1923 is only, what, three or four years post "Magnavox", if memory serves? I wouldn't be surprised if the horn(s) in question were a few years newer, but I also figured if anyone might know off the top of their head, it'd be @Topper.

That said, it is interesting (I'd opine) to look at the pace of innovation in radio (and audio) from the beginning of the 20th century until, say, 1930. Think about the tools and resources available -- the pace of true innovation puts modern tech bros to shame (again, I'd opine)!

I very much have to agree with you pace of innovation comments. To me its all very interesting.

 

[RCA NUT]

Interesting indeed and the price of admission is more than reasonable. @RCA NUT ?

I thought about Them but they don’t have their original drivers and I shipping will expensive