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Author Topic: How times have changed--------  (Read 6137 times)

Ivan Beaver

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How times have changed--------
« on: July 25, 2014, 05:43:42 PM »

While doing a little bit of research-I ran across this:

(One interesting side note is that the 1948 booklet has a recommended power amplifier
wattage table, based on the number of seats. Fifteen watts was considered acceptable for a theatre
with up to 700 seats—at 4,500 seats, the recommended power amplifier capacity was 100 W.)
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Ivan Beaver
Danley Sound Labs

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Steve M Smith

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2014, 07:35:57 PM »

A couple of weeks ago, a friend showed me some amplifier advertising brochures from the 1960s.  Most of them were guitar amps but in the Selmer brochure was a four channel, 100 watt PA amplifier described as "Ultra Powerful" and "Having as much power as even the largest theatre installations".


Steve.
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Keith Broughton

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2014, 07:56:21 PM »

While doing a little bit of research-I ran across this:

(One interesting side note is that the 1948 booklet has a recommended power amplifier
wattage table, based on the number of seats. Fifteen watts was considered acceptable for a theatre
with up to 700 seats—at 4,500 seats, the recommended power amplifier capacity was 100 W.)
On the plus side, strapping 100 watts on a Voice of the Theatre box with an Altec horn on top would be loud, if nothing else :o
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2014, 08:20:15 PM »

Yup in the goode olde dayz amps were weak and speaks were efficient, but not very wide bandwidth.

My dad had an old 10W WE amp from the 1930s in the basement it was a 19" wide EIA rack almost 6' tall. In the '50's he had a 5W amp that was smaller than a shoebox.

Times change and power is cheaper than it was historically.

JR


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Ivan Beaver

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2014, 08:40:12 PM »

A couple of weeks ago, a friend showed me some amplifier advertising brochures from the 1960s.  Most of them were guitar amps but in the Selmer brochure was a four channel, 100 watt PA amplifier described as "Ultra Powerful" and "Having as much power as even the largest theatre installations".


Steve.
I have a couple of old Marshall (the guitar amp manufacturer) catalogs in which their PA gear is listed.

They have a 20 watt PA head.  Then a 50 watt.  A 100 watt was "the big dog".

Nobody these days would even think about using something with this low of power output.

Of course the old Shure Vocal Master only had 150 watts output.

And lots of top name artists used these for their system.  Of course some of them also used the slave amps and extra speakers.
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Tom Roche

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2014, 08:46:14 PM »

On the plus side, strapping 100 watts on a Voice of the Theatre box with an Altec horn on top would be loud, if nothing else :o
This reminds me when I happened upon a pair of large home-made speakers containing Altec horns at a thrift store.  They were large and nicely made boxes, each containing an Altec horn (802 or 804 mated to 811b), two EV SP12C, and an Altec N501 Xover.  They got surprisingly loud with little power from a Yamaha surround sound receiver and sounded damn good.  I made a huge profit on the parts.
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Bob Leonard

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2014, 09:19:49 PM »

In the 60's my personal PA was a Bogen and a pair of Atlas or University horns. The horns were huge for the time at about 36" across, and we used that system indoors, outdoors, ballrooms, etc., never once thinking it wouldn't do the job. Later came the Vocal master, then Peavey, Kustom and a bunch of other PA's. Fender amplifiers were used for monitors, etc.. I also don't know how early transistor amps were rated, but I'll guarantee a 100 watt tube PA amplifier would at that time kick the shit out of a 100 watt transistorized amplifier doing the same job.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2014, 09:26:39 PM by Bob Leonard »
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Steve M Smith

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2014, 03:49:14 AM »

I also don't know how early transistor amps were rated, but I'll guarantee a 100 watt tube PA amplifier would at that time kick the shit out of a 100 watt transistorized amplifier doing the same job.

I often wonder about that too as there is definitely a difference.  I can use my WEM 17 watt valve amp in fairly large pubs without a problem but doubt that anyone would hear me if I was using a 17 watt transistor amp,

Speaking of which, have you read the book Seventeen Watts by Mo Foster?  It tells of his time in bands in the 60s and 70s and the title is taken from the 17 watts of the Watkins amp which they used to amplify everything.  Three guitars and three microphones via two ten inch speakers.  Some members of the band disapproved of the amp purchase as they didn't believe they needed that much power!




Steve.
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Craig Leerman

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2014, 03:01:26 PM »

While doing a little bit of research-I ran across this:

(One interesting side note is that the 1948 booklet has a recommended power amplifier
wattage table, based on the number of seats. Fifteen watts was considered acceptable for a theatre
with up to 700 seats—at 4,500 seats, the recommended power amplifier capacity was 100 W.)

So your saying I need to buy a more current booklet?  ::)
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2014, 06:49:30 PM »

So your saying I need to buy a more current booklet?  ::)
I wonder what our forefathers from that era would think if we told them we were using 100,000 watts in a 1000 seat theater????????

Now granted a lot is for surrounds-subs etc-things that simply did not exist back then.

But it would be fun talking to them and "dropping some specs" to see what they would say.
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A complex question is easily answered by a simple-easy to understand WRONG answer!

Ivan Beaver
Danley Sound Labs

PHYSICS- NOT FADS!

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: How times have changed--------
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2014, 06:49:30 PM »


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