Baruch-Lang High-Fidelity Loudspeaker -- Henry Kloss

[tysontom]

When Ed Villchur was approached in late-1953-early 1954 by Henry Kloss (a student in one of Villchur's audio classes at NYU) about the acoustic-suspension design that Villchur had described to his students, a friendship began that ultimately led to the co-founding of Acoustic Research in August, 1954. At that time Kloss was assembling and selling by mail-order a speaker (designed by student engineers at MIT) known as the Baruch-Lang High Fidelity Loudspeaker. Kloss sold this speaker on a mail-order basis until the founding of AR, and the space used to produce the Baruch-Lang speakers was then dedicated to producing the AR-1 speaker. Shortly afterwards, the company moved to the 24 Thorndike Street location.

The attached image shows an early (and perhaps only) advertisement for the Baruch-Lang speaker.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/user_files/992.pdf

--Tom Tyson

[Guest daveshel]

Odd that Henry's first and last speakers were not acoustic suspension.

[Andy]

Tom, Thanks for posting the add. I have one of these speakers, It's marked 'Kloss Industries, 10 arrow street, Cambridge, Mass' which as you mention was Henry's loft and work shop. This speaker was designed at the MIT acoustics lab by Jordan Baruch, a professor, and Henry Lang, a graduate student, then assembled by Kloss. I didn't know that the first AR-1's were made at this same location. I recall reading that Henry K. was pulled away from MIT (basically drafted by the Army to teach electronics at the Signal Corps. in N.J. part time, then would race back to Cambridge to build speakers. Definatly early New England sound!

I like the interview in Audiophile with Villchur when he recalls driving up to Woodstock with Kloss in his 1938 buick to show him his acoustic suspension system. Acoustic Research was founded shortly afterwards, and the rest is history!

[soundminded]

It's actually a pretty interesting design with many obvious innovations having great advantage. The closely coupled multiple small driver configuration extends the bass repsonse over the individual drivers by a factor of 4. This later appeared in the Popular Electronics article describing the "sweet sixteen" speaker which used 16 inexpensive 5" drivers. This also substantially increases efficiency and inexpensive drivers are very satisfactory. Dimensions should not be critial. Not having any sides parallel to the speaker baffle cut down substantially on internal standing waves. This later appeared in the Bose 901 as an advertised advantage. Corner placement takes maximum advantage of the listening room's ability to reinforce bass response acoustically. This was the concept exploited by other corner speakers introduced by Klipsch, JBL, and Electrovoice (although of course this is not a horn loaded system where the room is an extension of the horn as it is in the Klipsch and JBL designs.) All it would seem to need is a tweeter and it could be improved considerably as could adding more drivers and building it to larger dimensions. Not bad for a $25 speaker introduced over 50 years ago, not bad at all.

[Guest tdeutsch]

$24.95? I'll take four, please.

[dynaco_dan]

>Tom, Thanks for posting the add. I have one of these

>speakers, It's marked 'Kloss Industries, 10 arrow street,

>Cambridge, Mass' which as you mention was Henry's loft and

>work shop. This speaker was designed at the MIT acoustics lab

>by Jordan Baruch, a professor, and Henry Lang, a graduate

>student, then assembled by Kloss. I didn't know that the first

>AR-1's were made at this same location. I recall reading that

>Henry K. was pulled away from MIT (basically drafted by the

>Army to teach electronics at the Signal Corps. in N.J. part

>time, then would race back to Cambridge to build speakers.

>Definatly early New England sound!

>I like the interview in Audiophile with Villchur when he

>recalls driving up to Woodstock with Kloss in his 1938 buick

>to show him his acoustic suspension system. Acoustic Research

>was founded shortly afterwards, and the rest is history!

Hi Andy;

Is there a possibility of some photos and or dimensions?

Can you describe any similar sound single speaker comparable in sound quality?

[soundminded]

>$24.95? I'll take four, please.

Why not build your own. It certainly seems simple and cheap enough. If you have a few spare full range drivers and some scrap lumber laying around, you could probably build a pair in an afternoon for next to nothing.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi again Andy;

>>Tom, Thanks for posting the add. I have one of these

>>speakers, It's marked 'Kloss Industries, 10 arrow street,

>>Cambridge, Mass' which as you mention was Henry's loft

>and

>>work shop. This speaker was designed at the MIT acoustics

>lab

>>by Jordan Baruch, a professor, and Henry Lang, a graduate

>>student, then assembled by Kloss. I didn't know that the

>first

>>AR-1's were made at this same location. I recall reading

>that

>>Henry K. was pulled away from MIT (basically drafted by

>the

>>Army to teach electronics at the Signal Corps. in N.J.

>part

>>time, then would race back to Cambridge to build

speakers.

>>Definatly early New England sound!

>>I like the interview in Audiophile with Villchur when he

>>recalls driving up to Woodstock with Kloss in his 1938

>buick

>>to show him his acoustic suspension system. Acoustic

>Research

>>was founded shortly afterwards, and the rest is history!

Hi Andy;

Is there a possibility of some photos and measurements, please?

Can you please describe any similar sound single speaker comparable

in sound quality?