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Early Henry Kloss Ad, Anyone Know Who Lang Is?


Guest Islands Innovation

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Guest Islands Innovation

Hi Folks,

I found this ad while googling Henry Kloss. Looks like an ad of his from well before AR. It was in an MIT newspaper.

http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_072/T..._S0196_P003.pdf

Does anyone know who the "Lang" of Baruch-Lang is or was? Reason I ask is that my father went to MIT in the mid-late 50's, studied acoustics (mostly noise control), and knew Henry Kloss. He another friend of his is named Bill Lang, also an acoustics guy from MIT. Wasn't sure if that might have been the same Lang...?

Dad's travelling at the moment, so I'll ask him next time we talk, but wasn't sure if anyone in this community might know about that history.

Thanks, Jeff

post-102168-1166676766.jpg

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That speaker was designed by Jordan Baruch, an MIT professor and one of is graduate students, Henry Lang. It was then assembled by Henry kloss at his loft. I notice the address for Kloss in this ad is 375 Harvard st. The only address I've seen and the one printed on my Baruch-Lang speaker is 10 Arrow st.

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What I find interesting is when these two ads are compared, the smaller one in 'The Tech' Nov. 1952 newspaper really reflects Herny Kloss' philosophy in the words which are used. He really carried this idea onto KLH by making simple non complicated audio....his radios and modular phono systems. The larger ad posted by tom Tyson is more comercial and less personal, I don't know the date on this one, but you get the sense that it's later when the Baruch-Lang speaker production was farther along ?

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>That speaker was designed by Jordan Baruch, an MIT professor

>and one of is graduate students, Henry Lang. It was then

>assembled by Henry kloss at his loft. I notice the address for

>Kloss in this ad is 375 Harvard st. The only address I've seen

>and the one printed on my Baruch-Lang speaker is 10 Arrow st.

That address shown for Henry Kloss must have been his dorm address or living quarters in the 1951-52 period. Attached are a couple additional images of the Baruch-Lang speaker, showing the internal chamber with holes drilled. This chamber was designed to dampen resonances inside the box, I assume. Notice that the holes are covered with a thin tissue material (partially gone in this speaker) that was supposedly a further damping mechanism. There were also holes drilled to the outside to form a vent (with air-load resistance) for the classic Hemholtz Resonator cabinet design. I suspect the end result was a smoother, less-boomy sound from an inexpensive speaker system -- a far cry from most speakers of that day. Being designed for corner placement, the speaker gained low-frequency output (not extension) from the boundary coupling that might have in turn offset the damping effect of the many small vent holes drilled on top of the cabinet.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/user_files/1804.jpg

(Fig. 1) Baruch-Lang Loudspeaker Internal View

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/user_files/1805.jpg

(Fig. 2) Baruch-Lang Loudspeaker Top View

--Tom Tyson

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Guest Islands Innovation

Thanks for the info. Looks like different Lang's.

I'll ask my dad if he remembers any of these folks. I can't imagine the acoustics department was that big at MIT in those days. He might have some insight on the different addresses. Wouldn't surprise me if he had visited one or more of them.

MIT must have been an exciting place in the acoustics circles of the 50's. My dad also knows Amar Bose, and his story goes that he lent Amar his first microphone!

Thanks, Jeff

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