Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE    Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE

I saw these at an estate sale of a Beaverton, Oregon jazz musician. Had no idea what they were, but since they looked like serious business indeed. Researching them, I realized Id stumbled onto a pair of Unicorns. As rare as Acoustron speakers are, these high-end variants- The LWE-II's- were produced in extremely limited quantities, and I have yet to find an instance of another pair being offered for sale. In fact, as far as Ive been able to determine, the pictures Ive taken for this listing are the ONLY stand-alone photographs of LWE-IIs anywhere on the internet. So one shudders to think what these LWE IIs (with TWO 14 woofers) will sound like once properly dialed in.
These are huge, heavy floor speakers, roughly the size of Klipsch Cornwalls, The performance of the little brothers to these (the LWE Is) have been favorably compared to higher-end Klipsch and Klipschorn products and have been extensively discussed in Klipsch-specific forums. 34" x 24" x 16. One 5 Horn Tweeter (Electro-Voice T-35). Nominal Impedance 4 or 8 OHMS. Frequency Response 20 - 20,000 Hz (5dB).
Mid and High level controls. The exteriors are excellent- though obviously not perfect. One of the speakers played fine when attached to a 100 watt amp, but the other stubbornly invoked its right to remain silent. Given the rarity and complexity of these speakers, I decided to venture no further. The wiring dangling from the male end of the plug looks clunky and was patched together decades ago, so perhaps this is the problem. Even when new, Acoustron speakers required professional set-up by a technician. Acoustrons are rare, complex speakers that will require the attention of somebody with the knowledge and patience to get the most out of them.

Id love to learn more about them and would be happy to share your wisdom and/or amend this listing accordingly. I manage a storage facility in metro Portland that is extremely easy to find and access.

If you live anywhere in Oregon, Washington state, western Idaho or Northern California, I would consider meeting you half way/ part way. Honestly, I do NOT look forward to packing and schlepping these things to Fed Ex, then worrying about them until receiving word of their safe arrival. Having said all that, Im in no particular hurry to sell. They look stunning, and its a pleasure to have them in my home. In fact, at their previous address, they hadnt been hooked up for decades and served strictly as Mid Century Modern décor pieces. A Google search will unearth quite a bit of information on Acoustron LWE speakers, (at least the more common LWE-1s) and their designer, Louis W. Here a bit of what I found.

These speakers will rock your world! Just takes a technician to hook them up which is why the idea never took off. A geophysical engineer in Houston named Louis W. Erath started a tiny speaker system manufacturing firm in Houston back in 1966. The first product was a bookshelf system (Model 1).

The basic designer choices then were identical to what we have now; acoustic suspension, reflex, or horn for the low frequencies. As we all now know, the acoustic suspension systems are inefficient but with extended low end, the bass reflex types are more efficient with potentially better transient response but somewhat less ultra low-end response in smaller boxes, and the horns; the most efficient with the (potentially) best transient response and dynamic range of all but with the largest size and (usually) higher cost. Of course there are many more subtle considerations within these choices, but these are the basic limitations design engineers have to work with. Surely there must be some of you out there that have dreamed of using classic high efficiency large magnet woofers (normally reserved for bigger reflex designs) in a relatively small bookshelf size box and "somehow" designing the box or the venting or "tuning" or "something" so that you could get the extended low end response of an acoustic suspension system but at a much high efficiency and not give up the transient response. Erath's experience in designing transducers and amplifiers for geophysical survey trucks with their ultra low frequency'ground-thumper' systems designed to shake the earth enough to get recordable reflections back from subterranean strata was a really unique background for branching off into loudspeaker system design and production. He invented and developed a design that did cheat and win handsomely. As a point of reference you can see what happens if you mount old classic high efficiency large magnet drivers in a WAY-TOO-SMALL-BOX by referring to the Klipsch model H (Heresy). I know there are some of you out there who love this little box system, but frankly the extreme low end down at 32.7 HZ (LOW C on pipe organ) just isn't there at all. All that the model H produces is harmonics of the fundamental frequencies down in this range. I know it may be wonderful through the rest of the range but lets face it the extreme bottom end is crucial for the emotional impact that we all strive for in a system. The out-of -phase signal is fed from the output of an amplifier's final output stage back to the input of that same stage. Actually the same concept can be used in any intermediate stage of amplification as well.
The concept works well in lowering distortion and, in some cases, increasing stability. If there were no other limitations present power supply current ratings, etc.
The amplifier would double in power. Of course there might be a slight increase in distortion in some designs depending on the original design goals and criteria in design. This would leave the feedback and distortion character untouched at frequencies up above 50-70 HZ. Erath's feedback control unit was in the speaker box next to the crossover network.
2 conductors for the regular voice coil audio, and 4 conductors for feedback 2 incoming and 2 outgoing. This was all connected using 6 conductor TRW/Cinch-Jones "jones Plugs" which made it all very convenient and inexpensive. As you can imagine, some amplifiers didn't seem to care about having 15 or so db of their negative feed-back'whacked away' at the low frequencies and some didn't like it all. In Erath's defense, I will say that he recognized and dealt with this problem in a very honorable way and would openly tell prospective buyers which amplifiers worked well and which ones didn't.
Erath made a 60 watt per channel solid state amp that nestled right into a cavity that was in the rear of the model 1 box and was isolated from the inside of the box. This one was so stable it would allow far more feedback to be removed than most commercially available amplifiers at the time. How well did they work? In a word, extremely well.
The model 1 had a rather high efficiecy (96 db at 1 w/1meter) 15" woofer with a fairly stiff suspension with a 5 " high efficiency cone mid range (both made by Chacag Telephone Supply or'CTS'), and an Electro-Voice T-35 for high output'top-end' response. This was the same tweeter used in the 104 db at 1 meter/1 watt K-horn at the time so you can see that the tweeter would have to have about 6-8 db of padding to match this combo. This was sort of like a hot-rod and scaled up model'H' if you will. I even know of a few cases where Klipsch K-1000 horns were tried with various drivers and padded 6-8 db instead of the 5 paper cone radiator, but I always thought that the CTS 15 incher didn't have enough output in the 600-1KHZ range to use this mid range because a slight'trough' in the response curve would develop in this range. (a larger 600 HZ mid range horn would not fit inside the box though). A very neutral sounding speaker system with very little or virtually no coloration or "sound character" of its own. It played loud like the Klipsch model H, but the extreme low-end down in the mid 20HZ region would rattle the fluorecent light fixtures in the old sound room at (now long-gone) Audio Center sound room, (where I worked part-time during my years at U of H), in Houston where I first heard these. It compared so well to really large high efficiency classical systems that we ended up placing them on top of the Klipschorns and of course comparing them frequently on a variety of program material. There was an old Bel Canto 1/4 track Ramsey Lewis open reel jazz piano/bass/drums tape ('Stretching Out'), that was utterly amazing on the LWE 1's. It was typical of back room jazz recordings of black musicians in the late 50's and early 60's with a not really too wonderful and slightly out of tune upright piano and a small sounding studio with no frills/no EMT reverb, just dry, clean sound. The sudden impact from the drums and cymbals and L. Young with his very long fingers whacking mightily on the big double bass (and on cello on one cut) always was a crowd pleaser in the old sound room. In background you could actually hear and feel Ramsey stomping his foot on the old studio wooden floor as he powerfully ripped through some extremely complex and satisfying passages. It was very hard to listen to the model 1's on this stuff without smiling. I figured it would be a good idea to share the info in case anyone else nabs a set of these speakers. Certain few amps can make them unstable. I asked him for any suggestions as far as brands and he rattled off Pioneer and a few other common brands so I got the impression that it really wasn't a situation that demanded alot of apprehension. He did say that 100w is ideal, especially if you like to listen at high volume, otherwise 50w is just fine. In fact, the original LWE-1 amplifiers were 60w and sounded great.

A side note: Previously I spoke with someone who had worked in Erath's shop and he said that one of the amps they had problems were some of the Sansui models. He said to get a circuit diagram for whatever amp I use (probably from a service manual as they are rarely included in users manuals) and send it to him and he would be happy to mark where I needed to clip inside the amp. He said that there was a good chance that the bulbs would still be good since it was a low power application and that bulbs degrade with hours of use, not time. He said that there is one problem that can happen and that is that some amps, not many... He also mentioned that his listening room is 18' x 15' which is ideal for listening to these speakers.

Ive only been waiting about 3 years to put this system together and I finally got all the pieces together tonight. Erath really knew what he was doing! I wouldn't trade my K-horn system for it but MAN do they put out some bass!!

I've only hooked up a cheap CD player directly into the amp using the gain controls but it sounds pretty amazing, especially when you consider the flat sound they give with other amps. Almost everything in my basement was rattling when I cranked it up, and they're on a concrete floor. Good tip for anyone experimenting with these speakers: Turn the "Room Gain" down on the back of the speakers - it makes a huge difference! Then I read the Operating Instructions paper (see link in above post) and cranked the Room Gain down to "2" and it tightened it right up.

And I still hear the extended bass response! (I'm in a small room about 16' x 20') This might be obvious to some, but I had to waste a bunch of time messing with the EQ on my preamp and source until I read that page with the recommended Room Gain settings for various room sizes. Listening to the latest Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians and the kick drum is moving my shirt. Acoustron went out of business (1973) after suffering financial losses in the language lab end of their business. Acoustron licensed 140 LWE dealers nationwide, many of them McIntosh dealers, as their amplifiers worked well with the LWE circuitry. Soon after Acoustron's demise, many LWE dealers closed out their remaining stock at a discount, some telling their customers that there was "a fire at the Acoustron plant" which was untrue - there was never a fire. Vintage LWE speakers are characterized by their near exclusive use of CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply) drivers with Electro-Voice T-35 tweeters (used in some models), 3/4" plywood cabinets with walnut or birch veneer, and 3/4" MDF baffles and backs. The demise of Acoustron combined with the difficulties in marketing and supporting a loudspeaker that needed a modified amplifier along with Louis' busy career in geophysical instrumentation pretty much ended the LWE loudspeaker. CM Labs briefly resurrected the LWE technology for their CM15 Servosound Feedback Speaker System in 1974, going so far as to modify their amplifiers (CM911) to include 6-pin cinch-jones connectors so their feedback speakers (or LWE speakers) could plug right in. The item "Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE" is in sale since Thursday, June 4, 2020. This item is in the category "Consumer Electronics\Vintage Electronics\Vintage Audio & Video\Vintage Speakers". The seller is "marpentrac_0" and is located in Gresham, Oregon. This item can be shipped to United States.
  • Country of Manufacture: USA
  • Model: LWE-II
  • Modified Item: No
  • MPN: Does Not Apply
  • Brand: Acoustron

Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE    Acoustron LWE-II vintage speakers (Louis W. Erath) ULTRA RARE