[krikor]

My brother recently purchased a late 50's era modern home which has a larger horn built into the back of the bookshelves in the living room. Luckily, there were a few photos left behind by the previous owner showing the innards of this horn. No idea if the driver still works, but we are going to try and put this thing to use.  Bigger images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/audiosnoop/sets/72157625755610621/


This shows the back walls of the bookshelf which cover the horn before installation. The circle at the top of the right section fits over the box at the top.  The driver mounts to this surface and fires into the horn. The section of the bookshelf containing the driver is then sealed with another panel.


This shows the full length of the horn.


The black area at the bottom is the mouth of the horn and you can see just a bit of the horn curve in the open shelf at the top. The sealed compartment next to this houses the driver, though we have not been able to open this yet. The two compartments directly above the mouth are sand filled and house the remnants of a crossover.



This is the way looked just after the house was built. If you look close, there is a tweeter horn lens mounted in the mouth of the bass horn at the bottom. The bass driver is located in the cloth covered compartment at the top right. Not sure what is in the left compartment at the top... could be another driver?

[Letitroll98]

I'm not sure what to say, other than that is so insanely freakin' kewl to buy a house and find that in it.  I hope he's an audiophile.

I love fifties modern if done in the warm stone and wood of Frank Lloyd Wright type designs.  Hard to tell but looks like you brother's house may have some of that influence?  I hope he keeps it true to the original design, so many of these examples are gutted and redone.

[JakeJ]

Agreed, that is fantastic!  If it were me I'd restore the system as well as any changes to the home's original design as this is my absolute favorite home architectural style.  krikor, if possible could you take and post more pictures of the home, please?
 
 
Letitroll98,
 
If you like FLW then you might want to Google Richard Neutra.  He centered on home design and made the cover of Time magazine in 1949.

[JackD201]

That is so cool!

I'm 99.999999999999% certain that it's Mono. I'm guessing a 10" Full Range Bass Driver top right and mid-hi horn like in the picture. Build your own SET monoblock with an attenuator, a Y-cable and a source and it's boogie time!

Love it!

[krikor]

I'm not sure what to say, other than that is so insanely freakin' kewl to buy a house and find that in it.  I hope he's an audiophile.

I love fifties modern if done in the warm stone and wood of Frank Lloyd Wright type designs.  Hard to tell but looks like you brother's house may have some of that influence?  I hope he keeps it true to the original design, so many of these examples are gutted and redone.

He will most definitely keep it true to the original design. Our father is an architect of the same ilk and the designer of this home was his mentor. We have the original designs, though the horn is not speced in those drawings as it was a late add by the owner during construction.

My brother is not an audiophile, but enough of my craziness has rubbed off on him that he's got a bit of the bug. Most of his equipment is the result of hand-me-downs, though that's hardly the term I'd use to describe his Kef 105/3 speakers.

I am going to try and get this horn up and running as soon as he is in the house. By the way, the drawer to the right of the horn mouth is a pull-out turntable drawer... gotta love it.

[krikor]

Build your own SET monoblock with an attenuator, a Y-cable and a source and it's boogie time!

Love it!

I'll be looking for a tube monoblock design to build for my bro just as soon as I finish the Bottlehead Crack OTL headphone amp I've got coming. Any relatively inexpensive and easy-to-build recs?

[krikor]

Agreed, that is fantastic!  If it were me I'd restore the system as well as any changes to the home's original design as this is my absolute favorite home architectural style.  krikor, if possible could you take and post more pictures of the home, please?

Home is fairly close to the original design as it was still owned by the original owner's family. I'll talk to my brother and see what other pics he wants to post... I know he's got a bunch.

[JackD201]

Try the JE Labs circuits. Joseph can probably help you out with advice on the crossover too. Good Luck! 

[TomS]

So glad you're trying to preserve/restore it.  This is one of the coolest discoveries I've seen in a long time.  Good luck getting it all up and running 

[JLM]

Crazy cool!

I love 50's modern too (another fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, have traveled to Fallingwater and Taliesin West).

I thought about building in an infinite baffle into the end of my listening room when we built, but really didn't need it with the speakers I'm using.  Could still do it (behind the front portion of the right side wall is a finished off space under the stairwell.

[Levi]

I have similar coffee table without the ashtray.

[JP78]

More photos of the house!

[krikor]

Starting to think about getting this horn up and running and need to put together a simple crossover. Not concerned about absolute sound quality, just want it for background listening... besides its mono and not ideally placed in the room. Not sure what the bass driver is that's located in a sealed chamber and don't really want to open it up.

High-frequency driver and horn lens pictures are below. It's a University SA-HF driver, not sure about the lens/horn.


Front of High-Frequency Horn - Front by audiosnoop, on Flickr


High-Frequency Horn - Rear by audiosnoop, on Flickr


Looking for something simple and inexpensive. Not sure what frequency and how to implement L-pad to match drivers.

[krikor]

More photos of the house!

Put up a bunch of photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/audiosnoop/sets/72157625755610621/

My brother has been doing a lot of work on the place since these photos were taken, such as installing hardwood floors, updating windows, etc. Looks fantastic and he is keeping to that modern aesthetic.

Here's a shot from back in the day... I grew up with one of those womb chairs.

Original Living Room by audiosnoop, on Flickr

[mikecole]

Horn built into a bookshelf - really cool idea! And gorgeous house.

[JakeJ]

Krikor, thanks, and a huge thank you to your brother for sharing.  Love the setting it's in as well as the house itself.

If you are restoring the horn to functional, is there a plan to use it?  I would think it would be wonderful for a simple background music playback system.

[Bemopti123]

That house is stunning.  Too bad that most of the architects now have lost the sense of the cool aesthetic.  It must have been all that bad MTV and music that they were exposed to in the 70s.   

[JakeJ]

Uhhh...that would be the 80's.