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Who designed E-V's Aristocrat and Baronet ?


karlson3

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think an old Lafayette or B & A catalog I saw (from about 1959) said the EV Aristocrat was licensed by Klipsch.  I know Klipsch and EV had a relationship (e.g. Klipsch K77s were EV T35 tweeters that passed Klipsch's tests).  Wasn't the Aristocrat a direct radiator with a horn loaded back that was designed for corner placement?

 

Maybe this should be transferred over to "Ask the Historian?"

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I recall.Yes there is enough literature about to know that PWK influenced greatly the Aristocrat. It sounds nice in my corner, although, have it on sale on my local craigslist. A kit for diy or, they would send it prebuilt to you if I  recall. Some have done them 3 way. Have a 12 inch Norelco full range and a supertweeter in mine. Would be interesting to know as per previous poster as to their take.

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On 8/12/2017 at 5:03 PM, billybob said:

I recall.Yes there is enough literature about to know that PWK influenced greatly the Aristocrat. It sounds nice in my corner, although, have it on sale on my local craigslist. A kit for diy or, they would send it prebuilt to you if I  recall. Some have done them 3 way. Have a 12 inch Norelco full range and a supertweeter in mine. Would be interesting to know as per previous poster as to their take.

 

I had a friend who had Aristocrats with either EV 12TRXs or 12TRXBs in them.  They were 12 inch coaxial speskers, and had a "Brilliance" control on the cabinet.  I heard them often between 1960 and about 1975, and they sounded great!  Very clean, undistorted, and brassy, but well balanced, no bass below about 40 Hz (a guess).  They filled a 40 foot long room with sound.  We once took them to a party in a rented hall, maybe 50 by 60 feet with a ceiling reaching to about 15 feet high.  They filled that, too, with my pair of 40 watt Dyna mark IV amps.  We often A-B'd them against various newer designs he would borrow.  For instance, a pair of Infinities he was considering buying.  The Infinities sounded great in the store, but were lifeless and inert compared to the EVs in Aristocrat enclosures.  My friend was considering Klipschorns to replace them with, due to the commonalities of design, last time I talked with him concerning speakers.  I finally got Khorns, and they have a sound similar to the Aristocrats/EVs, but the Khorns are smoother, more dynamic (and go even louder without strain), with much more bass extension, etc. 

 

Norelco made a number of good speakers, either under that name, or as North American Phillips, or as Phillips of the Netherlands.  Phillips is now ubiquitous, having made records, introduced the tape cassette, the CD, while continuing to make shavers, every TV seen on "The Sopranos,"  to say nothing of marvelous 70 mm projectors, including the original Todd-AO ones.  I'll bet yours sounds great, billybob.

 

 

 

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20 hours ago, garyrc said:

 

I had a friend who had Aristocrats with either EV 12TRXs or 12TRXBs in them.  They were 12 inch coaxial speskers, and had a "Brilliance" control on the cabinet.  I heard them often between 1960 and about 1975, and they sounded great!  Very clean, undistorted, and brassy, but well balanced, no bass below about 40 Hz (a guess).  They filled a 40 foot long room with sound.  We once took them to a party in a rented hall, maybe 50 by 60 feet with a ceiling reaching to about 15 feet high.  They filled that, too, with my pair of 40 watt Dyna mark IV amps.  We often A-B'd them against various newer designs he would borrow.  For instance, a pair of Infinities he was considering buying.  The Infinities sounded great in the store, but were lifeless and inert compared to the EVs in Aristocrat enclosures.  My friend was considering Klipschorns to replace them with, due to the commonalities of design, last time I talked with him concerning speakers.  I finally got Khorns, and they have a sound similar to the Aristocrats/EVs, but the Khorns are smoother, more dynamic (and go even louder without strain), with much more bass extension, etc. 

 

Norelco made a number of good speakers, either under that name, or as North American Phillips, or as Phillips of the Netherlands.  Phillips is now ubiquitous, having made records, introduced the tape cassette, the CD, while continuing to make shavers, every TV seen on "The Sopranos,"  to say nothing of marvelous 70 mm projectors, including the original Todd-AO ones.  I'll bet yours sounds great, billybob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well that is a heck of a story first of all. And secondly, until I hooked my single Aristocrat and an AcoustiCraft up in my new lodgings, I may have had a harder time understanding how it may fill such a large place/space with decent sound levels without distortion. Can probably attribute some of the quality to the tubes you mentioned. The AcoutiCraft, smaller cabinet has an LS-12 inch by Wolverine EV full range 8 Ohm coaxial speaker and a 

TW-35 tweeter Wolverine by EV in a smaller cabinet than the Aristocrat with a brilliance adjustment CR-35(3500 cycle) crossover. Got it around the same time as the Aristocrat but around Wildwood, Florida area for $125 back in 2009.

Got the Aristocrat northside of Atlanta, around same time for $175. Have not been inside Aristocrat, mainly because of not knowing how to. Yet, I read about the speaker being supplied with a Norelco coaxial 12 inch, of some unknown model, but could guess as I can look into both speaker's grilles with a strong light. Also, there is a supertweeter of some make and model installed. Looking at this supertweet, the mouth of horn covered a a semi-fine brass colored metal mesh.

The 2 ran as a pair in stereo let me know what they may be capable of. Running a decent SS vintage amp at 45 wpc, with a TT hooked as source filled my smallish but fair sized space with more than decent volume with plenty of bass each speaker. The int. amp is an 8 Ohm specified but have had 4 Ohm capable amp hooked with great results, especially with older jazz and blues.

Have had them here awhile back and on local craigslist but to no avail. 

Your detailed experience above now make selling an even more remorseful consideration. Practically giveaway prices.

Well, glad some members know about these and may well keep them abit longer.

Yes Philips Norelco, and the converse have come to my attention before. Have seen Norelco speakers that appear similar to mine at a premium price on e-bay. Sure I do not know what others know but, was a member here for about 1 or 2 years before I started to realize the past association with PWK and the powers that be at Electrovoice.

Yes, may just keep them, just like I did with the Chorus I got in 2001.

Thanks!

I will see if my old thread is still around in the garage section and post a couple of pics soon.

 

 

 

 

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On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 6:55 PM, garyrc said:

Wasn't the Aristocrat a direct radiator with a horn loaded back that was designed for corner placement?

Yes, I suppose it is direct as looked through grill hardware cloth at the speaker. When cleaning the rear of speaker recently on the bottom is the rectangular shaped port. Previous owner of mine had upgraded the speaker wire connect and brilliance control was on the rear.

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