16-03-2018, 12:34 PM
(08-03-2018, 05:00 PM)Terry Wrote: Mike, as I said in post #6, "I'm thinking here of the way line source speaker - aka column speakers - focus the sound coverage in the vertical plane whilst giving a wide dispersal action in the horizontal plane (with the column mounted vertically as usually found)."
As for being a 'new fangled'' term, I've been familiar with it for the best part of 60 years - how far back do you consider something to be 'new'?
Back in the day, (1950s/60s) when line source speaker columns were becoming popular for PA, there were also column speakers used for domestic hi-fi, with the main speaker unit typically mounted in the top of a pipe. The pipe resonances reinforced the low frequencies and, as long as they were judiciously damped, could give good sound: the Wharfedale concrete 'sewer pipe' design was a well-known example.
A 'column' speaker could therefore mean two things, hence the PA variety was preferably called 'line source'. Today, the domestic 'column' has largely disappeared so the confusion doesn't arise. Meanwhile the PA line source has grown into the giant curved linear arrays used at festivals.
Martin
BVWS Member
