Topic: My buddys vintage RCA mic and vintage JBL speaker collection...

[rokpunk]

These belong to a local friend/audio engineer of mine. He has been collecting for quite a while. This is the second largest RCA mic collection in the country, and most likely in the world. All of the speakers in the picture, including the HUGE speaker that the mic collection is sitting on top of are extremely rare, and extremely beautiful JBL speakers.

I'll leave the full collection picture full size so that you can zoom in. These were taken with an iPhone, so they aren't the best quality.

[rokpunk]

more....

I'll go through these and label what I can. I know what some of the JBL's are, but not all of them. There are so many RCA's that I don't even know where to start labeling them.

[rowjimmy]

Wow.

Thanks for sharing.

[anodyne33]

So the giant box that the mics are on is one speaker? Looks like the horns face into the scoop there eh? Interesting.

[rokpunk]

So the giant box that the mics are on is one speaker? Looks like the horns face into the scoop there eh? Interesting.

2 15"'s behind the scoop, two horns on either side. looking at the center of the speaker, sitting 15' in front of it is the ideal listening position. this one is the only known commercial version of this speaker. he has the same speaker in a rosewood finish, but i didn't get a picture of it. he has it in his dining room as a buffet. it's beautiful.

[rokpunk]

oh, did I mention that every microphone and speaker are in working condition?

[chris319]

Does he have any lavalier mics? I can't see any in the picture.

[rokpunk]

Does he have any lavalier mics? I can't see any in the picture.

a ton of them. far left, coiled up...you'll see them.
also, the very center, on top of the small wooden box-like microphone and under the big 44 mic sits the very first lavaier mic. unreal.

[chris319]

OK, I see the lavaliers now.

[Gutbucket]

Quite a set!

What's the hanging mic on the far right that looks like a bundle of sticks in the shockmount, or rather some buck rodgers dental x-ray?

[rokpunk]

Quite a set!

What's the hanging mic on the far right that looks like a bundle of sticks in the shockmount, or rather some buck rodgers dental x-ray?

it's a film mic. i can't recall the model number, but it was used in film and television.

[Gutbucket]

As a prop/mic? or does the strange form serve some function?

I've never seen anything like that before.

[chris319]

It's a real mic. I remember seeing a spec sheet for it back in the '60s. The different-length tubes were supposed to act on different frequencies.

[flipp]

Only thing I've seen like that was years and years ago (mid-late 60s-ish) in one of the Popular magazines (Popular Mechanics I think but won't swear to it). It was a homemade DIY microphone that had the element at the back and a series of tubes glued together. The tubes made from electrical conduit, were in 1" increments, 37 of them. The middle tube and starting point was 36" long with each succeeding tube 1" shorter and glued to the tube next to it. So after the first seven tubes were glued together you had a hexagon (think gattling gun with various length barrels) and you kept gluing tubes til you had used all 37 and the shortest was 1" - a weird looking contraption with the tubes fitting in a funnel with the mic element at the end of the funnel. In the accompanying article it mentioned that the mic was highly directional and was intended for listening to distant nature sounds - birds and other critters specifically. Theory behind all the tubes was the varying lengths were basically "tuned" to different frequencies and with so many tubes the mic basically picked up all of them. That boom mic is the only thing I've seen that even remotely resembles that ancient DIY mic.

strange what sticks in the mind and only needs a gentle reminder to resurface

[Gutbucket]

Wild.

I was looking at it wondering if the tubes were cut to various resonant lenghts.. or just arranged to look cool.

Thanks.