[kool bubba ice]

Curious..

 

[Assorted]

http://www.firstglimpsemag.com/Edito...36y01.asp&guid

 

[ericj]

The first dynamic headphone was the Beyerdynamic DT-48 - first introduced in 1937 but it didn't really hit the market until 1952.

They still make 'em, cost about $400. They sound awful unless you're editing dialog tracks.

The 2000-ohm phones they used on radio gear in the long longago, dunno who was first.

 

[cotdt]

headphones came out in 1958? that can't be right, i see 1930's vintage headphones on ebay all the time!

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Assorted /img/forum/go_quote.gif http://www.firstglimpsemag.com/Edito...36y01.asp&guid

Wow, that guy doesn't mention Beyerdynamic at all. Granted the DT-48 wasn't (and isn't) a consumer product, but they'd been on the market for at least 6 years when Koss started making headphones.

(Edit: Beyerdynamic implies that they were available for sale in 1937 but also that nobody really cared until they were demonstrated at the 1952 world's fair)

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif headphones came out in 1958? that can't be right, i see 1930's vintage headphones on ebay all the time!

My bet is that the 30's vintage headphones are mono and geared towards voices for radio operators and pilots. They probably are lousy for listening to music.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif My bet is that the 30's vintage headphones are mono and geared towards voices for radio operators and pilots. They probably are lousy for listening to music.

Mono?! They have damn lug terminals on the earcups, wire 'em however you like!

But they used some other technology than the current dynamic moving-coil, isodynamic, and electrostatic technologies. I forget exactly what it is.

 

[kool bubba ice]

How much did they weigh?

 

[Inkmo]

I think Koss is credited for the first headphones for music listening. They had cans for radio operators years before that, though. I remember that Koss made a portable turntable with a headphone out. The TT went unnoticed, but the concept of headphones for portable listening was acclaimed at the time....

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif But they used some other technology than the current dynamic moving-coil, isodynamic, and electrostatic technologies. I forget exactly what it is.

Perhaps the cup and string technology?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif The first dynamic headphone was the Beyerdynamic DT-48 - first introduced in 1937 but it didn't really hit the market until 1952. They still make 'em, cost about $400. They sound awful unless you're editing dialog tracks. The 2000-ohm phones they used on radio gear in the long longago, dunno who was first.

I had no idea about the DT48. Here's a link to some if anyone is curious:

http://www.frontendaudio.com/Beyerdy...nes_p/1588.htm

$369.

I'd love to give a pair a listen, though.

As for the old radio sets, I've heard a number of them. I'm a ham and also collect old radios, so I run across the old headphones. They're intended for a radio operator to hear voice because music wasn't broadcast much back then. Radio was for communication by voice and Morse Code. They are not intended for music listening, and have little range outside of the mids.

I believe the first set that really got people interested in headphones for music is the Sennheiser HD-414. I don't know if they're in production, but they turn up on eBay often enough. I keep going back and forth over buying a pair. Probably will sooner or later.

 

[wualta]

Ericj, you might be thinking of "crystal" headphones, using Rochelle salt crystals. Piezoelectric. Efficient, but kinda tweeterish, as you might imagine a vibrating crystal sounding.

Koss still gets credit for marketing the first stereo headphone (1958), at least in the US. Did they also play a role in getting the TRS telephone plug standardized in home audio gear? Dunno.

From the Beyer UK site comes this:

"In 1950 for instance there was a public demonstration
of artificial head in Bremen, Germany where Eugen Beyer
presented the world’s first stereophonic high fidelity
headphone - the DT 48 S. Well, of course stereo does not
automatically mean high fidelity. However, in this case it
did, since the DT 48 headphone that was used for this
stereophonic presentation had already been developed 13
years before as the world’s first high fidelity headphone."

Now, was this DT 48 S a headphone you could buy or was it a prototype? There were very, very few stereo recordings or sources available to the public in 1950. Was there, as with the Emory Cook discs here in the US, a stereo DIY market? a kunstkopf underground? But no, the blurb, having blurbed, blurbs on, without explanation. Gotta give the company credit for making the stereo version and giving a proof-of-concept binaural demonstration in any case.

 

[F107plus5]

Maybe something like the RCA puppy posing for the "His masters voice" painting and the artist not being sure which side to put the Victrola on.

 

[qazwsx]

Wasn't it the tin cans and the string?

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ericj, you might be thinking of "crystal" headphones, using Rochelle salt crystals. Piezoelectric. Efficient, but kinda tweeterish, as you might imagine a vibrating crystal sounding.

Ahh yeah. I knew crystal was in there somewhere, but didn't want to say, just because ancient headphones are often associated with crystal radios.

I fondly remember eviscerating the handset of an old telephone as a child and finding . . . little crystals . . .

The linked website also gives koss credit for being the first to use a microphone-like polymer driver. 'zat true?