I did not know that they still manufactured speakers. One of my close friends acquired a pair from an ex-boyfriend of hers years ago and is still using them in her living room. The sound is impressive given the fact that they are over 10 years old. If you like what you hear and can get a decent deal on them, by all means go for it! |
Back in the 1950's, the 24 inch Hartley woofer was the ultimate. Only competition was the 30 inch Electrovoice. |
Hartley was still quite active up until the mid 70's with the concert master and other models. I never got a chance to hear one. |
In the mid to late fifties the Hartley single cone 10" MS220 was placed in a modified infinite "boffle", correctly spelled as mentioned, and it was touted to have a performance between 20-20,000 Hz. They were demonstrated with a demonstration record which began with a drum roll and it was an effective sales tool. The speaker had a very good mid-range and because of this, it was a stellar performer which sold quite well. This period is also the same period where the Wharfedale W12FSAL was also promoted as a full range 12" speaker. It, too, was a remarkable speaker and I have recently purchased a pair and I am presenlty astonished as to how a 12" speaker can produce such highs. Both speakers had a foam surround and when you find them they do need to have those surrounds replaced.
These are interesting speakers which give credit to their designers for that time period in the music reproduction history. As such, there are many who are presently seeking these speakers as collectors items. They are not on a par with current speakers, but they are a credit to their designers who relied solely on their ears as their instruments for judging their merits. |
Jimjenjr...My second loudspeaker (circa 1955) was a 12 inch Wharfdale full range. I put it in a folded horn corner enclosure that I built. The interesting thing about this driver was the wool flannel cloth surround. (Really low Fs). Foam came later. It was driven by a Dynakit preamp and power amp (tubes of course) and was just about SOTA.
Of course Wharfdale was also famous for sand-filled enclosures. |
I HAVE A 24" HARTLEY IN A 36"X36"X47" CUSTOM CABINET
NEEDS TO GO TO A NICE HOME |
IIRC (and I may not), Mark Levinson (the man, not the company) used Hartley woofers with Quads and a super tweeter in a very early assault on the loudspeaker SOTA. The system was highly regarded in many high-end circles and the Hartlley woofer was supposed to be the edge of the art in low end reproduction. FWIW. |
Exactly correct Marty. The tweeter Levinson used was the Decca ribbon, and the old Quad, a pair per side, was the midrange driver, with the 24" Hartley in a big box. The speaker came with an active cross-over designed by John Curl. The system was named the HQD, for the obvious reason. I believe most of them now reside in Japan. VERY expensive when they were introduced! |
Yes, they were. We made the stands for the Quad-Decca array and a couple of Hartely 24" cabs to their specs. HUGE things...stood about 5' high, 3' across, and at least 2' deep. We used 1" particle board reinforced with 4x4's in all the corners. The casters were huge, and they weighed a ton, but if you wanted bass with your HQD system, that is what they wanted you to have. I will "Bambie and Thumper" any comments about the owners of the company. Suffice it to say they were "tight with a dollar" back then. We ended the relationship, but the items we made were SOTA at the time. Cheers! |
I initially subscribed to Stereophile in 1971 and recall that J Gordon listed some model Hartley speakers in his recommendation list during the '70s. I also remember reading about the HQD system but never got to hear it. The Decca tweeter was a ribbon designed by Stanley Kelly. A friend of mine at the time who emigrated to the US had been friends with Kelly.
Within the past 10 years or so I saw a reference that Hartley was again in business but I never heard any more about that. I do remember that more than one customer mounted the Hartley woofers in the floor rather than build appropriate sized cabinets. ;^)
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Years ago I had a friend, an engineer who hand built every component, including room correction. Couple kilowatts of power placed under the floor beneath his monitors. Had a full blown MLSSA measuring set up. He mounted two enormous Hartley drivers in the mouth of his fireplace and built baffles that ran up the chimney. Glorious music. Full scale orchestral works verged on freightening |
Years ago I had a friend, an engineer who hand built every component, including room correction. Couple kilowatts of power placed under the floor beneath his monitors. Had a full blown MLSSA measuring set up. He mounted two enormous Hartley drivers in the mouth of his fireplace and built baffles that ran up the chimney. Glorious music. Full scale orchestral works verged on freightening |
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Sorry to bring up this old thread, but, I have a Hartley 24" in a transmission line cabinet the size of a refrigerator (6' x 30" x 30" or so)...any idea of the value? Just curious.
Beat up veneer, but sonically excellent.
I bought it with a set of Beveridge Model 2s and haven't used it in years.
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I worked with Sound Components in Miami back in the late 70s with Peter McGrath who I think now works for Wilson.
This was the hey day of the Levinson HQD system that has been previously mentioned along with John Curl designed electronics. #6 25 watt class A amps. 2 Quads per channel stacked in a custom frame. A Decca ribbon tweeter between the two quads. The Hartleys were in huge infinite baffle enclosures. We use to listen to organ pieces and boy did those Hartleys go down low. Unfortunately, maintaining realistic levels fried a bunch of Quads and Decca ribbons. At the time the only other "subwoofer"that would go down that low was the RH (Randy Hooker) Labs Sub of which I owned two. The only electrostat that would take the abuse was the Acoustat Monitor. You put two of those on top of the RH Labs subs with Kenwood LO7 M amps driving the subs and the Dalquist DQ1 crossover and you were absolutely state of the art in the day.
There were no modern Sub drivers back then. The RH Labs used a regular 12" down firing woofer in a Helmholtz resonator which forced its response down low. Today we have modern long throw vented sub drivers that will handily out perform the Hartleys and the RH Labs in much smaller cabinets. Interestingly enough, those Kenwood amps remain amazing subwoofer amps if you can find them. |
I purchased. Hartley 300 speakers. 40 years, when Robert was manufacturing the product in Ramsey, NJ. They sound as good today as the day that I bought them. I have been using them continuously for both music and surround sound movies. Outstanding!
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I visited the company in Ramsey, NJ around 1980 or so, They gave me a tour and a listening session of their new 2.1 setup. I had a great time! |
