Western Electric 15 a- your opinions

[moosemp]

Hello !

I am going to complete western Electric WE 15 a based system.
Having heard some positive opinions I decided to have my own and visited two persons with great knowledge and passion for WE sound
I was amazed in Germany and in Italy how wonderful was the sound of two different systems using WE 15 a horns.

Does anybody of Lencoheaven members have personal experience with WE horn systems????

I would be grateful for your comments

Cheers-maciej

[ropie]

Hi Maciej, if you do a search for 'western' you'll find quite a few threads that mention these speakers - might be some horns amongst those.

[daiwok]

http://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=7423.msg125146#msg125146

I have some limited experience, I think Thomas Schick has more experience 

[stickmaker]

I have some limited experience, I think Thomas Schick has more experience  

Hi
yeah, 33% more than you David, I heard three 15a speakers so far.
A stereo pair and one mono.

But quite a few based on the so called Sato horn. This an interpretation of a snail horn opening up to 1x1m.
 There is also a so called WE66 with comparable dimensions.
Actually a French 'invention' as far as I know, at least not an original WE design.
These horns are still crazy, but much easier to place in a home setup than the the really huge 15s.

I have heard the 16b intensively on the Munich Hifi show for a couple of days, since my 301 setup was used in that system and I was in that room most of the time.
The 12a and 13a in Japan in a collection with all original amps, supercool but not hifi at all. I am sure they can sing, but if it is simply old stuff, that is not what it takes to sound really good.
(a and b simply means one or two drivers per horn in the WE logic,btw.)

From what I can tell the horn systems with Satos or WE66 excelled.
Build by guys from whom I learned a lot. Dietmar and Kalle from Germany, and Karel in Belgium. Interestingly that they came up with similar solutions and settled for similar approaches, should make you raise attention.

To me these snail horns need to be run in 4 way systems. The large snail horn, can reproduce a very wide range of frequencies.
However, the drawback is that reflections in the snail will bend treble to one end of the horn. That can cause some nasty coloration, which is my guess why Jo LeBong is not over enthusiastic about them?

Notice the cloth pieces, sheep skins, carpets and whatnot inside of the 15a setups.
(Hm, sound reflected on a curved surface, that is the JBL Paragon...)

I have yet to hear a WE15 setup that does the trick with three ways.
But maybe Aldo can shed some light on that problem (and its solution)?

In terms of magical midrange the 15a does it, goose bumps guaranteed.
Yet coloration was there, even if you don't care about it.
Reminds me of what Jean Michel Le Cleac'h said when he heard my Klangfilm baffles.
"No bass, no treble, but a lot of music"

The HK 15a DIY project has some concept of its own, using uncommon crossover frequencies and drivers. However, the sound is authoritative and very well separated from the speakers, despite the fact we listened in a relative close distance. Still puzzling how he did that.

Compared to the Sato and WE66 systems in Europe, I have to say they are really well balanced. Both 15a systems I heard had their problems, but the magic happened.

I will have the opportunity to listen to another WE15a system in May, before the Lenco meet. I am looking forward to that.

Best
Thomas

[moosemp]

Hello!
Thanks for your comments.
I have heard 2 WE 15 a systems so far- one in Hamburg and other in Aldo's place in Italy.
I was so impressed that I ordered WE 15 a pair from Aldo.
I am trying to persuade him to fly to Munich for HE show this year. It would be nice experience to meet with people who have knowledge on our topic and would like to share it.
I also would be happy to meet you, Thomas and Joe Roberts from Silbatone.
We could arrange nice evening

[trio_de]

Hi Maciej (hope this is the right name )!

I'm glad to read that you ordered a pair of 15As from Aldo since i own such a pair too  A great choice – it's worth waiting for them. This year i will be at Munich too and also hope to meet Joe. If we arrange a meeting with Aldo and perhaps Peter-Paul, this could become a very interesting day.

Do you know, when you will be there? I probably will arrive at saturday.

Best Regards,
Peter

[Joe Roberts]

Hi Maclej-

Must disagree with my good friend Schick...I love 15A in three way and find it perfectly satisfying in full range single unit service as well--with the correct amplifiers.

The 15A puts out a lot more HF than expected. I would not put a LP crossover on the 15A. That would be against my religion. 15A should run full-range for 80-6500hz or so. It is hard to do that range better.

We'll be running a pair of 15As in Munich--three way--cap to a 597A tweeter, woofer cut in below 80hz with an active xover.

Yes, a slight wood coloration but what the heck do you expect...IT IS MADE OF WOOD!! Thin, cheap plywood in fact. But if somebody complains about that rather than enjoying the music, they are lost in my opinion.

I went to Korea a few weeks ago to work on this system and I could not help laughing with joy when I heard the three-way because it sounded so BIG, POWERFUL, and AWESOME!! I can't wait to spend a week with it.

T. Schick will die when he hears it!

We will have a few hardcore WE guys there, including Peter-Paul. GIP Laboratory will exhibit with us also and their stuff is very very interesting.

I hope we can stage a comparison between Japanese GIP and original WE drivers at the show. I did this in Korea and I thought the GIP 597A and mesh 555 were slightly BETTER than the originals, a bit smoother and disappeared more, not that there was anything wrong with the 80 year old originals. The WE drivers were a bit more grainy and spitty, but it was a cool effect that did lend a note of liveliness. My tastes leaned toward the GIP units

All in all, the WE Wide Range horn model continues to be one of the best ways to do things in my opinion. If you have the room and the resources, go for it!!

[Johannes LeBong]

Hi Joe,

hopefully I also find out where intersting WE system owners can be visited in Korea, because I also want to travel to this destination one day.

Since I had discovered the CAMERATA Concert Hall equipped with WE-PA in the web in 2009 I am eager to visit this place. Not only because of audio but also because of art and architecture.

I wrote about in my blog: http://www.lebong.de/notizen/notizen42.htm#20juli2009

May I ask you about your sonic impression when you visited the CAMERATA? (I have seen pictures of your visit in the web)

[Joe Roberts]

Hi Johannes,

Camerata is not really focused on audio. It is a great environment for coffee and hearing some music but the system is not hyper-tuned. A special place though.

if you are going to Korea, talk to me about where to go. Silbatone now has several listening rooms which will properly set up, including two 12A/13A systems...that early system is insanely good. Maybe the best. In a big room, it really sounds like a concert hall. Totally amazing.

The 12A is made from thick hardwood and is a lot cleaner and more precise than the 15A, but the 15A is still a monster...superb on vocals. 12A might be superior though, thanks to more solid and expensive construction.

Munich is a lot closer than Korea...come meet us there!

I am on the road right now. I'll post a few relevant pics when I get home tomorrow.

JR

[Johannes LeBong]

...if you are going to Korea, talk to me about where to go.

Thank you very much Joe, your advice will be very much appreciated then.
(Not this year 2012, where I will visit several other interesting audio-meetings)


 

[tuyen]

I'm currently building some SATO horns, but from reports, the WE15A are the ones to go for?!   Was hoping to pair them with my GOTO SG-505TT midrange drivers to start off and see if possible to find a pair of WE555 replicas later on. 

Currently using a pair of GIP WE597A tweeters with my GOTO midrange and woofers   and really impressed by the sound of the GIP.  The GIP does not have the high extension like a typical tweeter (only to 16khz or so?)  but what it does give is still a really natural, open, harsh-less, non-fatiguing, strongly textured mids to highs.   It's impressed me to the point where I want to continue pursuing the SATO/WE15A  horn with appropriate WE based fc driver.

Interested in reading more of your opinions regarding WE gear/setups. 

[icefox a.k.a. Emmanuel]

Wow, it looks like these WE stuff have some serious following.

I am working myself into a time slot of auditioning for this setup. You spot those WE stuff on the rack?  



This is a pair of 15" Tannoy Black in GRF enclosures.  

[icefox a.k.a. Emmanuel]

Recently, I audition a pair of modern day Tannoy Canterbury in the current Prestige series, with a pair of WE 133A amp driven with a Leben valve pre-amp. As this is a close friend's setup, I am quite familiar with the sonic character of the system, I auditioned quite a bunch of SE amps in the same setup.

The auditioning with the WE133A amp blow my socks off, they sound sublime, full of body. The phrasing of the music coming out of this WE amp is something that I have never experinced before. Musical notes came out and stay there, then another wave of music come before you could even recover from the previous musical phrase presented, mind blowing! My friend has just recently acquired another pair of WE amp, the more famed 124 to do a comparative analysis between the 133A & 124.

 

[autobayer]

Thanks for sharing this.
I really like the Canterbury and those WE amps make my mouth water.
Which tubes do they have?
I guess a bit more powerful than usual because the Canterburys like it like that 
Cheers
Chris

[hatehifi]

Like Chris, I'm tagging this thread. I've heard some really great 'new' hifi kit of recent (tri-amped with Cristian Schulz' electronics Triangle Magellan Grand Concerto, e.g.), but I am still fascinated by WE gear. I've never heard their horns or amps. But just reading about how everyone 'melts' when they hear it makes me want to share in the fun!

Cheers!