I named the Josephine after one of my favorite songs by Les Paul - I've got a nearly mint cut of it on 78.

The drivers used in the Josephine date back to 1941, when Altec Lansing designed their first coaxial drivers, the Altec 601, which was a field coil 12" woofer with a small tweeter mounted at the bottom of the magnetic circuit, coming out of a horn mouth that is inside the voice coil and magnetic circuit of the woofer cone. This "duplex" driver configuration later evolved into the 16" 604, which became the most dominant studio monitor used in America for over 25 years until the 70’s, when a wave of cheaper and less accurate speakers became the norm for studio monitoring (coinciding with changes in the market that led to a decrease in the size, quality, and price of loudspeakers). In the UK, the Tannoy Dual Concentric drivers (with 604 technology that was adapted very well) became the industry standard throughout Europe.

The enclosure design shown in the photos is a simple 5" hole cut into a large cabinet made of 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood, properly damped and braced. The flare/wave guide is an entirely hand carved feature. The Josephine has a solid wood front panel that is bookmatched 5/4" thick Black Locust, which is used for acoustic reasons and is custom sourced and custom milled (Black Locust is also found in ship masts, xylophone keys and even glassblowing tools). The wood was chosen from a Walla Walla, WA based lumber mill that deals exclusively in the highest quality samples of wind-fallen Black Locust wood. This large solid wood panel was gently decoupled from the rest of the cabinet in order to tailor/control cabinet resonances. The solid wood bases were made from African Mahogany, Black Locust, and the pin-stripe was Baltic Birch ply stood on edge. The finish is a hand rubbed oil/wax finish. The base is decoupled from the floor by 2" tall Mapleshade solid brass feet.

Cheers!

www.blumenstein-ultra-fi.com

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