Harvard business reports (1930)

Record Details:

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498 HARVARD BUSINESS REPORTS it is liable to destroy itself. In low-frequency loud sounds it must rattle . . . The Photophone does not use a small separate diaphragm or a horn; the paper cone that is used for projecting the sound itself acts as a diaphragm ... It is my opinion, in fact, that no diaphragmusing system can reach the volume or the frequency ranges that are reached by the instruments that employ the cone system of sound reproduction and projection. The cone system produces a better quality of sound, too. There are two types of sound projection: the horn type, and the cone type. The horn has several disadvantages. It cuts of! the low frequency sounds (bass notes) below a certain point ... To reproduce the entire range of low sounds it will require a horn so long and so cumbersome that it will be necessary for the theater owner to install a wrench to lift it up whenever he needs to use the stage for some other purpose. The paper cone presents no such defects and difficulties. The horn distorts some sounds and suppresses others. This occurs because the horn reinforces certain tones, producing unpleasant " resonance points"; it makes the sound unnatural. This defect is noticeable in the human voice more than it is in the musical or other sounds; the voice sounds hollow . . . The horn possesses some other defects. From an investigation of the supply of sound pictures, the manager of the Clayton Theater learned that a majority of the larger producers, including all but one of the companies with whose distributors he was under contract for films, had entered into agreements with Electrical Research Products, Incorporated, for leasing recording equipment in the production of sound pictures. The agreement in each instance exceeded 15 years. In reaching a decision as to the system of sound reproducing equipment for installation in the Clayton Theater, the manager considered the fact that the larger motion picture producing companies had entered into agreements with the Western Electric Company to be of vital importance. For that reason, therefore, he favored the Vitaphone-Movietone system. Also, the contract offered was more favorable, and the installation would require no readjustment of the projection booth. While the Photophone system was, in his opinion, superior to the other system at that time, he believed there was no reason why the VitaphoneMovietone system should not, over a period of years, be equal, if not superior, to the Photophone system. A contract was signed for the earliest possible installation of the Vitaphone-Movietone system in the Clayton Theater. The equipment included Movietone, with disc equipment, synchroniz