This magnificent goose neck Magnavox Radio Speaker Horn was originally manufactured in Oakland, CA in the 1920’s. It has a 14.25” bell, stands 21.5” tall, and is paired with a salvaged walnut base finished with Betty’s Board Butter (beeswax & mineral oil). You may wish to re-oil the base occasionally.

Ray Galbreath was frustrated. He was a sports fanatic and he often couldn’t understand the announcer using a megaphone at the local ballpark. In 1915 he was visiting his friends Peter Jensen and Edwin Pridham, who were working on improving the sound of the telephone. He looked at their device and suggested to them: “if you can make it talk a little louder and put a horn on it, and put enough of them around a ball park, maybe we can understand what is being said a little better.” This inspired Jensen and Pridham to experiment with developing a “loud speaking telephone” (they both thought the term “loudspeaker” was an ugly-sounding word). Their first attempt resulted in them discovering feedback (see Siren #123), subsequent tests astonished neighbors in Napa (see Siren #10), and once they accepted the term “loudspeaker,” they provided a public address system for Woodrow Wilson (see Siren #92). But it all started with Ray.