What is a Lowther anyway?
Lowther is the brand name for the finest loudspeaker drive units that are manufactured today.They are all full-range drivers with extremely powerful magnets and ultra-light paper cones, leading to extraordinary sensitivity, transient response and low distortion.
They are made by Lowther-Voigt Ltd in England, and undergo a unique production process where everything is done by hand.
The Lowther-Voigt factory has been in the business of manufacturing loudspeaker drive units for over 60 years, and is one of the true pioneers in audio technology. Twin cone drivers, folded horns, tractrix horn contour were all invented by Lowther-Voigt.
The new drivers from Lowther-Voigt incorporate "Hi-Ferric coil control", a new landmark in voice coil technology (pat. pending). This is a brand new way of controlling coil travel, that works over the entire frequence range (as opposed to magnetic oils, which will only work for high frequencies). It allows the speaker cone to accelerate and decelerate faster (better damping). The result is even better inter-transient damping and 'air' around each and every instrument and voice. Hi-Ferric coil control also effectively prevents overshoot ofthe coil/cone from occuring.
Another astonishing property of the new drivers is that they are actually capable of handling 100 watts of input power (yes, it is true). and that is a lot, considering that you only need 4-5 watts of amp power to play them ear-deafening loud.
If you want to know more about the company and their products; check out Some history on Lowther-Voigt
The Lowhers can not be used for bass reproduction in vented/sealed cabinets. You will have to house the driver in a horn enclosure, which is the best way to build a loudspeaker anyway. If you do not know what a horn enclosure is, read the rest of this document.
It is of course also possible to employ a Lowther driver as a midrange/treble drive unit in larger systems.
Find out more about why horns are the best way to go if you want no-compromise stereo on Thomas Dunker's 'horn page' (via the links page)
For those of you who really want to dig into horn theory, visit the references page. Very extensive list of litterature and links
And what is a Lowther Club?
Lowther Clubs are Lowther-Voigt's way of spreading throughout the world. The 'HiFi Establishment' hasn't been particularly keen on handling Lowthers in their portfolio, and there's a number of reasons why the Lowthers have become an 'out-of-the-mainstream' product for audio enthusiasts.- Product strategy: Lowther-Voigt never let go of their sound product strategy, and refused to be tricked by the market trend into building poor efficiency / cheap to make 'long-throw' bass/midrange and the other drivers that most of today's mainstream products are made up of. The Lowthers ended up in many ways an idiosyncracy in the market place. However, there has always been a number of dedicated audiophile fans embracing their products, and thanks to them, the Lowthers are still here.
- Hi-Fi reseller's business strategies: The Lowther drivers are to a large extent aimed at the DIY marketplace. Not surprising, considering the cost of shipping a big horn speaker, easily weighing 70-100 kg. Obviously, this means that there's less money to be earned from each sale, compared to selling a complete box. For a very reasonable price, you can buy the world's finest drive units at the hifi reseller's , and then spend the rest of it at the sawmill/woodshop/whereever.
- One-way vs multi-way speakers: The hifi audience has been led to believe that multi-way speaker is the only way to go, if you want hi-fi sound. This is, of course, totally untrue. The problem is that it's a lot cheaper to build multi-way speakers, hence more money to be earned, both for the vendor and the reseller. Profit and sellability has has outdone musicality and listening enjoyment in the marketplace. If you really want hi-fi reproduction; go one-way.
- Public taste issues/sellability: Big speakers are not 'in' anymore. Today's ideal speaker is invisible. This clearly raises a conflict with horn designs, which tend to be quite big.
- The 'know-how': Selling a drive unit intended for horn construction/building is clearly somewhat more of a technical challenge than selling 'boxes'. In order to be able to answer your horn building customer's questions, you need to know a lot about horn acoustics /construction theory. To sell an off-the-shelf 'box', all you really need to know is the difference between (+) and (-). And of course, the obligatory 'test winners' listings...
- And so on and so on...
Building your own horn
Building your own Lowther horns is a fun venture, and a lot easier than it sounds. There are some complex designs that are definitely out of the hobbyist's reach, but most Lowther horns are pretty easy to build and do not require the tools of a professional woodworking shop. Building with Lowther drivers also means building without a crossover, and in most cases with only one drive unit per loudspeaker, all of which simplifies building even more.As an example, take a look at the "Voigt pipe". Hardly a project to scare anyone off. The construct is unique in it's simplicity, and has surprisingly good bass response.
If you feel like spending some more time with your table saw, take look at the plans for the highly acclaimed Acousta 115 (51K). An original Lowther-Voigt design of 1964. This horn is representative of a lot of Lowther constructs. The constant-width folding of the horn greatly simplifies construction and building. If you want to learn more about this particular speaker, read the towards perfection article.
