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Equipment file · Moving-iron headphone

Type A horn loudspeaker

S. G. Brown · 1911 onward

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

S. G. Brown Ltd, founded by Sidney George Brown in 1911, made the Type A reed headphones that became standard issue for British forces in the First World War. The same tuned-reed driver principle was carried into Brown's horn loudspeakers of the 1920s such as the H1.

Introduced
1911 onward
Category
Moving-iron headphone
Intended use
Military and telephone headphones, later adapted as horn loudspeaker drivers
Production
S. G. Brown Ltd, London (founded November 1911)

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    One of the most widely issued headphones of the First World War.

  2. 02

    Its driver led directly to Brown's horn loudspeakers, part of the move from headphones to room-filling sound.

Engineering record

Driver principle
A moving-iron tuned magnetic reed rather than a plain diaphragm, which Brown advertised as giving greater volume[1]
Wartime production
Thousands supplied to British forces during the First World War[2]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

No named deployment could be tied to this exact item by a checked source yet. Know of one? Suggest it on the contribute page.

Manuals & original documents

No authoritative manual or original document has been located for this profile.

Sources

  1. 1Brown H1 (horn loudspeaker)VintageRadio.nl · reference
  2. 2Brown S. G. Ltd., London manufacturer historyRadiomuseum.org · reference

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