Highlights of prior generations of loudspeaker first-ever's from electrostatic transducer and high fidelity pioneer Arthur A. Janszen

1) The JansZen Laboratory 1-30 wide-range tweeter array was the world's first practical, high fidelity electrostatic loudspeaker (1954).

The patent application on the wide range tweeter for this and all subsequent JansZen speakers up through the 1970's was filed in 1949 and issued in 1953.

2) The KLH Nine was the world's first full range (flat from 40 Hz - 20 kHz) electrostatic loudspeaker (1960). The tweeter was mounted near the middle, with ten woofer panels occupying the remaining area.

Prototypes were completed at JansZen Labora- tory and put into field tests starting in 1957.

3) The Acoustech X (Koss Electronics), full range electrostatic with improved woofers, was biamplified with world's first commercial, ultra low distortion, solid state power amplifiers, built into the rear cabinet (1965).

The tweeter was again mounted near the middle, and ten panels of a new woofer design were employed. Having more woofer area than the KLH Nine, it supplied lower bass extension.

4) Electrostatic Research Corp. ER-139 was the world's first and only ever omnidirectional electrostatic hybrid (1973) The speaker was developed by Arthur A. Janszen under contract to serve a mass market at $139/pr, but stagflation and management problems curtailed its distribution.

It's tweeter design was a novel circular arrange- ment with spiral wound stator electrodes. It did not require external power for membrane polari- zation, so it did not have a power cord.

David A. Janszen, an engineer, audiophile, amateur musician, and first son of Arthur A. Janszen, is in the process of developing a new series of JansZen loudspeaker systems, the fifth generation of JansZen first's.

Featured on this web site is the first Gen-5 model, the JansZen One, now in production and sold in the USA by Paragon Sight and Sound.

This is the world's first enclosed, hybrid, line array electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL), and beyond that, it employs many technical aspects unique to JansZen.