ResonantLive Sound Archive

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

Contribute to the record

Know more about Type A horn loudspeaker?

Corrections, firsthand information, original documents, and credited photograph sources are welcome.

Your email is private and will not appear in the archive. Contributions are not published automatically.

Back to all equipment Back to Origins of electrical sound

Help build the archive

A missing piece? A correction?

Contribute to Resonant

Support the archive

Resonant is built one verified record at a time: research hours, archival image rights, and the hosting that keeps every era, equipment file, and citation free to read. If this archive is useful to you, a donation of any size keeps the next entry moving.

How donations are used
Venmo@mercer-aplinOpen Venmo, tap the pay field, type the handle, then send any amount.Send any amount · no account needed to viewCash App$MercerAplinOpen Cash App, tap the $cashtag field, type the tag, then send any amount.Send any amount · no account needed to view

Payments go directly to the archive’s editor through Venmo and Cash App. Resonant is an independent project rather than a registered charity, so donations are not tax-deductible and nothing is sold or subscribed to in return.