Jensen Speakers

Hammond zonder Leslie,
Heineken zonder glas,
De zee zonder strand, enz...

Dit soort feitelijkheden zijn ons door de jaren heen welgemeend ingeprent, maar sommige items dreigen daardoor soms ondergesneeuwd te raken. Natuurlijk, Laurens Hammond was degene die een welhaast niet te overschatten basis heeft gelegd van een enorm stuk muziekgeschiedenis. De beroemde Leslie box echter heeft eveneens gezorgd voor een enorme toegevoegde waarde voor het Hammondorgel.

Als zodanig was dat niettemin ook van toepassing voor de Jensen Speaker: we vergeten soms, hoe onmetelijk veel Hammond,- en Leslie-modellen waren voorzien van dit merk speakers! Domweg, omdat Hammond zelf géén luidsprekers maakte en daarom voor dit item afhankelijk was van een op dit vlak gespecialiseerde partner.

We gaan een onderzoek doen naar Peter Laurits Jensen, één van de grote namen in de muziekindustrie, met name wat betreft versterkers, gitaar,- en orgelindustrie.
En wat gaat straks blijken: net als Laurens Hammond en Mr. K. (Kakehashi) was ook deze Jensen begonnen in de Radio-industrie!

Vertalen komt later, maar we gaan eerst de levens geschiedenis bekijken van Mr. Jensen.

Peter Laurits Jensen was born on May 16,
1886 in a straw-thatched cottage in the eastern region of Denmark on the island of Falster, on the shore of the Baltic Sea.

Peter was the fourth of six children,
which included three girls and three boys.

1906
Jensen made a breakthrough
by linking a microphone
and a transmitter circuit
as a sending apparatus
and connecting a crystal detector to a grounded telegraph ticker
as a receiver.
Jensen also experimented
with broadcasting
recorded music to ships at sea.

In 1909 Poulsen sold his American patent rights to the Poulsen Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company, which reorganized as the Federal Telegraph Company. Jensen went to California to install the Poulsen equipment and met Edwin Pridham, an electrical engineer who taught him English. The reorganization left Jensen and Pridham jobless. They obtained financial backing and established their own company, the Commercial Wireless and Development Company.

On December 24, 1915, during San Francisco’s annual Christmas Eve celebration, a massive crowd of 75,000 eager onlookers converged upon City Hall to hear the “sound miracle"
It was reported that the speech, as well as Christmas carols from choirs and songs from a world-famous opera singer, could be heard from miles away into Napa Valley with “absolute distinctness.” All this revelry and exhilaration was due to a single loudspeaker give the name the Magnavox (meaning “great sound” in Latin) invented and constructed by Peter Laurits Jensen.

Fritzi Scheff demonstrating Magnavox for Fifth Liberty Loan in New York City 1895

1917:

Jensen and Pridham

form

"Magnavox Co."

1919

President Woodrow Wilson uses loudspeaker in San Diego speech.

The Magnavox gains national notoriety.

1920-1921

Speakers used in political conventions and by campaigns of James Cox
and Warren Harding,
including March 4, 1921 Harding inauguration.

1926

Jensen invents the

first commercial

moving coil

radiator loudspeaker

1927

Jensen forms Jensen Radio Manufacturing Co. in Chicago.

1929-1940

Jensen Co. manufactures
60% of all speakers being made for independent radio producers.

Jensen introduces the permanent magnet dynamic loudspeaker, the first commercial compression-driven horn tweeter and the first molded hi-fi speaker diaphragm were unveiled.
Jensen pioneers high fidelity,
develops and produces
first multiple speaker system.

1940s
Leo Fender develops one of first guitar amplifier and chooses Jensen speakers for their excellent tone. Throughout the 1940’s, 1950’s and most of the 1960’s, Fender, Ampeg, Gibson and all the other major amplifier companies used Jensen musical instrument speakers until Jensen stopped making them in the late 1960s.

1943 - 1946
Served as chief consultant to the United States War Production Board, radio and radar division.

Last development under Jensen was the flat piston woofer, introduced 1960.

1961
Peter Laurits Jensen
passes away on Oct. 25 at his home
in Western Springs, Illinois at age of 75.

2003

After more than 80 years, JENSEN brand electronics, including radios and speakers,
continue to be produced to the highest quality standards that Peter L. Jensen demanded when he first ventured out on his own in 1927.
Today’s JENSEN products proudly follow in the footsteps of its founder and continue to lead the way in innovation.
Over the years JENSEN has also expanded its electronics product line and now offers LCD Televisions and proprietary lines that include JENSEN, Jensen RV, JENSEN Heavy Duty and Voyager Observation Systems:

Hieronder nog wat leuke herinneringen uit het verleden:

onder:

Photo of Early Magnavox radio loudspeaker for restoration 1926

Onder:

Jensen-Magnavox Auditorium speaker

Onder: Magnavox 254 SPEAKER

Onder:

Jensen A12 electrodynamic speaker was used in most of the original Hammond tone cabinets. Overall view showing hermetically sealed field magnet assembly