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Graham Thirkell at Rola PtII – Magnetic Drum devices

More photos from Graham Thirkell’s albums.

This set concentrates on Magnetic Drum Recording/Playback Devices from  the Rola and Plessey/Rola period.

 

 

Rola AVAE Exchange Interceptor 24 lines Front View

AVAE Rear View

 

 

Auto Announcer

Auto Announcer – Front View – cover removed

Auto Announcer – Rear View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graham Thirkell – Rola photos

Graham Thirkell’s Photos – the Rola era

Page One of Two – Tape-based eqpt & general shots

At one point in his long & illustrious career, Graham Thirkell was at Rola. These photos are from Graham’s personal collection, courtesy of Katherine Thirkell who passed them to the AES Melb Section for safe-keeping. They have been scanned (at 300dpi) and form part of the Graham Thirkell tribute on aesmelbourne.org.au.

Comments and contributions are welcome.
If you know anyone who worked with Graham or at Rola at that time, and who can contribute captions (and context) to these photos please put them in touch with us.

Premises:

Rola head office in Richmond

– recollections from Graham’s colleague at the time Ian Jackson:
“The head office in the Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, just south of Bridge Road (Mel 2H H8). It contained the office of Rola’s owner (Mr Webb), personnel, the office, the canteen, assembly floor for loudspeakers, transformers and TV yokes, a large home-designed machine to produce loudspeaker cones, the anechoic chamber for testing speakers, the small area where Graham, I and Alan Rowlands designed the products, and the assembly and test area for all the magnetic recording products, and an encapsulation facility.”

Source Ian Jackson email 25 July 2014

 

 

Rola manufacturing plant.

Again from Ian Jackson:
“… located in Browns Road, Harrisfield (Mel 80 G10). It contained the manufacturing plant for magnet winding wires, and I believe plant for manufacturing magnetic tape. Apparently the latter was not a successful exercise.

At the back there can be seen the sawtooth roof of a building. This used to contain the areas that manufactured ceramic permanent magnets (we used them in our speakers, and I understood that at that time they manufactured 90% of such magnets that were used in Australia. I believe that Plessey sold it off as it did not fit into their business model.) It was also where we manufactured all our sheet metal parts, including speaker frames.”

 

Equipment designed and manufactured here:

The 66 Mark II – a basic recorder. Though it had 3 heads, the one set of electronics was switched from replay to record – making it impossible to “confidence-monitor” during recording. At 45 pounds (20kgs) it is called transportable.

The 33B – I don’t know it but it looks to be an early replay-only unit with 10.5″ reels.

 

The 77 Mark III – it replaced the 77 Mark II as the radio station workhorse. Still called “transportable” – but it weighed 55 pounds (25kgs).

 

The Rola 777 (“Three Sevens”) – a console recorder.

777 deck

777 electronics

 

This photo show interior view and demonstrates maintenance access

 

777 again.

Melbourne City Council – Proceedings Recording System – Chambers Recording Console.
Note stereo Byer 77MKII recorders.

 

High Speed dubbing equipment.

77MKIII in test.

 

The Rola Auto-Q. From memory this was a 25Hz pulse encoder/decoder to permit auto-cueing multiple tracks on a tape sequentially.

 

The caption describes as  “Auto-Station Equipment” rudimentary radio station automation perhaps??
Here’s a Rola brochure (PDF) describing a case study of a radio station using this for programme automation.
Courtesy: Ian Jackson

These three photos are from a trade display somewhere. IREE Convention perhaps?? The Plessey name is prominent. It had become Plessey/Rola.

This is an apparently earlier trade display booth (pre-Plessey). Caption says “Menzies Sydney – AFCB Convention Oct 1964” I think it was the FACB Convention (Federation of Commercial Broadcasters). The 777 and the 77MKIII are prominent.

 

High Speed Duplicator manufactured for ABC Melbourne.

 

Rola P12 12″ Transcription Turntable. 4-speed. Whatever happened to 16 2/3rpm?

 

Tape head and internal components. For 77 Mark III?

MarkIII Capstan Motor

MarkIII Capstan Motor – disassembled view.

 

 

Time announce equipment.

The second page at  http://www.aesmelbourne.org.au/thirkell2/ concentrates on the magnetic drum equipment (auto-announcer, variable message repeater etc).

The Conventions 1984 – 1996

The First Regional Convention with the theme “Digital Audio in the Eighties” was held in September 1984

In the 1970’s and 1980’s the primary Convention for Radio, Television, and Recording technology, as well as the general Electronics Design and Manufacturing industries, was the biennial IREECON mounted by the Institution of Radio and Electronics Engineers (IREE). On the IREECON exhibition floor audio manufacturers and distributions displayed their products alongside radio transmitters, wave soldering machines, and industrial electronic devices. In the papers presentations, the audio-related papers shared the schedule with all the other electronic engineering disciplines.

The AES Melbourne Section made the brave decision to mount an AES Regional Convention to meet a perceived need for a local audio-specific event. With the permission of the AES New York headquarters, and working to their specific guidelines the first Melbourne AES Regional Convention became a reality in 1984. This was the first AES Convention held outside of the United States and Europe.

It was held in September 1984 at the Melbourne Hilton Hotel. Over 700 attendees were able to walk the exhibition floor where 34 local and international companies showed their audio industry-specific products, as well as attend 22 paper presentations across 7 streams, and participate in 3 workshops.

The full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1984ProgramBrochure.pdf

A photo of all the Convention Committee and Convention staff at the registration desk prior to the show opening

The 1984 Convention Committee and staff prepare for registrations to open

With pre-registrations on the Monday (24th September 1984), the Convention started in earnest on at 10am on Tuesday with a brief official opening, where Convention Committee Chair Brian Horman (Klarion Enterprises) and Section Chair Graham Haynes welcomed the delegates.

Section Chair Graham Haynes and Convention Chair Brian Horman welcome the delegates

The AES President (and founder of KEF Electronics) Raymond E Cooke attended the Convention and was welcomed at a banquet on the first night by Convention Committee Chair, Brian Horman. In his remarks at the banquet, Cooke said “During the last two decades, Australasian engineers have made important contributions to the knowledge and understanding of audio (that) has been out of all proportion to the population of their region”. He went on to specifically mention Cherry, Small and Thiele who were at the time as renowned in Europe and North America as the local contributors to the technology. All three mentioned would be later presenting papers at the Convention.

The guest speaker at the banquet was the well-known technology journalist and editor (recently retired) Neville Williams. Neville gave his overview of the audio industry, its characters and important developments.

During the banquet, a special award was made to Max Byer (Byer Recording Services, Byer Industries) for his contribution to the industry, especially in his encouragement of students and young people.

Photo of AES President Raymond Cooke presenting his award to Max Byer
Max Byer (L) receiving his award from
AES President Raymond Cooke (R)
Photo of Max Byer and Graham Thirkell at their table at the banquet
Max Byer (L) and Graham Thirkell (R) at the banquet
Photo of Convention Chair Brian Horman with Bill Armstrong Max Byer and Graham Thirkell standing and chatting
A chatty group at the banquet – (from left to right) Brian Horman, Bill Armstrong, Max Byer, and Graham Thirkell

The Exhibition floor covered most of the ground floor of the Melbourne Hilton, and provided delegates and other attendees with the opportunity to see the latest developments in audio technology and speak to the experts, and often the designers as well.

Photo of audio design engineer and inventor Graham Thirkell with his multi-track recorder
Graham Thirkell showing his Australian
-designed and built Opto 16-track recorder.

The newest mixer technology could
be evaluated live on the exhibit floor

Technical Sessions

The papers program was extensive, covering a wide range of topics.

Ed Cherry presents on the topic of “Amplifier Distortions-Audible and Inaudible”

Overseas authors presented more than half the papers and the workshops featured the world’s leading technology and techniques.

In keeping with the Convention theme, Digital Audio in the Eighties, two streams on Digital Recording, and one on Digital Education sat alongside streams on Psychoacoustics, Transducers, and Microphone Techniques.

Many of Australia’s leading audio researchers presented papers, as did some distinguished international visitors. Ed Cherry (Monash Univ) presented on Amplifier Distortions-Audible and Inaudible. Richard Small (Univ of Sydney) presented two papers, one on Total Difference Frequency Distortion, and another on Loudspeaker Large Signal Limitations. Neville Thiele (ABC) presented on the topic of The Three-Level Test Tone. Graham Thirkell (Optro/Sontron) presented on Audio Control and Editing Using Time Code.

International presenters included Raymond Cooke (KEF Electronics) who presented on The Design and Manufacture of Studio Monitoring Systems and Kent Duncan and Tom Hidley (Tom Hidley Design/Sierra Audio Acoustics) examined the more stringent demands of digital recording’s greater dynamic range in their paper Acoustic Design Considerations for Digital Recording Studios.

Raymond E Cooke (KEF Electronics) presents on The Design and Manufacture of Studio Monitoring Loudspeakers to a large audience

The three Workshops also had a decidedly digital leaning. “Computers and Music” was conducted by Peter Vogel of Fairlight – the Australian company that had turned the music creation business on its head with the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument). Another workshop “Experiences in Multitrack Digital” was conducted by Ross Cockle and Bill Tauschke of AAV Australia and covered experiences using the Sony PCM3324 (DASH) digital multitrack recorder. The other workshop “Audio Production Techniques for Major Motion Pictures” was held at the Russel Street Cinema and was conducted by international visitor Tomlinson Holman of Lucasfilm, a leader in modern film production. It was a masterclass in the current film sound techniques using examples from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Special mention should go to the Convention Committee. This event could not have happened without their hard work.

The full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1984ProgramBrochure.pdf

3rd Regional Convention – 1988

Following on from the success of the 1984 Regional Convention, another Regional Convention was held in August 1988, again at the Melbourne Hilton Hotel.

The theme of this event was “Countdown to the 3rd Millenium”

Photo of the 1988 Convention Registration Desk
Delegate registration

Twenty-three technical papers, workshops, and technical tours were arranged for the 800 delegates. Delegates and visitors were also able to check out the products and services of 44 exhibitors.

Convention Chair Wulf Gray and Section Chair, Graham Haynes welcomed the delegates to the 1988 Regional Convention

Once more leading Australian audio designers and practitioners presented at the papers sessions along with many prominent international speakers. Neville Thiele (ABC) presented on filter design, Donn Werrbach (Aphex Systems) presented on radio broadcast audio processing, Greg Cambrell and Robert Bywater (Monash Uni) covered subwoofer configurations, Peter Crossley gave insights into the new Jupiter Casino’s audio systems, and K Matsudaira (Sony Japan) spoke on new trends in professional digital audio.

The workshop sessions were particularly groundbreaking. Amek presented their APC1000 console retrofit of the George Massenburg moving fader automation system.

Photo of Tomlinson Holman and Ioan Allen
Tomlinson Holman (Lucasfilm) and Ioan Allen (Dolby) introducing the local cinema industry to THX and Dolby Digital at a Convention Workshop

Another workshop highlight was Tomlinson Holman (Lucasfilm) and Ioan Allen (Dolby Labs) demonstrating the “Evolution of Stereo Optical Tracks” with their workshop on Dolby Digital and THX Audio at a local city cinema. Excerpts from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark were used to demonstrate this major breakthrough in cinema sound capture and playback.

This demonstration offered the first opportunity for the local cinema industry to experience this technology and has been credited with being the catalyst for its early adoption in Australian cinemas.

Adams-Smith computer-based editor was demoed at the Robert Bosch BTS stand

The exhibits floor presented opportunities for delegates and visitors to experience the latest technology trends and talk to the experts in their field. Many major international professional audio companies exhibited, including Sony, Ampex, Teac/Tascam, Yamaha, Roland, National Panasonic, Bose, and Robert Bosch.

Alongside them were leading local manufacturers such as Sontron, AWA, Southern Broadcasting Systems, The PA People, and JNS Electronics. Alongside these were the major importers/distributors such as Amber Technology, Syntec, Techtel, EAV, and Maser.

As in the first Regional Convention, an Awards banquet was held on the opening night, where Chris Brammal of the Wesgo Radio Network presented a keynote on “The Radio Broadcasting Industry as It Stands within Australia”. The Special Achievement Award was presented to Harry Mauger, recently retired Chief Engineer of Astor Records, for his special dedication to the recording industry.

Harry Mauger accepting his Special Achievement Award

The AES President-Elect Stanley Lipshitz was in attendance and was able to observe another successful Regional Convention mounted by the Melbourne Section.

Again the Convention relied on a hard-working Convention Committee to ensure a high quality and smooth running event.

The 1988 full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1988ProgramBrochure.pdf

August 1991 – Moonee Valley (Racecourse) Convention Centre

August 1993 – World Congress Centre, Melbourne

April 1995 – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour

September 1996 – World Congress Centre, Melbourne


By the time the 1996 Convention wrapped up, it was obvious to the Committee that the business of trade shows and conventions was changing. Professional exhibition organisers and trade publications were joining forces to mount and promote purely commercial trade shows that were fragmenting the market, affecting both the exhibitor income streams and attendance numbers for volunteer-based incumbents like the AES Melbourne Section.
Most of the Section Committee officers and members had pulled extra duty serving on the Convention Committees, which added significantly to their workload.

Judging that their Regional Conventions could no longer be self-sustaining financially, the Committee made the tough decision to stop mounting Conventions.
The 1996 one would be the last AES Convention to be held to date in Australia.

Peter Smerdon
Secretary, AES Melbourne Section.
December 2024.

Michail Barabasz: A Quiet Achiever in Loudspeaker Design

The modern loudspeaker tends to be an aggregate of component parts from specialist companies each concentrating on one aspect – magnets, voice-coils, surrounds, and so on.

Michail Barabasz and his company Lorantz Audio is one clear exception.

Audio pioneer Dr. Neville Thiele once described Michail Brabasz as ‘the best single source of electromagnetic loudspeaker driver knowledge he knew’.

Black and white photo of cone assembly in loudspeaker factory

Michail understands the detail of the interplay between all the component parts contributing to the overall performance, and then extends this to the design and optimisation of the production manufacturing process. A rare gift indeed.

Michail and his wife Hazel run Lorantz Audio based in Dandenong Victoria where they manufacture the complete loudspeaker. Michail has embraced and applied modern analysis and design tools to produce world-class loudspeakers well sought after on the world market.

In the AES Oral History project, Michail shares his views and experiences, offering some insights into the essence of a good loudspeaker, and how to reliably make it.

Michail describes his initial training as part of a migrant family and his work at Plessey Rola designing such legendary drivers as the 12 inch Plessey Rola 12P, and industry workhorse dual cone models such as the 12UX and the C8MX, configurations remaining popular today.

A photo of Michail in his factory during the cone forming process
Michail in his factory during cone manufacture

One aspect critical to the performance of the loudspeaker is the shape and construction of the cone. Michail worked with a local research organisation to analyse and optimise the shape and materials of the humble loudspeaker cone, creating new felting processes and fibre mixtures with optimised acoustic properties. This introduced Eucalypt-softwood pulp blends and their manufacturing processes to the world.

A pivotal event was the closure of Plessey Rola’s Australian operations and factories. Michail (and his workmate Bill Woodman amongst others) believed in the loudspeaker industry.


Michail used his severance capital to purchase factory equipment and establish his own manufacturing company in Dandenong.

Billy Woodman would go on to establish the ATC loudspeaker company in England.

Loudspeaker design does not just stop at the cone.
Cabinetry, crossovers and amplifiers all contribute to the overall result.

A photo of Michail in his laboratory making measurements on a loudspeaker
Michail in his lab

Michail explains that the key to product manufacture is the Design-Test process. The results of testing then need to feed back into design and this requires a stable documented process. Next is the need for fresh, objective design and test processes.
Lorantz has encouraged co-operations with local research and development and with educational institutions, always with direction based on the overall product design process. Michail explains the risks and rewards associated with this.

Component sourcing has always been an issue. Michail sees the key to success is to be involved in the supplier processes and not just to assume purchase of their existing catalogue lines. This will influence the choice of supplier.

A photo of the Lorantz factory floor, displaying a large number of loudspeaker cones awaiting assembly into low frequency drivers.
Factory Floor – LF Loudspeaker Assembly

Of equal importance is then the need to liaise closely with the customer base. As Michail states “Orders come from fixing problems”. Industry liaison is also important and beneficial with appropriate management. Lorantz has worked with collaborators and competitors alike over the years, always to promote the loudspeaker industry.

The AES awarded Michail and Hazel the Service to Industry Achievement Award in 1995.

Michail has continued his association with the AES, and the Melbourne Section, serving for some time on the Committee and presenting on loudspeaker topics on two recent occasions.
Reports on those presentations are available here:

Distortion Control in High Powered Woofers – https://aesmelbourne.org.au/meeting-report-feb-2012/ 
and 
Loudspeaker Power Ratings – https://aesmelbourne.org.au/mtg-rep-dec2021/

Recently Michail reflected on his life and career with AES Committee member Dr Rodney Staples in a wide-ranging video interview as part of our Oral History project. In this 10 minute extract from the interview (full interview link at the end of this document), Michail recalls how his time at Plessey Rola shaped his career.

You can view this video directly on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv3-BSf_sis

Rodney’s full video (1hr duration) is a more extensive view of Michail’s journey that can be viewed on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/oEJtt8RD9hg

Graeme Huon – August 2024