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The Murphy Corner-Line-Array
An Open Loudspeaker Design Project

by John L. Murphy
Physicist/Audio Engineer

1. MCLA Project Home
2. Design Concepts

3. MCLA Project Details
4. Single Driver Test Results

5. Array Test Results
6. Line References/Links
7. Project Log
8. MCLA Discussion Thread

  Appendix 1. The MLA 8/16 Line Array (circa 1980)



Figure A1-1: The Original Murphy-Line-Array 8/16 I designed in 1980 (MLA 8/16)
I designed the MLA 8/16 Line Array System around 1980 when I was working as the Chief Engineer for Ford Audio in Oklahoma City, OK. I was doing a lot of speaker design (using Don Keele's calculator method) and developed an interest in linear arrays of loudspeakers. The prototype seen here was built in the Ford Audio wood shop where a small number of similar systems (half this height and a more compact enclosure) were also built. Those systems were used in two long lines above the dance floor at a large new dance club where the company was installing the audio systems. The MLA 8/16 system uses eight 8" woofers and sixteen 1" dome tweeters made by Peerless.

Nearly everyone who auditions these speakers comes away positively impressed by the listening experience. They play at any sound level with absolutely no hint of stress.

The configuration has changed several times over the last 30 years. In the early years they were bi-amped with 3rd order Butterworth crossovers at 1.5 kHz. That eventually changed to 6th order Linkwitz-Riley
crossovers. During one period they were used with passive crossovers, digital delay units and multiple stereo amplifiers for array focusing experiments.

These speakers were moved from Oklahoma City to San Diego, CA in 1981 and from San Diego to Knoxville, TN in 1998 where they remain in use today at my home on Norris Lake, Tennessee.


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