The Wright lines

摘要

There was a point back in the mid-1970s when the big IMF transmission lines were just about the most dreamed-of loudspeakers in this country. American reader Allen Edelstein's 'Sound Off' letter [HFN May '20] only reminded me once more of the glory that was IMF. Of course, the initials and the brand name were American, as they belonged to the late Irving M ('Bud') Fried. Perhaps few UK enthusiasts were aware of this. Anyway, times changed, and the 1980s saw big, multi-way speakers going out of fashion - IMF all but disappeared. GREAT PIZAZZ Then in 1985 came TDL The name was new, except to industry insiders, but the speakers were IMF reincarnated. Even the literature looked the same, with cutaway drawings to show the wonders inside. This was less surprising once you knew that the man behind TDL was John Wright, who'd designed the classic IMFs. Before that, Wright had created a unipivot arm with mercury-bath contacts, and a record-cleaning machine, both subsequently marketed by Keith Monks.