Western Electric made some of the best
headphones in the teens and twenties. They were rugged, sensitive,
and not too hard on the ears, comfort
wise. The 509-W's were among the favorite
of the early radiotelegraphers and were used extensively in
military applications. The internal construction of the 194W, 509,
509W, CW-66, CW-834, CW-49003, and P11 all look very similar and
the performance is quite similar. All are excellent for DX
reception on crystal radio and in my opinion are the gold standard
of the old magnetic style headphones. They are surpassed only by
the Navy soundpowered headphones with the balanced reed armature
mechanism and impedance matching transformer.
I believe the P11 headphones and the
194-W were used in WW I followed by the 509-W, which was
patented in 1918, but continued in production several years after
that. They cost about $12 in 1921 which was a week's wages of the
average worker, and were at least triple the price of the cheap
consumer headphones. Brandes were about $8 at that time and
Baldwins were $14-16. Cheapie brands such as Tower and Scientific
were about $3. No wonder most of the old Western Electrics I find
nowadays are in working condition and rarely do you find a pair of
Scientific Navy Types or Little Spitfires that work.
The 509-W and similar types are among my
favorites for crystal set use and rival Baldwins for sensitivity
on weak stations.
The impedance is given in AC ohms at 22,700
ohms as well as DC resistance at 2,200 ohms for the CW-834 and the
CW-66 headsets, same specs as the 509-W and 194-W.
A friend just supplied me with some new information. The Western
Electric items with a D specification, such as the D-1607
headphones below, were developmental products made in very small
numbers, and in many cases were made by or under the direction of
Bell Labs for the motion picture sound production purposes. Hence,
they are fairly rare. Items with the W designation, eg 509-W, were
made for purposes outside of the Bell System, ie not telephone
system related.
W.E.
516W
W.E.
716-B
W.E.
Signal
Corps P11
W.E.
CW-834
W.E.
Type
CW 66 2200 ohms DC
W.E. CW
49003
W.E.552-W
low
impedance, very heavy duty, with metal and bakelite earcaps, these
weigh about twice that of the 509-W, very interesting set.
WE 509-W, this set was marked with the model information on the
rim of the housing rather than on the back of the housing. This is
the only one I have seen marked in this way, and the housing looks
like cast aluminum rather than nickel plated brass.
Western Electric D 1607
This is the only pair of these headphones I have ever seen. Must
have been around 1918, since that is the year the patent was
granted. These are identical to the 509-W headphones and must have
only had a small number made as I have never seen another pair or
a reference to them.
Western Electric 400, very early 800 ohm radio model
Probably circa 1916
Western Electric 147-W, very early 140 ohm radio headset
Probably circa 1914 has the early style ball and socket joint
194-W: I believe this model was the immediate predecessor of the
509-W, and probably dates to 1918 or 1919,
516-W This was a 1920's WE headset with an aluminum housing
not the milspec type like some of the others.
509 This was later than the 509-W but very similar
construction.
716-B: This is a later 1950's headset for either telephone of
medium to low impedance communications gear
P-II: These were the WW-I military signal corps headphones 2200
ohms like the 509-W. They were used with the DeForest BC-14A Army
Signal Corps crystal radio.
CW-834, CW-66: both of these look and have same electrical specs
as the 509-W
CW-49003: This is a military version similar to the 509-W.
552-W: This pair was marked as laboratory calibrated and are super
heavy duty, and I think were calibrated for an audiometer or
hearing test machine.
509-W: These were made in several different styles circa
1920 to 1925, one with the print in straight lines across the
back, and a less common one with the type in arcs across the
backs. I have one example of the aluminum housing 509-W, which is
very rare, maybe even a prototype. The box these were sold in was
marked 1002-C, though it contained 509-W headphones. Some scanned
literature is shown below.
400: These are early WE headphones of 800 ohm resistance, 400 ohms
per side.
147-W: This model number was stamped on the edge of the earcap,
and the impedance, 70 ohms was marked by a 70 on the upper back of
the housing. These are very early circa 1912 to 1916.
Email to
scottswim@aol.com
Back
to Scott's Crystal Radios home page
Back to Headphone Gallery Home page
Here are some scanned images of Western Electric literature
showing the various headphones and the package insert for the
1002-C headphones indicating that the units are the 509-W earphone
units.