LIFE

Paul G. A. H. Voight

Paul Voight, one of the early workers in radio and hi-fi
died on 9th. February, 1981 , suddenly, of a heart-attack.
(His name was simplified to Voigt at some stage). Mr Voigt
was a reader of this magazine and corresponded with us
irregularly. Perhaps now he is best remembered for his
loudspeakers, of advance design for 50 years ago. Only a
few years ago I heard a couple of them connected to a
modern stereo system and was very surprised to hear how
very well they sounded, still; better than many smaller
modern speakers. He also invented a system of electrical
recording for Edison Bell records which avoided paying a
royalty to Western Electric.

Mrs. Ida Voigt has sent a duplicated sheet with a few
notes on her late husband, which we will copy here.

He was born in London (England) on 9th. December, 1901.

After elementary education he went on to Dulwich College
and then to London University College where he gained his
B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering.

One day after his 20th birthday, when still a student, his
first technical article was published in "Wireless World".

In those days, the then editors of "W.W." believed that
his idea of using a vacuum tube for simultaneously ampli-
fy r.f . and a.f. was original. This idea would halve
the then high cost of production. (Such circuits are
now called reflex, but unknown to Paul Voigt, to whom it
was a genuinely original idea, had been invented earlier.)

1922 (until 1933), joined J. E. Hough Ltd., Edison Bell
Works, London, where records and gramophones were made.

He was to help the firm's radio side. He insisted on a
specific agreement that he would remain owner of patents
based on his own ideas. (Bright young man=*Editor)

He realised that if the recording wax could be engraved
with the accuracy with which the British Broadcasting
Corporation modulated its carrier wave, better records
would result. He invented and/or designed micro-
phones, amplifiers, transformers, cutters, pickups and
monitoring speakers. (A list of his British Patents is
given in the October, 1970, issue of the British Kinema-
tography Sound & T.V. Journal, page 327#) He developed
his monitoring speaker (tractrix horn) for cinema work.

I933 - 1950. Edison Bell having given up business due
to the "recession"; Paul Voigt started his own business,
VOIGT PATENTS LTD., to continue the cinema speaker. He
also developed a high quality domestic comer speaker
and a moving coil pick - up. The outbreak of World War •
II was a terrible set-back from which his Company never
really recovered.

January, 1950, had ideas re the natures of gravity,
electricity, etc.

April, 1950, came to Canada with the object of expanding
the market for his loudspeakers on the North American
continent, leaving the Company operating in England on a
skeleton basis with diaphragm manufacture contracted out.

His venture was unsuccessful.

1950 - 1960. In Canada, various activities including
teaching electronics. During holidays and "between" jobs
continued his scientific ideas.

i960 - I969. In Canadian Federal Government Radio Regu-
lations (Anti-interference section). A very satisfactory
part of the time was in the Laboratory, developing test
techniques, apparatus for direction-finding, etc . This
gave him a better understanding of the relationship
between electricity, magnetism and the electro-magnetic
wave, etc.

1970 + + + + Retired. More time available to concentrate
on trying to solve the riddles of the fundamentals.