A BRIEF HISTORY
Founded in 1927, by H.A. Hartley in
London, England, Hartley coined the phrase
"high fidelity". This was a noteworthy beginning for a company who would innovate
and change the face of the loudspeaker industry forever.
Hartley, with engineer P.K. Turner and ideas from Barker, Voigt, and Olson set out
to manufacture speakers, preamps, amps and to
establish an association with record
players and phono cartridges.
Most noted were the speakers . . . the model 215 full-range driver and an
ingenious
cabinet design called the Boffle.
The Boffle (a cross between box and baffle) was the
world's first attempt at acoustically
eliminating the driver's rear wave. The inside was
a series of panels with acoustic
materials stretched over frames that had descending
and ascending center holes.
Hartley became an exporter and in 1949 opened an office/installation facility in
New York
City owned and operated by Robert
Schmetterer. With the assistance of Piers Powell,
a noted writer for The London Times,
the New York office set up retail and distribution
channels throughout the USA. A
prominent New York cabinet designer was retained to
help innovate elegant furniture to
house the Hartley drivers.
As the U.S. distributor was flourishing, founder H.A. Hartley decided to sell
the rights to
the company but maintain a working
relationship with the U.S. facility.
In 1953, Hartley Products Corp. of New York (the new American company) was
established, owned and operated by
Robert Schmetterer. The decision was made to
manufacture speakers ONLY.
However, Hartley Products Corp. was appointed the
the first U.S. distributor of
Ferrograph (mono) reel-to-reel tape recorders.
In 1958 H.A. Hartley published his most famous book, "The Audio Design
Handbook".
This book covered aspects of
acoustics, electronic technology (tubes), speaker and
cabinet design to name some of the
many topics.
A few years later a most important association was established . . . the
retaining
Dr. Harold Luth, a scientist
extraordinaire with a background in a number of disciplines:
physics, acoustics and chemistry. His
expertise led to the development of the world's
first synthetic cone material, a
unique control system, "magnetic suspension" and one
of the first true coaxial speakers.
Patents were soon forthcoming in the early 1960's.
In 1967 Richard Schmetterer joined the firm as Vice President and soon began
designing
drivers, enclosures and crossovers.
Some 40 plus years later, Hartley Loudspeakers, Inc. is still hand-crafting
speaker
drivers with the same integrity of
years past and is supplying the U.S. and international
markets as well.
HISTORY OF MAIN OFFICES:
London, England
Bronx, NY
Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ
Tenafly, NJ
Ramsey, NJ
Wilmington, NC
HARTLEY NAMEPLATES - ENGLAND TO PRESENT
Historical Books Written
By
H.A. Hartley
CURRENT PRODUCTS PHOTOS WHITE PAPERS