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P Series Loudspeaker System
 After
the purchase of Phase Linear by Pioneer, the Phase Linear product line
expanded. This photo from a Phase Linear brochure from 1980 shows
the addition of the Pioneer-based 8000 turntable and the new P-series
loudspeakers.
Terry Pennington was a long-time employee of Phase Linear and helped to
engineer many of the company's components. When Pioneer bought Phase
Linear, he also worked on the speaker designs based on an exclusive line of
speakers Pioneer sold only in Japan. Terry was a Phase Linear veteran and
now works at Rane Corporation (see the Links page). Here are his comments
on the P- Series speakers shown in the brochure photo here:
The "P" series speakers were from the Pioneer "Exclusive" line of the late
70s. As far as I know that line was only available in Japan until we brought
them in with walnut veneer rather than the rosewood veneer that the "Exclusive"
line featured. In addition we added a fuse to the
ribbons.
"The top-line was the P580 with ribbon tweeters, special midrange and 15"
woofer. The next down, the P560 had the same ribbons, conventional mid and 12"
woofer. The P530, which I have a pair of in my office at Rane was conventional
all the way through.
"I still use the prototype pair we brought in from Japan in their original
rosewood finish. They have a ribbon tweeter and a very clever midrange. The
ribbon is still available from TAD, the pro speaker arm of Pioneer for $750.00
each."
Here are some photos of the original top of the line Pioneer Exclusive
speaker, which was the basis for the P580 , owned by Terrry Pennington. (All
color photos courtesy Terry Pennington.)
 
Closeup of mid-range
Closeup of ribbon tweeter
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