https://www.absolutesound.com.sg/blog-2/2020/9/11/brand-focus-elipson
The Origins Of Elipson: A Brief History
For over eighty years, Elipson has pioneered some of the most exciting acoustic concepts and technology in the history of French Hi-Fi. Originally founded in 1938 as Multimoteur (which translates to Multi-Engine in english), the french company specialised in creating motors for electronic toys as well as train tracks and locomotives for children. From 1940 however, the company decided to branch out toward manufacturing acoustic speakers as their previous market became increasingly difficult. It wasn’t until 1948 that Multimoteur started to become more involved in the manufacturing of speakers. This coincided with the arrival of new leadership in the form of Joseph Leon, a new managing director who oversaw the manufacturing of the “Shell speakers” (Conques in French) which referred to their elliptical shape. Joseph Leon was passionate about sound and had previous experience in developing custom sound systems for cinemas before helming Multimoteur and becoming the driving force behind the brand. It was in 1951 that the Multimoteur company became Elipson. The name being the contraction of the French words ellipse and son (sound).
Iconic Speakers Of The Past
With Joseph Leon at the helm of Elipson, he pushed his research in the fields of acoustic energy and sound reflectors further creating new speaker designs for the brand.
BS50
In 1953, the same year Sir Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay summited Mount Everest, the Elipson BS50 was introduced to the public at the Chateau de Chambord for the first sound and light show. The speaker was not only precise in its audio performance, it also had a clearly recognisable silhouette. The BS50 featured a sphere-like body that contained the driver which was pointed upward toward a sound reflector and the entire body was elevated by a metal tripod. The sphere was chosen as the form of enclosure because it came closest to an infinite baffle (known to many as the perfect loudspeaker cabinet). These spheres and much of Elipson’s other earlier designs were made from “staff” a pliable material made from a mix of plaster and fibers. In fact, the BS in BS50 stands for “Ball Staff” and 50 refers to the 50cm diameter of the speaker.
La Religieuse
The 1960’s are recognised as a turning point for Elipson as they began a partnership with the Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) the French national broadcasting agency. It was at the ORTF’s request for a better monitoring speaker that Elipson started work on a new design capable of emulating the natural vibration of human voices. Up until then speakers only featured a single “wideband driver” which delivered treble, mid and bass frequencies. In order to accomplish their goal, Elipson developed a multi-driver design with each driver handling a specific frequency range. The result of this research and development was The Religieuse, a speaker that contained all three drivers. In order to enhance the phase response and optimise the sound coherence, the three drivers were non-aligned. The Religieuse also featured a new advancement built into its stand: triode thermionic valve amplification.
Elipson 402 & 4240, 502 & 5060
Following the success of The Religieuse in the 60’s, Elipson developed its first two-way speakers, the Elipson 402 (40 referring to the diameter in cm and 2 referring to the fact that it was a two-way speaker). Adding a subwoofer to the speaker earned it the name Elipson 4240 (4 for 40cm diameter, 2 for being a two-way speaker and 40 to describe the 40cm wide subwoofer). The 502 conversely was 50cm in diameter and a two-way speaker while the rare 5060 was a 502 model placed on top of a subwoofer measuring 60cm in diameter and came in at a total of 120cm in height. The 5060 was the most impressive in size in addition to being able to deliver a wide soundstage and precise playback. It was during this time that Elipson patented at least thirty different technologies in the field of high quality sound reproduction including acoustic phasing which consisted of placing the tweeter out of the axis formed by other drivers: a major step forward in creating a consistent sound. Elipson’s spherical speakers, which were originally designed for concert venues and recording studios, made an impression on the general public and were a considerable success. This was especially true for the 402 and 4240 models whose size was perfect for most living rooms at the time.
