English: The first electrodynamic cone loudspeaker invented in 1925 at General Electric laboratories in Schenectady, New York, with inventors Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice. Modern loudspeakers are based on this design, which combined the moving coil driver mechanism with a paper cone diaphragm. They are holding the driver unit; the completed speaker with its 6 inch cone, is partially visible behind them.

Kellogg and Rice invented the concept in 1921, but it took until 1925 to improve the acoustics enough to compete with existing horn loudspeakers. They filed for patents and announced the device in 1925. The speaker's advantage was that it had flatter frequency response than horn speakers, and could reproduce adequate bass without the enormous length of sound path required in horns. The first commercial model, the RCA Radiola Loudspeaker #104, went on sale in 1926 for $250, about $2000 in today's dollars. Information from History and types of loudspeakers, Edison Tech Center

Caption: "THE INVENTORS AND THEIR NEW UNIT - the working mechanism of the vibrating cone loudspeaker is here shown in the hands of its co-inventors. In the background is shown another instrument fully set up in a cabinet"