Eminence Tonker Vintage Guitar SpeakerThe Eminence Tonker is a hard-hitting 12-inch guitar speaker with British flavor and harmonic balance.
The Tonker has a very fat, clean and warm tone through the midrange, and smooth top end.
The Eminence “Tonker” delivers explosive power and tone with exceptionally tight and fat bass response. Warm but well-defined mids and highs pour out of this very muscular guitar speaker that features a 2” voice coil and 150 watt power handling. The “Tonker” is extremely responsive and generates a blistering 102dB out of only one watt of power (measured at 1 meter). As the powerhouse of the Eminence Redcoat Series, the “Tonker” features a genuine British cone and tone and would be the perfect speaker to upgrade your Twin Reverb or Mesa combo. Four of these babies in a cabinet would be punishing, in a really, really, good way. Note: The Eminence “Swamp Thang” in the Patriot Series is the American cousin of the Tonker with the same specifications but features a USA built cone for slightly less mids and a smooth, gradual breakup across all frequencies.
The Value of Eminence
Eminence wants to make sure their customers know exactly what they are getting when they buy a speaker. Therefore, Eminence provides two different ratings to describe the power handling of all their speakers.
Watts - the guaranteed long term power rating throughout the useable frequency range of the speaker.
Translation: the speaker will operate continuously at any frequency within the speakers’ specified frequency range when driven at this power. The Watts rating is similar to RMS, but is really more indicative of long term thermal capability.
Music Program - the speaker will safely and reliably handle the varying frequencies of musical content at this power rating.
The Music Program rating is more indicative of what you can expect in the real world with the speaker operating within the appropriate enclosure reproducing music or vocal audio program.
Eminence is committed to quality and guarantees all of its speakers for 7 years. They build all of their speakers to greatly exceed customer performance expectations. Dollar for dollar against competitors, an Eminence speaker is well worth the money that you invest!
About Eminence
In 1966, Bob Gault founded what was to become the world's largest loudspeaker manufacturing company after working as an engineer for Magnavox and CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply). Ironically, Gault started Eminence hoping to maintain three 18" speakers per day, based on a commitment from Ampeg's Everett Hull. Under the leadership of Gault and most recently his son, Rob, the company's capacity has grown to over 10,000 speakers per day, employing nearly 200 people.
Gault was the president of Eminence from the company's inception until 1992. He officially retired in 1993, but continued to make valuable contributions to the company. Gault passed away on Octoboer 4, 2002. he was a husband, father, and grandfather. Gault was also an avid golfer. He is greatly missed by his family, the music industry, and the Eminence community.
Eminence, Kentucky (population 3000) is centrally located in the heart of Kentucky, between Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Bob Gault chose this location as it was ideally situated for shipping products all over the USA. The Eminence and Henry County community could also provide the labor needed to manufacture products on a large scale. After forty years, Eminence, Kentucky continues to provide ideal conditions for the manufacturing and distribution of the World's #1 Loudspeakers.
The Eminence Factory
The first Eminence facility, located in downtown Eminence, employed around thirty people. The building was less than 6,000 sq. ft. and production was often less in one week than it is in one hour at our present facility. In 1972 Eminence Speaker moved to a new location in Shawnee Industrial Park on Mulberry Pike where we remain today. The facility has seen several additions. The first building in this location was just less than 30,000 sq. ft., but now has grown to include nearly 100,000 sq. ft. all under one roof.
How a Speaker Works
The key working components of a loudspeaker are shown in the diagram below. When an electrical current passes through a wire coil (the voice coil) in a magnetic field, it produces a force which varies with the current applied. The cone, connected to the voice coil, moves in and out, creating waves of high and low air pressure.
The coil and magnet assembly are the 'motor structure' of the loudspeaker. The movement is controlled by the loudspeaker's suspension which comprises the cone surround and the 'spider'. The surround and spider allow the coil to move freely along the axis of the magnet's core (or 'pole') without touching the sides of the magnetic gap.
Eminence technology and proprietary materials mean that age-old 'compromises' of durability against sensitivity, or power handling against precision of response, are more easily solved than you might imagine.
Heatsinks: In the quest for higher power density (more power and hence more sound from less space), Eminence has progressively introduced heatsink components to selected transducers e.g. cast frame neodymium products and Kilomax. The heatsinks pass through the pole of the transducer or are incorporated into the chassis
of the loudspeaker to transfer heat away from the coil. The air currents caused by the cone movement cool the heatsink.