"Ryan" wrote in message
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The thing that usually stands out the most is the notion of these
gigantic, 30 inch speakers. What in the world are these things?
Brand name? Cost? Is it even true? If so, can somebody point me to
a place on the web with a few pics of these monsters?

The drivers in question would probably be ElectroVoice 30W speaker drivers.
There was also a Hartley 24" sub. These are speakers of the 1960's. I seem
to recall that some Japanese Manufacturer retreaded the idea in the late 80s
or early 90s.

They're all obsolete, hopefully replaced with good modern drivers that are
18" or smaller.

It turns out that the bass-generating power of a subwoofer depends primarily
on cone area and cone stroke, also called Xmax. Both the EV 30W and Harley
24 both obviously had cone area coming out of their ying-yangs, but where
you can't easily see it, they had miniscule Xmax. There are modern 6"
speakers that have far more cone travel!

In all seriousness, there are relatively inexpensive 12 inch speakers that
can move many, many times as much air as these old turkeys. And they'll do
it nicely in a far smaller box, and louder and cleaner.