Sharma speaker

History

The name "Sharma" came from Hitchcock's two children, Sharon and Mark.

Hitchcock designed the speaker to directly compete with the Leslie, and consequently it contains similar features, such as a rotating horn for treble frequencies, a drum for bass frequencies, and the same nine-pin amphenol connector interface as contemporary Leslies then in production. However, unlike a typical Leslie, it includes a treble and bass control, and a line level input.

Also, in the Leslie units the horn and bass rotor moved in opposite directions, with a fast and slow motor on each. In the Sharma units, they both rotate in the same direction, with just a fast and slow motor shared. A clutch allows the top and bottom rotors to accelerate at different rates.

The amplifier boards were made for Sharma by HH Electronics. Some of the early Sharma speakers had an eight-pin connector. Some models of speaker also contained rotary and stationary speakers, with separate power amplifiers, which were used on non-Hammond organs such as Lowrey or Wurlitzer.

Sharma speakers fell out of favour due to the introduction of low-cost electronics that could emulate the rotating speaker sound.

References

References

1. "Hammond FAQ : Question 20".
2. "Lesley not not the woman? the speaker!".
3. "alt.music.hammond-organ : Sharma".
4. "Organ Forum : Can I change the crossover frequency in my Sharma speaker?".