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First speaker in telephone - Johann Phillip Reis
In 1861, Johann Phillip Reis became one of the first to create a speaker in order to be used for a telephone. While impressive, his design was still quite primitive, and the sound that emitted was very muffled and difficult to understand. -
First patented telephone - Alexander Graham Bell
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. The sound from the telephone was still a bit scratchy, but speech was now able to be understood much more clearly compared to the Reis telephone. -
The Auxetophone - Horace Short
In 1898, Horace Short patented the auxetophone. It was notable at the time due to the fact that instead of using electricity to transmit sound, it used compressed air. They were mostly used to play music, and because of the horn as seen in the picture, could amplify quite well. However, the sound quality was still poor, and many didn't care for how loud it was. -
First working moving coil speaker - Peter Jensen & Edwin Pridham
In 1915, Peter Jenson and Ediwin Pridham created a moving coil speaker called the "Magnavox". While they had existed some years prior, this was the first one that actually worked properly. They were mostly used as PA systems and were the only ones in the American market until the 1920s.