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The first Leslies achieved swirliness by using a fixed driver firing into a rotating horn. Most of these leslies have the distinctive dual-horn shaped horn (of which one was a fake, there only for balance) on the treble driver, and a wooden (later styrofoam) drum shaped horn (called the "rotor") on the bass driver.
Rotosonic Leslies, on the other hand, spin the drivers directly. Two or three car-audio type 6"x9" speakers are mounted in a spinning drum. To surmount the problem of how to make good, low-impedance, electrical connections to the spinning speakers, DonLeslie invented the Mercotac slip-ring (which I'm guessing made him quite a bit richer than Leslie speakers ever did.)
It is pretty much universally accepted that rotosonic Leslies suck. They degree to which they suck is under debate, however.
See also:
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