Gentle reader,
To those that participate in the American tradition of Thanksgiving, I hope you had a nice one. We, both being "essential" employees, worked yesterday, so we celebrated Wednesday evening instead. And we had spiral sliced ham, not turkey. Although a coworker brought in the fixings to make turkey sandwiches for lunch....which was delicious.
As I do every year about now, I stopped my usual prowling of thrift stores for cool new items to enjoy and also ceased ebay actions. (Yes, I mean actions, not auctions. Covers buying AND selling.) Too many packages being moved around the world what with Christmas coming up.
One of the last things I did buy on ebay is a pair of Radio Shack Minimus 7W speakers. I've always loved the look of walnut wood and these fit the bill, being nicely veneered with black walnut. Back in the day (1970's) my dad had KLH 17s and my first pair of speakers in 1975, were Dynaco A25s. Both sets were walnut with off-white grille cloths.
Anyway, I got these for less than $30 and they arrived safely. Frankly, I'm disappointed with their sound. I mean, look below, they look like they have nice components. Plus, unlike their metal encased mates, these woofers have rubber surrounds. Thus, they will never deteriorate. Also, note the bespoke woofer frame these and so many of their kin have rather than standard woofer's frames. They were made from 1984 to 1986 and retailed for $100 a pair. That's about $229 today.
There has been much discussion on the Internet about all versions of these speakers, especially the all-metal one that were sold under various names. There have been kits created to replace the minimal crossover these have with better components. But it seems the ebay seller of these kits is not providing them anymore.
I can replace the dome tweeters with folded ribbon ones like I did in the Minimus 11s from Parts Express: the #1 source for audio, video & speaker building components they are on sale right now for $25 each, but if the crossovers are the problem, that will probably be the way I choose to go. No rush, other things to do in the mean time and it will make a nice winter project.
So here they are in the room, two views from my standing behind my wingback chair and more eye-level if sitting:
You can see how tiny they are!
Next are some other angles and compared to the LX5II speakers:
See how they used solid walnut pieces on the corners rather than trying to wrap the round edges with veneer?
Also, those cheap spring terminals will have to go and I'll remove the keyhole brackets for hanging them on a screw on the wall. The worst place to put speakers!
The Optimus Pro LX5II, also Radio Shack speakers, use 5" woofers, the Minimus 7s use 4" ones. No one seems to make replacement foam for the metal model's woofers. Too bad as there is much demand for these speakers and they sold very well when new.
Above, with the cloth covered grille attached, next to some books. They stand only 8" high. Still, I like them and plan to improve their sound.
Lastly, I moved the LX5II speakers aside and brought out the Cerwin-Vega beasts. I was listening to an extraordinary recording of Benjamin Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra and the LSO in performance of his: THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA, SIMPLE SYMPHONY and VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF FRANK BRIDGE. Yesterday I listened to it on the boombox I made at work*, again in the car on the way home and then on the LX5II speakers. So I had a very good idea how it sounds. Then I hooked up the CVs and had a listen. No matter HOW good small speakers can sound and all mine sound excellent, you can't beat large speakers for bass! Anyway, this is a LONDON CD, 417 509-2. It came out early in the life of CDs, 1986. The original LPs were made in 1964, 1968 and 1969. I had never read up on Britten and did so while listening via the CVs. Quite an exceptional musical genius he was! A 20th Century Mozart. I checked through my LPs briefly and only found one LP so far of his music. I want MORE! This CD sounds incredible!
OK, so the above paragraph wasn't last. The Yamaha preamp I bought to replace the Adcom still continues to work great and I am very happy with it. My coworker/audio buddy took a look at the Adcom and found the source of the 60 Hertz hum. One of the RCA terminals outside (return or ground) terminal had broken and it would be difficult to repair. He found that running a wire from the ground terminal of the preamp (where you hook the ground wire from your turntable) to the ground on the power amp, the hum is gone. He says it's a "ground loop". Prior to him looking at it for me, I found that hooking a jumper from the Adcom's ground terminal to any of the six RCA output external terminals also stops the hum. So, I'm going to make a custom (bespoke) jumper to accompany the Adcom when I start back up with ebay after the new year. The next steward should be OK with that and it will no longer be sitting next to this desk. Looking at me sadly.... Just kidding! It has served me well, but as I said, I needed a preamp with a subsonic filter. The Yamaha has this as well as the option of using a moving coil turntable cartridge.
Thanks for looking and have a safe and enjoyable day.
Scott
