November 5, 2018
#286
Gentle reader,
Number 286, coincidentally the processor in the PC she had when I married Nancy. But I digress.
This photo shows the last time the listening room was really crowded. Soon after this, I disassembled the six-channel kit and stuck with stereo. But, if you are a long time reader, you may remember that.
This is 2010, early in the change from den to listening room. Speakers are all previously seen: BOSE 301 sitting atop the Optimus PRO 4000 (ironic since she bought the BOSE hoping I'd stop using the big 4000s) and on the floor the Lyric/Eosone pair. Hideous chair, but it was free. Soon it went away.
If you've just come across this article, I recommend that you read the previous three chapters first, starting here:
Then:
And here:
This IS the final chapter.
A sharp eyed reader spied these in the group photo of an earlier chapter. Pioneer CS-R500.
Nicely done wooden cabinets on these. If memory serves they had foam grilles, not fabric. Most foam grilles crumbled away.
The metal dust caps on the midrange drivers suffered from little fingers. I'd read that if you bend a straight pin and insert it, then carefully use the bent portion one can pop out the dents. These being metal were more difficult to do.
Backs screwed on for easy access to the "guts". Odd type of terminals. They had no inkling then of the large gauge wires that the future would bring.
I found this solo Pioneer with the classic latticework grille and gave it a home as a mono speaker for a while. Can't read the model number.
I had written something earlier about those types of grilles. So many I have seen where some idiot has tried to pry them off in a thrift store, breaking them in the process.
Last of the Pioneers. I remember reading about one of their speaker designers of late, legendary mind, they say. Very attractive faces on these S-HF21-LRs.
Some wee ones that he designed that ended in "LR" were shocking the reviewers due to their sound and low price.
I don't think these are they. Andrew Jones, that's his name! Sometimes, the old brain still works.
I must correct my earlier statement about never having bought new speakers. These stacks shows a Polk center channel speaker that I'd found at a thrift store. Since I was using three older Polk models in the 6-channel kit, I decided to find ones that matched this center. The silver ones on top, are the ones. They are designed with the tweeter on the bottom. They are all in the photo at the top of the story. Except the tiny silver one. It is one of the Infinity six-pack I started with when making a "home theater" in the living room. All six are long gone. In fact all of these are gone.
I found it odd that there were no individual photos of these earlier Polk speakers, but I must have donated them. Above is the crowded front with them in place.
Polk, like BOSE, seems to be a name that polarizes opinions. As I no longer have any, perhaps I'm in the "can-live-without- them" group. Here are some that preceded the three above.
Bottom drivers are 8 inch passive radiators.
5A is the model number, not the fuse size, I later figured out.
These are "Monitor Series" but I can't read their model number.
Flat dust caps make them resemble the passive radiators of the 5As.
Polk, like BOSE, seems to be a name that polarizes opinions. As I no longer have any, perhaps I'm in the "can-live-without- them" group. Here are some that preceded the three above.
I obviously did not care enough about these to upgrade the terminals. They probably had the crossovers attached to the inside which greatly complicates the procedure.
Radio Shack often sought partners in their desire to remain in business. So, RCA products, if in name only, became all the audio equipment that they sold. The following two pairs of speakers once sold as Minimus then Optimus are RCA branded now.
The same models, but two different pairs. I did nothing with the ones above.
This pair, I added these trick and heavy duty brackets to. Made for great versatility by their design. Made from some kind of tough polymer.
Now, I have the shiniest and most interesting speaker I have found. A Realistic Electrostatic unit. Called Electrostat-2.
I can't believe that I didn't keep more photos of it. It had an AC cord and plug on the back. I looked on line, but it was no help as to finding photos with the grille off.
I've shown these, below, many times when multiple-driver or vintage Sansui speakers come up on FaceBook.
They are very shallow front-to-back. Sounded pretty awful. But somebody wanted to buy them from me.
These SONY speakers are similar to BOSE in that they are designed to reflect. No model numbers on them as I recall.
There was a mystery house two doors down from us. No one seemed to live there, but the lawn was mowed regularly.
One day, all this 1985-era stereo and video equipment was sitting by the curb. My wife brought home a Pioneer Laserdisc player from the stacks. I grabbed these speakers and a few other interesting items. They mounted on the wall and were aimed towards the sweet spot with the reflex ports and second tweeters pointing at the side walls.
Speaking of hanging SONY speakers on the wall, these compact and 1960's (?) era SS-70 models.
Ten watts maximum!
Much newer SONY models which are smaller still.
SS-MB100H are the model numbers. Nice design and well made.
NOW what you have been waiting to see, my SPENDOR LS3/5A BBC monitor speakers.
Before this particular thrift store really got it's act together, they placed some items on the floor.
I spied two small black speakers. Picked one up, finding it surprisingly heavy. I saw the simple banana-plugs-only terminals and read the labels.
I'd never heard of the brand or the model number. No price on them, so I found the guy who priced things.
"How much for these? I've never heard of them." He looked at them and said, "Ten bucks?" "Sound's good."
I brought them home and looked them up. To say my eyebrows raised would be accurate. "People paid that much for these things?"
They sounded good, but unexciting to me. I knew what the BBC designed them for; Use in their recording van as monitors. In other words for near-field listening.
After a couple weeks, I put them on eBay. They sold for 110 times what I paid for them. They went to Hong Kong.
Tangent. Something I often go off on. I found these as you see them, in their original box.
Seemed to be well made. Silver coating on the tweeter domes were flaking.
Deep cabinets with unusual light wood vinyl veneers and good terminals.
A famous name on these next small speakers: Tannoy. Model PBM 6.5. And like the Paradigms, made in Canada.
Nice, clean design. Well constructed.
Proper binding/banana terminals. Thick cabinet walls.
"And now, for something completely different."
Some very pretty and stylish speakers from TEAC.
Model number is LS-MC95. Beautiful veneer and quality drivers. Sadly cheapened by the spring terminals.
The next speaker was most interesting. An old speaker designed to be placed in a corner. It had a single 12" Wharfedale driver in it and a port-of-sorts in the bottom.
Something like Formica covering it. The baffle was plywood with a single 15-Ohm driver. It had a gauzy grille cloth and no name that I could find. The driver's surround had rotted away. It had a simple two-screw terminal on the back. No polarity or any other markings.
I bought a generic foam surround and had to cut it to make it fit. I also bought a 16-Ohm horn tweeter for it.
Diecast aluminum structure with 14,000 LINES, whatever that means.
I cut an opening for the horn tweeter. I packed the cabinet with polyfill and used these dust cloths to keep the fill away from the woofer.
It's been a while since I've done this job, so I'm trying to remember all the details. I used this crossover for it.
I'd found one of those carpet covered woofer boxes they make for car stereos. It had a nice looking Alpine woofer in it. That gave me an idea.
I test fit the Alpine subwoofer and tried it with the tweeter out of the circuit. It sounded OK. So, I made a much nicer baffle board for it.
I wasn't satisfied with the sound of the vintage drivers, so I sold them on eBay. I added Lexan sheeting to the bottom of the cabinet's legs to help the rear waves move forward rather than get absorbed in the carpet.
It was all an experiment. Someone bought what you see above. What they did with it, I do not know. I seem to remember the buyer letting me know he tweaked it and got it to sound good.
Were' almost done! Wharfedale is where we are. I bought these Diamond 7.1 black speakers quite a while ago as you can see by the early den photo below. Note how the right BOSE 301 speaker is offset to the right? That is to get it the same distance from the side wall as the left one.
I have seen and pondered a number of the newer Diamond models, but haven't pounced on them. Yet.
MUCH older Wharfedale model W-40 speakers are these. Typical beige grilles of the era. I was tickled to find them as the British speaker maker has a legendary reputation.
I located photos of the stickers on other old Wharfedale speakers online and printed a couple of them. My scissors skill needs work.
This brochure was attached to the back of one of them........
along with this warranty card from the original owner! I was six years old when these were new.
No Zip Codes back then. I wonder how many electronic stores remain in Manhattan.
I came across these Yamaha speakers with silver painted drivers. Oddly, they seem to still be selling these. At least ones that look the same. Another pair that I passed on to my son.
At last, the LAST PAIR! And most unusual. When I found these speakers, I looked and looked at them. They blew my mind. The same store I found the Spendor speakers in.
Yamaha NS-15 is the model number. The large driver is made of Styrofoam. I have seen square Styrofoam speakers meant to be used in drop-ceilings in place of standard tiles. But nothing ever made for listening to music.
The baffles are made of diecast aluminum. Those are tweeters in the upper right corner.
Nice looking grilles and the back are almost completely open.
Although they look like I put them there, those are factory binding/banana terminals.
Detail shots of their crossover and back of the tweeter. What does "mH" stand for?
Diecast metal frame for the Styrofoam woofer.
I don't know what that is sprayed on the front of one of the woofers.
When I researched these, I found that there is quite a bit of information out there. Some woofers were made similar to the shape of a grand piano. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with these very unique speakers.
Well, my long-suffering reader. You have made it through all four chapters! You have witnessed the long trek with it's ups and downs. Seen an awful lot of speakers. Some fine, some, well not so fine.
One of you asked me to list my top ten. Since it has been SO long since I listened to most of these, I really can't recall what they sounded like.
This can be a long experiment for us, like it has been for me. Or one had the capability to afford THE components they felt were their idea of perfect from the very beginning and has happily listened to music on them ever since.
I feel, at last satisfied, after many times saying, "I'm done!" Well, now I have continued to feel that way for many months. I have not counted all the components that I have tried. Some are lost to time since the Internet was unknown by most of the world and I did not own a camera. But, based upon this series of four chapters, you have witnessed the plethora of speakers that came and went from two rooms of this house. It's been a wild ride.
Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. Page views are near 200,000 as I write this. And I owe it all you you, dear reader.
Scott
November 5, 2018
Radio Shack often sought partners in their desire to remain in business. So, RCA products, if in name only, became all the audio equipment that they sold. The following two pairs of speakers once sold as Minimus then Optimus are RCA branded now.
These SONY speakers are similar to BOSE in that they are designed to reflect. No model numbers on them as I recall.
One day, all this 1985-era stereo and video equipment was sitting by the curb. My wife brought home a Pioneer Laserdisc player from the stacks. I grabbed these speakers and a few other interesting items. They mounted on the wall and were aimed towards the sweet spot with the reflex ports and second tweeters pointing at the side walls.
I brought them home and looked them up. To say my eyebrows raised would be accurate. "People paid that much for these things?"
They sounded good, but unexciting to me. I knew what the BBC designed them for; Use in their recording van as monitors. In other words for near-field listening.
After a couple weeks, I put them on eBay. They sold for 110 times what I paid for them. They went to Hong Kong.
It was all an experiment. Someone bought what you see above. What they did with it, I do not know. I seem to remember the buyer letting me know he tweaked it and got it to sound good.
Were' almost done! Wharfedale is where we are. I bought these Diamond 7.1 black speakers quite a while ago as you can see by the early den photo below. Note how the right BOSE 301 speaker is offset to the right? That is to get it the same distance from the side wall as the left one.
This brochure was attached to the back of one of them........
Yamaha NS-15 is the model number. The large driver is made of Styrofoam. I have seen square Styrofoam speakers meant to be used in drop-ceilings in place of standard tiles. But nothing ever made for listening to music.
Well, my long-suffering reader. You have made it through all four chapters! You have witnessed the long trek with it's ups and downs. Seen an awful lot of speakers. Some fine, some, well not so fine.
One of you asked me to list my top ten. Since it has been SO long since I listened to most of these, I really can't recall what they sounded like.
This can be a long experiment for us, like it has been for me. Or one had the capability to afford THE components they felt were their idea of perfect from the very beginning and has happily listened to music on them ever since.
I feel, at last satisfied, after many times saying, "I'm done!" Well, now I have continued to feel that way for many months. I have not counted all the components that I have tried. Some are lost to time since the Internet was unknown by most of the world and I did not own a camera. But, based upon this series of four chapters, you have witnessed the plethora of speakers that came and went from two rooms of this house. It's been a wild ride.
Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. Page views are near 200,000 as I write this. And I owe it all you you, dear reader.
Scott
November 5, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment