I Counted Up ALL of The Stereo And Audio Components And Speakers I Have Owned Since 1975 PART TWO

September 9, 2019

#328

Gentle reader,

I recently let my Facebook vintage audio groups see the list of stereo and A/V components I have owned in the last 44 years. It can be seen here:

I Counted Up ALL of The Stereo And Audio Components And Speakers I Have Owned Since 1975 PART ONE  

Since photographing my gear (had I a camera which I did not until 1995) was not something I ever thought to do. As a result, the early years, equipment came and went with no form of record keeping. Thus, there are more than the 270+ pieces that will remain lost to my now OCD addled brain.

NOTE: If you click on any photo, a second window will open OVER this one. The pictures will be larger and you can either click through them or use < and > arrow keys to look at them.

These are a pair of ACUTEX MTS/3 Walnut veneered Compact 2-Way bookshelf speakers which I converted to mirror image by removing and flipping the plates holding the smaller drivers.

At least I thought the larger one was a driver. It is not it is, "4CM ACUTEX Carbonized Passive Dome Reflexer™." 

Note, that I also replaced the cheap spring terminals with proper 3-way binding/banana terminals.

After buying the 35mm SLR camera from a pawn shop in 1995, these were my second purchase many years later.

They are a/d/s/ MV30/t black tower BiWire-able speakers with 2 Mid/Bass drivers and a centrally located tweeter. The grilles are mesh metal and screw on to the cabinets.

These are the pair of ADVENT Baby Advent II speakers I bought and restomodded. I wrote all about it here:
Restomoding a pair of Vintage Advent Baby Advent II Speakers

While the venerable legendary name of AR was bought up and plastered on many products, these little 215 PS compact bookshelf speakers are kind of cool. The only ones I have encountered with a flat faced woofer. I did not take them out to look, but I suspect that they are discs glued to the woofer's cone.

I can see this is going to take several chapters to list and show all 66+ speakers that I have owned and tried.

These are AVID Model 100 bookshelf speakers with 8" woofers and phenolic ring tweeters hidden behind thin cloth. I do not know why people rave about this kind of tweeter and it has been WAY to long to try and remember what they sounded like.

These are one of only a few speakers I've come across without parallel side walls. They are AXIOM Millennium m3Ti compact bookshelf speakers. Nice contrasty white woofer cones.

Aluminum dome tweeters and exclusive bunghole sphincter reflex ports.My words, not theirs.

To me, at least, the halcyon days of finding incredible items that have been donated are long gone.

I found these gorgeous Bowers and Wilkins DM17 walnut bookshelf speakers that are so well made, even the backs are finished! I found another nice pair of some other brand at the same time, but can't recall what they were.

Look at how well the matched the veneers! The call of the mighty dollar was too much and now they live elsewhere.

Long before 99% of people had no idea there was a worldwide network of computers, we learned about things by reading books and magazines.

B.I.C stood for British Industries Corporation. My first turntable was a B.I.C 940, I opted for the walnut base and smoked dust cover.
Like BOSE 901s and Realistic MACH ONE speakers, I lusted after these B.I.C Venturi Formula 6 speakers. 
"Venturi" in this case refers to their patented shape of the reflex ports. I read the articles and ads and wanted some. 

One thing I do, if I can, is replace the cheap spring terminals with proper 3-way binding/banana terminals. As you can see.

Four-way speakers with a cone midrange, Piezo tweeters and horn super tweeters. I was unimpressed with their sound.

Someone once told me, "If you see Coral speakers, buy them." So I did. I came across three in fact.

I don't think this is the kind they were talking about. There was a part of me that wanted to pull the drivers and mount them from the front. But I resisted.

No one wanted a solo Coral BX-1001 speaker, so I parted it out and this is what one finds inside. Now you know why woofers to this day have gaskets on the front.

DCM calls themselves The American Speaker Company. And they are one of them, if they still are in business.

These KX12 floor standing speakers are another pawn shop find. 12" woofers, 6" midrange and Motorola Piezo tweeters.

LOOK at the size of those rear-facing reflex ports! When I found my Cerwin-Vega! LS12 speakers, I was still using these. An A/B comparison and these went away.

DCM also made a line of "Transmission Line" speakers and these thrift store found TF275 are some of them. Time Frame is what the TF stands for.

They have coaxial (like car speakers) drivers near the top at the front and inside is a labyrinth for the rear bass waves to travel through to eventually escape and reinforce the front waves.

Definitive Technology is a semi-smug name for a speaker company. But they are good products.

I found the pair of ProCinema front speakers at a thrift store and was surprised at their heft. I sought out a third, but chose larger for the center channel, via eBay.

I drove this as a daily driver for six years and would have bought a Miata, but am too tall. Plus this turbocharged, Mazda powered, Australian-made Ford Capri sporty car has a backseat. A good thing considering one Wednesday afternoon I found a five-piece-set of Definitive Technology home theater speakers. I was able to stack the towers in the back seat and the other three fit in the trunk.

A little timeworn, but the price was right. Unusual, but economic way way to make the center channel baffle/port.

My first and probably last bi-pole surround speakers. Matching drivers front and back, meant for the side walls of your home theater.

And two of these tower speakers to complete the set. They all sounded very good, but went to new homes.

Like AR, DUAL and KLH are other venerable names that have seen better days.

DUAL branded, but I've also seen identical ones with KLH on them. Unlike the well respected Minimus line, these cabinets are plastic. I don't know why I bought them.

My first speakers were floor-display Dynaco A25s. The ones atop those White Van speakers are they. Made sometime in the mid 1970's.

When I attempted to recreate my 1976 stereo a few years ago, I needed more A25s. All I could find at a reasonable price was one A25VW. The "VW" stood for vinyl walnut veneer.

This photo shows how thin it is. They are IDENTICAL in every way to regular A25s, just sold cheaper do to less expensive finishing.

However, I DID find a pair of the 3dB more efficient A25XL models with black grilles for $99. I could not believe no one else bid on them! Note the LACK of padding for them, and that box was heavy! Idiot.

Whatever dirt got on them did not come off, but I leave the grilles on. 1" verses 1.5" tweeters and the aforementioned better efficiency. The same as having an amplifier with TWICE the power.

So what did I do with that one speaker? Make a MONO system. I simply used the Dynaco PAT-5/SWTPC portions as a mono for mono LPs. What chaos. Look at the room now:

Gone, to other rooms, are the real wood veneer speakers. The system is now to the right where the LP shelves were and vice versa. No spaghetti of speaker wires either.

This is from the 1990's and the townhouse we were renting. That's my niece who is in her 30's now with three kids. I came across this photo and thought, "I don't remember those speakers, what are they?" So I asked you all and the general response was EPI 180. 

I searched on the Internet just now and snagged this photo from a Canadian web site. Different, they are.

Next up are Electro-Voice Interface 1 Series II bookshelf speakers. I believe they are vinyl veneer.

Now, the only Genesis speakers I've ever come across. Found them laying on the bottom shelf of a small thrift store in a small town.

Sadly, as so often happens, some owner replaced the de-foamed woofers with cheap Radio Shack replacements.

This next pair intrigued me. They have stickers on the back with the maker's name and address. Company is long gone. Sadly, one grille has a stain on it.

I'm not sure how one got inside them. The grilles must have been glued on and the cabinets were solid. So what's inside remained a mystery.

As big a brand as JBL is, it surprises me that I only found this one pair of their speakers.

Model P30 in walnut, three-way small floor standing speakers.

My dad had KLH 17 speakers as long as I can recall. I never came across any 17s, but these model 20s above....

And these model 24s. There were four 24s and they had a single RCA terminal. They were part of a KLH system and are 4 ohms. I replaced the RCA with 3-way binding/banana terminals.

I almost forgot a pair of speakers that I am listening to right now! I came across them at a thrift store. They were on the floor and were face-to-face. But all I saw was what looked like a 12" woofer. Turns out they are passive radiators on the back of Klipsch KG4s. The only Klipsch speakers I have come across in the wild. The price? $9.99 for the pair.

The glue that held the plastic brackets that secure one of the base to the speaker of one of them failed, so to get the horn tweeters elevated towards my ears, I screwed the loose brackets to the front of both of them. I later found some perfect stands for them and wrote about them here:
Earthquake Proof your speakers! Amazing "Reusable Adhesive" will hold my Klipsch KG4 speakers firm!

Another speaker company long gone was the maker of LYRIC speakers. They had silver plastic frames around the woofer and midrange as well as the reflex port.

Of course the foam was gone so I decided to restomod them. I bought new (Polk) EOSONE drivers and a new proper three-way crossovers. Since I did not have the specs for the woofers, I merely hoped the factory port was close to the woofer's needs. The black stuff on the left woofer is RTV silicone glue because I TWICE poked my screwdriver through it! 

I still have 36 more speakers to show you, so this is going to extend beyond PART TWO.

Thank you for taking the time to read my humble blog. It is your kind words and comments that keep me writing.

Scott 
September 9, 2019
#328