"vintage" full range drivers

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"vintage" full range drivers

Postby nyazzip » Wed Jan 23, 2013 12:44 am

...often i see these on eBay for cheap, like 10 bucks each. most are 12", many have really nice looking cast frames. many seem to be Electrovoice. are these things worth it, or should i pay Madisound 200 bucks for a 6" full ranger? i'm thinking about trying some old ones out. actually i just want one, for my mono rh84 setup...
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby Geek » Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:25 pm

Depends....

Some were often sold in two versions: Low efficiency and high. High efficiency speakers get scooped up by guys like me for $10 and resold on Craigslist for $200 (cig)
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby nyazzip » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:21 am

yah "efficiencies" are rarely(never) mentioned in ebay wares. guess i need to do the legwork, but i suppose as the speaker cone paper goes thru infinite water absorption/loss cycles, and is used, then the original efficiency ratings do not apply....
...any particular speakers i might look for? the EVs all look so nice with their burly enameled frames
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby Geek » Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:07 am

I'm not an EV expert, so you might want to Google around a bit.

I know a guy that made monster horn loaded mid-bass cabs with them for his HiFi (all the speakers together need a 5-ton truck to haul for their size!) and others that put them in their guitar cab.
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby Hotsauce » Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:37 am

Some of the small magnet alnico 12's make really nice guitar speakers if you aren't pushing more than a few watts.

John C.
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby nyazzip » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:19 am

Yeah I meant for hifi use...the new production full rangers are muy expensive!
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby Geek » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:37 am

nyazzip wrote:Yeah I meant for hifi use...the new production full rangers are muy expensive!


Madisound and Parts Express have affordable FR's.

So does my buddy at Creative Sound:
http://creativesound.ca

What's your budget for drivers?
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby nyazzip » Tue Jan 29, 2013 3:53 pm

i really have NO budget for drivers right now. edcor set me back for awhile. the more i read about it, the less i think i want to try full range- seems like many report poor bass with them....
anyway, i consider 200 bucks for one raw driver a LOT of money....and i can't imagine 4" speakers would ever push enough air(or get a box to push enough air) for my liking....i don't see ANY contemporary 12" full range drivers, but there are lots of old ones. if there are any, i suspect theyd be a grand per speaker. also the SPL ratings on the fostex and handful of other FR drivers were not so hot....
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby Geek » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:57 pm

$200 for one driver is a lot of money. That's why I directed you to CSS, as he has planty for far less.

Speakers are all about compromise - for high efficiency, you sacrifice bass, excursion and power handling. For bass and excursion, efficiency will drop, etc.

Given most FR's are designed to be used with SET's, most will be rated for less than 10W, have a 100Hz cutoff and a 96dB+ sensitivity.

They are capable of decent bass, but you will need a BIG cabinet and horn loading (forget bass reflex, they will over-Xmax and risk damage).

If you want a small box, good bass and inexpensive drivers, best be thinking 2-way.
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby eldub » Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:54 am

I run a couple of tubed systems with Omega single driver speakers. Subwoofers are mandatory, imo.
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby pfl2049 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:51 pm

I picked up a pair of JBL 123/12" fullrange 16ohm version and plan to put them in an open test baffle for the time being just so I can get a sense of them. Intended to play with tubed equipment. Interesting that they are rated at 16 ohms but test out at just under 7. What's that all about? Anyone have an idea about that or about a good horn enclosure. Stephens made an enclosure for their 15" FR and I've seen a picture of it....sort of a rear loaded? not sure what to call it...the driver is tilted up in it's own enclosure with an opening across the back panel of about an inch, or so it looks like..so the opening into the upper chamber is 18X1 and coming out of a vertical rectangle about 3 inches wide and maybe 15" tall.
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Re: "vintage" full range drivers

Postby EWBrown » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:16 pm

Some of the small magnet alnico 12's make really nice guitar speakers if you aren't pushing more than a few watts.

John C.



I have five (1990 vintage) NOS 8 inch, 8 ohm ceramic magnet PA speakers which were given to me last year, these were made by "Lowell Magnetics". Model 8C5.
They also have the model TLM-70 70V line matching trannies mounted on the back of the frames, I would remove them, for MI purposes.
One speaker is a bit "crusty and dusty" with some light surface rust around the magnet, from poor storage (it was in the top of their box),
and still works OK, and the other four are in pristine condition. These also have the round, perforated metal protective covers (as used in ceiling mounts)

Would they be any good for use in a low to medium power guitar amp? I'm thinking along the lines of a 6L6GC "Champzilla"
(see my "Uglytron posting) or PP 6V6GT or 6BQ5 / EL84 (15-20 Watts) . With four, I could go with an 8 ohm series / parallel connection,
or just use two in parallel for 4 ohms load. The Uglytron OPT has 4, 8 and 16 ohm secondary taps, so I could try multiple speaker configurations
including a somewhat unconventional dual 4 0hm loading of the 0 to 4 ohm, and the 4 to 16 ohm taps, just because it can be done.... :/ *) :))

FWIW, the "Uglytron", which is basically a beefed-up Champ, using all Russian tubes, 6L6GC, 6SL7 (6H9C / 6N9S) and Sovtek 5AR4/GZ34, sounds
very good into an 8 inch Ted Weber 8 inch "Signature" MI speaker, in a small 14 inch square, by 4 inch deep, mostly open back cab..

/ed B
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