audiocrack

This is the information that I have come up with while researching trusonic speakers in the age category. All speakers will have the same physical appearance. The E52L, it is the version with a field coil, and is earlier version. The E15 is the tweeter with a field coil. The P52A is the coaxial version, with the horn in the center. The P52LX is the version after the P52L, appears the same with exception to the cone that is used, the cone has two ribs on the outside edge of the cone, rather than just one. It also uses cork as mount seal, rather than the rust colored paperboard on the P52L. The P52LX also seems to have the culver city designation, and a diamond shape badge added with the Stephens Trusonic brand.

Yeah, well the only reason for monkeying with the crossover is the solder tabs that the wires are attached to were loose, and the nuts on the inside kept spinning, and I couldn't tighten them enough to get a solid signal going to the drivers. So I took it apart to make sure I could hold onto the nuts while I tightened the screws. I want to get a solid strong signal going to the drivers so that I can listen to them for about a week, make sure everything is AOK with them and then I am going to sell them on Ebay. I just finished hooking the speaker back up, and amlistening to it right now. I am using a surround receiver, but the crossover is not selectable, no low end. I am going to go over to storage tonight, pull out my yamaha preamp, and 1 of my Denon monoblocks, hook it up and let it play !!! I really don't have any room to store them, and I am not going to spend any money to replicate this setup. It's well over my head, and I am sure there are plenty of people who would put better use to these speakers then me. I tested the voicecoil resistance, and I got 5.5 ohms on the tweeter, and 7.3 ohms on the woofer. Yeah, the crossover is 800 hertz, I see a 800 stenciled on each side of the crossover, there is also a 16 ohm variable resistor inline with the tweeter. I think this is for adjusting the level of the tweeter. From what I have listened so far, you have to keep the tweeter level pretty low, or it's all you hear. It's very loud.

I took several pictures of the horn, it's driver, and the crossover. I am amazed that the actual driver is so much smaller than the surrounding frame holding it to the horn. Overkill? There must be a magnet there somewhere right ? Funny when you think of how small tweeters are today. I pulled the crossover apart to see what components might be inside, but can't see too much there is alot of black tar covering everything, not sure why other than to maybe seal it ? I see a couple large copper coils, and not too much else visible just the tar. Interesting.

Here are some more pictures of the speaker components after I had pulled them from the cabinet. First picture is of the woofer cone, and the other is of the dustcap, I noticed there is a hole there I am assuming for the ventilation of the voice coil ?

I have questions for Klipsch forum concerning this speaker set up. The reason I ask this forum is because you have the most information to offer on this particular vintage brand of speaker. My first question is was the early P52L made with dual voice coils ? Meaning 1 high frequency, 1 low ? I just got home from vacation, and had a chance to pull the speakers from the cabinet to examine them. I have seen pics of the P52L speaker with the crossover mounted to it, but not seen two sets of wires from the x-over. I noticed my p52L had a spot for the crossover to be mounted, but does not seem to be dual coil, rather the dustcap is ventilated for the voicecoil. My other question is how do I tell if the horn is tar filled ? For whatever reason this seems to be a better sounding horn, I am not sure why ?

So you say that someone has a pair of these to sell ? Wow. I wonder who was the first person to say to themself " How good would it sound if I had two ?" I consider myself dumb lucky to have found this setup after the information I have gathered. It was just sitting in this estate store called buy it now. Some local store that goes around buying up estates, and leftovers. I took one look at it, said to myself " that looks cool", asked how much, and then bought it. It is interesting to hear that Stephens is held in the same light as early Altec, and JBL, as both of those brands have huge following in early quality speaker market from what I have read. Oh, Yeah Stephens is still around, you just have to look a little harder, LOL.

Thanks for sharing all of the great information on this speaker setup that I found. What fascinating details. What's even more interesting is that after all of these years, they still sound great !!!!! Still in awe of the bass, and am sure in the right cabinet would surely be tremendous. Whether or not I will keep, am not sure, but would consider keeping if not so expensive to duplicate. I did notice 800 on the side of the crossover unit, so that must be the crossover point that you mentioned.

Thanks seti for the help with the pictures. I am looking forward to any informational help that can be supplied with the extra information the pictures supplies.

Well I could not figure out how to upload the pics to this site. But if you have a email address I would be more than happy to send them to you. I was doing some more research, and the question I had as to why there were only one of these cabinets available, and not two.....because in the early days of hifi people listened to mono, and not stereo set ups. If a person could find another of these setups it would make a very nice sounding stereo image. I have not been able to pinpoint a date on the speaker, but the tag says Los Angeles, and research suggests this speaker to be earlier than later. If anyone happens to know a date, it would be great to know. Thanks.

Yes I plan to take some pictures in the morning. I am so fascinated by all the old speakers out there. How they sound, and who collects them, and why. I must admit that this speaker sounded very good when listened too. I am sure there are alot of speaker collectors who love to experiment with crossovers, and cabinet configurations to make great speakers sound even better. If I had the money I would invest in finding a match to this, although I am uncertain the actual time and energy it might take. The bass from this cabinet is awesome, I listened to it out of doors. I wonder what is the best that this speaker combination could sound ?

Hello, I am new to this site, and have a question on a cabinet I found today at estate sale. I am not a audiophile, but do like to listen to music. Long story short, I bought a cabinet today without even knowing what drivers might be inside. I was sure there were speakers, but I had no idea what type, or brand. I asked a lady the price, and she said she would have to ask someone. She also mentioned that earlier a gentleman had asked about the cabinet, and even pulled the back off to examine. She said he wasn't familiar with the name brand speakers, and left it alone. I was figuring well some off the wall generic brand, and I am probably wasting my time and money ($100). Well I bought it anyway, because I guess that is half the fun, wondering what did I get ? So I get it home and pull the back. Inside this cabinet are two speakers, and a crossover unit. I hooked it up to find out working status. Works fine, sounds great. A Stephens 16 ohm P52L and P15 with horn. I have done a little research, and find these speakers mentioned with Klipsch alot. Are these Klipsch speakers ?