Cornwalled

Thanks for the autotransformer idea. Any suggestions as far as woofers go?

Hey Guys, As some of you may know, I have a University T-30, which I have been using with a K-700 horn. I am trying to figure out how to match it with one of my woofers. The problem I am having is that of course the horn is more efficient than the woofer. I'm currently just using a simple capacitor across it to form a 1200 Hz high pass, which isn't enough; I need to also be able to reduce it's volume to match the woofer. I'm not really that adept at designing a crossover. What would be the best way to knock the tweeter down? Resistors? L-pad? As far as woofers go, I have a few options, and would be interested in your thoughts. 1. 15" Alnico Lafayette woofer, don't know much about it other than it's old, and pretty smooth sounding. Currently installed in the cab of a defunct Acoustic keyboard amp from the 70's. 2. 12" EV SRO with the alnico coffee can magnet. Very efficient, kinda bright, detailed, but I don't have a cab for it. 3. 2 x 12" Electro-Voice EVM-12L Series II speakers installed in an EV designed ported "TL" series cab from a PA system. They sound killer for guitar- very smooth, detailed, and linear, but will need a low pass circuit if used for Hi-Fi as they can get wierd off axis in the HF. The plan was to find a vintage corner cab, and use it with my Grundig tube radio, but that hasn't happened yet. Eventually, I'd love to have an old mono tube rig (Scott, EICO, etc) to drive it with, but that's not in the budget right now. Any advice you guys could give from speaker projects you've tackled would be appreciated! Do you guys think I should pursue this? Is the K-700 a good horn to use with this driver? Looking forward to any input. Thanks! Jon

Damn, the EV Royal cab on ebay just sold! Go figure. Looks like the search is still on. -Jon

Hey Noah, I think I might have been a bit slow on the uptake there. You were referring to the one on ebay, weren't you? I was thinking you meant the Regency's duder1982 had. I was thinking, man Nebraska sure doesn't seem very local to me! The Regency cabs do seem really cool, but they're sort of a case of too much, too far away I think. My principal concern is shipping cost. I gave an empty LaScala cab to a fellow forum member, and it cost $200 to have it packed and shipped. Now granted that was UPS, which requires you pack the living bejesus out of it so they don't destroy it, but still. If the Regency cabs cost that much each to transport, I'm just not going to be able to afford them, cool as they may be. I think that eBay cab may be perfect. And, who knows, it may have something interesting on the inside, disconnected, just waiting to be discovered. Or it could be empty! It looks like the front grill just needs to be taken off and re-aligned. I wonder how hard it would be to re-finish the cab? Though, if I did, I would lose the EV label on the bottom. Oh well. I'll try to give the seller a call tomorrow. He says he's interested in trades. Who knows, maybe I have something he wants. After all, I had good luck trading for speakers before. That's how I wound up with the Tangents, Sansuis, and KLHs. Those Tangents are sleepers btw! -Jon

I found the EV brochure for the Regency, and it looks like a cool cab. I think that would work out really well. As far as transport, where are you located, duder1982? As far as the Klipsch express, I don't want to put you guys out! That said, you're certainly welcome over here. You can hear the Frieds, and the Tangents with a massive 4x12" Infinity IRS Beta Sub with 650W Crest amp. I'm not in a rush. Whatever works out the best for everyone! The cabs do look really cool though. I think they're just what I'm looking for. Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm always impressed with this forum, how everyone works together. It's more of a "family" than I've seen on any other forum, and I'm glad to be a part of it. -Jon

I didn't say a Klipschorn. I'm looking for ANY corner type speaker, particularly one like the link I showed. That is a far more affordable, and more appropriate option for a project such as this. I'm sure those old EV cabs aren't too expensive or in demand.

Hey Guys, I was wondering if anyone here had an old unloaded corner speaker cabinet they're looking to get rid of cheap? I'm looking for something along these lines: http://www.ebay.com/itm/200801786662 I don't really need it to have any drivers in, as I already have my own components, and am just looking to get it cheap. My thought was to put either my 12" E-V SRO or 15" Lafayette (Allen Bradley) woofer in, depending on what fit. Then for HF, I would use my newly acquired University T-30 with the K-700 I'm buying from HudsonValleyNoah. Then I could put it in the corner and have a cool looking vintage hi-fi speaker, and hook it up either to a separate mono rig, or as an awesome extension speaker to my big Grundig Majestic tube radio. What do you guys think? Does that seem doable? -Jon

Is anyone else as stoked about the Curiosity dropping the rover successfully on Mars as I am? I stayed up til 2:30 this morning watching the live coverage on my xbox. I had the Tangents hooked up and they gave great clear dialogue. I found myself on the edge of my seat in the lst few minutes as they entered EDL and prepared for the crane. I'm glad to see the American space program back in the spotlight again. The rover shot back two images within a few mintues of touch down, so it works! I hope they can learn a lot from it. Anyone else into this stuff? -Jon

I think these were made in 92, if I'm reading the serial number right.

Hey cubdog, I agree, they do look interesting. I'm trying to track down a re-foam kit so I can get them going. I think they were built in the late 70's / early 80's. -Jon

Here's a picture of the KLH, just because it's so wild that I thought you guys would appreciate it. Gotta do the refoam thing.

I never thought I'd have a pair of Klipsch speakers in my living room, but you never know what fate will through at you. I traded some electronics I wasn't using for three pairs of speakers, with the plan of selling them to raise some DESPARATELY needed rent money! Among them is a pair of Sansui SP-1500s, KLH SCX-3a (really wild with the predecessor to Infinity's EMIT tweeters) and a pair of Klipsch Tangent 400. I must say, these things sound really good! They remind me of my Cornwalls, but a little brighter, and perhaps a smidge less bass. Overall, they're a very refined sounding speaker. I'm told they're a Heresy II in a larger cabinet. Until today, I've never heard the second generation of Heritage horns, and I must say I'm impressed. The midrange seems more refined than my old Cornwalls. It's a slightly different sound. Less "vintage" sounding perhaps, but definitely still in the family. Hopefully I can enjoy them for a bit before I have to sell them. I'm told some people here have talked poorly of these speakers, but frankly, I can't see why. They play loud and clear and sound good to these ears! -Jon

Another question: as far as the tweeter crossover at 1200 Hz, should I use 12db / octave?

Hey Noah, Thanks for the offer. I'd like to take you up on that. I'm not really sure what a fair offer would be, as I've never bought one before. I don't want to offend you with a lowball offer as I'm pretty broke..lol. What do you think? BTW,I don't remember, were the K-700s made of metal or plastic? -Jon

Ahh the good old Cobra-Flex. Bane of stadiums everywhere..lol. I remember my highschool having those, without any woofers or tweeters, just the midrange! The West End fair that I go to every year still does. Both were the most unintelligible, but LOUD system I have ever heard for it's size. Of course I can't judge it too harshly as it was missing the woofers for the bottom end, and the tweeters for the top, and no doubt the rest of the electronics and mics weren't top notch either. But ugh..when they played the star spangled banner before the demo derby- OY! Perhaps vintage isn't the way to go after all. Anything that's that loud and obnoxious probably isn't intented for the home. One concern of mine, it looks like this driver is in fact intended as a midrange. What kind of HF extension can I expect with the right horn? Would this work well with a Klipsch heritage horn, say like the K-600 or K-700? Jon EDIT: I do think one thing should be mentioned about both Cobra-Flex systems. They are both over 50 years old, and still going strong. That's impressive in my book.

Thanks for the info, Don. I was really hoping to go with a vintage horn, to keep with the period motif and sound, if at all possible. If that fails, what would be a good horn to use from PE?

Hey Guys! It's been a while, but inevitably, I found my way back here. I few months ago I got a 15" Lafayette alnico woofer in the box at an auction for $3.00 and held onto it, not knowing what to do with it. It sounds great with guitar, nice and smooth. Today, I just picked up a University T-30 horn driver at the same auction house for $10 in the original box, and I'm thinking the two could go well together. The driver tests out well- 6.3 ohms DCR on my meter. However, it didn't come with a horn! So, I'm wondering if anyone here knows what horn to use with it, and perhaps if anyone might have one they would be willing to part with for a reasonable price, as I don't have much money. I tried looking on ebay, but only found horns with drivers together, which I don't need. Anyone have a bare horn? It's a screw on type connection- reminds me of the Klipsch K-55 style mounting system. Not sure if it's the same size and threads or not. Any ideas on crossover curves? I was thinking of crossing over around 1200 or so, but that will depend on the horn too I guess. What would you guys recommend? I was thinking of just letting the woofer run full range, as it sounds pretty smooth, and seems to roll off pretty smoothly. I noticed it actually sounds a little dark for guitar on it's own, so I think it will work out well with the horn. I forgot to mention, I also have a 12" Electro-Voice SRO Coffee can magnet speaker, which I could use instead, if you guys think it would be a better match. Any advice you guys could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Jon

Hey Peter, Forgive me, but I don't know what that means...lol. Jon

Hello Guys, It's been a long time! While scouring the internet for cool vintage stuff on the cheap, I happened upon a listing for a pair of Frazier "Capsule" speakers for $100. There are no pictures, and the listing simply says they're wooden box speakers, family owned, etc. I did see a mention somewhere that they supposedly have a horn loaded 10" woofer, a 3x7 mid horn that might be made by Tandy/Radioshack, and a horn tweeter. That's all I know. By any chance, do any of you own a pair of these that might be able to shed some insight as to what to expect from them? I'm trying to decide if I want to drive over 2 hours to check them out. I'm not very familiar with Frazier speakers, and hadn't heard of one with a horn-loaded woofer. Anyone have any pics per chance? As far as gear to drive them, I don't have any tube stuff, but I do have a late 70's Yamaha receiver (CR- something or other) that I could use, along with a Marantz CD player, so I would think that would work out ok, right? I have so many speakers, I need another pair like a hole in the head, but I have to admit, these have me intrigued. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Jon

Other side

Close up of transfomers

Here's the power supply side.

Hey Guys, Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just took it apart today, and thought you guys might like to see the guts shots. It's quite impressive! I found out it was made in 1952. The sticker on the front with 1967 on it was the last calibration date. So, needless to say, it has tubes in it- lots of 'em, all JAN. Very nice wiring, all point to point, with neoprene insulation. Everything was totally pristine inside I found it interesting that it has both tube and selenium rectifiers. What looks like banks of big buss fuses are actually small selenium rectifiers. It also has a large one next to the 5R4GY tube rectifier. A lot of massive filter caps. All in all, it looks really well made, defintely shows how military standards were well above consumer standards. The transformers are huge. I love the USN boat anchor on the power transformer. Every cap, resistor, switch and tube was clearly labelled on the board. Such attention to detail is cool to see. It was amazing seeing almost 60 year old tubes with lettering on them that was pristine and bright. They all looked brand new! Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed seeing the inside of this awesome vintage beast! -Jon

Hey Dave, Wow, I really didn't expect a reply to this thread! This has to be a record for inactive thread renewal. How'd you even find this? In an effort to increase space and reduce stuff, I gave the speakers away. The guy actually did a nice job restoring the cosmetics, and is using them in his basement. They sounded like hell though with those Radio Shack drivers. Real shame. Anyway, things are all different now. No horns, no unreliable tubes. I sure don't miss the tube gear, constant pain in the butt- it never really worked right. Course I've heard other people complain about VTL too, so who knows. Could've been different if I had CJ or ARC perhaps. -Jon

It's Alexander Schreiner playing Christmas Carols in the Mormon Tabernacle organ. It's just the organ and the chimes. Someone loaned a record of it to my Dad, and he recorded a 6 hour Christmas compilation to VHS tape. This was the first album on the tape. It's something our family has listened to every Christmas since it was recorded back in the early 80's. However, the VHS tape is starting to degrade, and we have no idea how long the VCR will keep working, so I've been trying to find alternative copies of each of the albums. So, I found this organ tape on reel to reel. I don't know if it was released on cd or not, but it definitely is available on reel and record. My reel is in ok shape, but not great- the audio seems to sort of fade in and out depending on what side of the reel is being played. I think one side of the reel may have gotten too close to a magnet, so it's a bit weak. The last time I loaded it, the leader fell off, making a little trickier to load. Perhaps I can find a record of it instead. As far as recording to computer, my laptop is VERY slow (old Celeron), and the hard drive is too slow to record audio. As a result, it has frequent dropouts in the recording when the hard drive accesses. So, I need a non-computer based method of recording it. My Dad has a cd-recorder that works well, but that would require lugging my R2R deck over to his place, and this thing is quite heavy. Borrowing the CD-R unit from my dad isn't an option because it's installed in a big wall unit, and trying to remove it would be a massive pain. -Jon