mike stehr Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 A while back I purchased a Wards "Airline" SE 6BQ5 AM/FM phono receiver for ten bucks. The console is history. The amp had a few dying tubes, but I fixed that. I like the stock 12" woofers with it. It has very little hum, and seems to be doing well. Over the weekend I hit the same thrift store that I bought the Wards receiver. I noticed upon a pair of cheap looking Wall mount PA sort of looking speakers. Looked behind the enclosures and noticed these were a three way with 3" x 5" oval mids, and sealed back 3" tweeter, With a Norelco Model # AD 4201M/77 4 ohm 12" dual cone Loudspeaker. Made in Holland. Well, the cones look like a Philips, from the write up on the Single Driver website. Ten bucks, what the hell, ya know. I'm thinking the manufacturing date is 1977, from the model#? And from the Ferrite magnets, which are a lot smaller than the Alnico versions and with a plastic cover over them. Tried them with my Eico amps with the 4-ohm taps, put my ear up to the speaker, unhooked the mids and tweeters and wired them straight to the Norelcos. The Norelcos were covering the high ranges the same as the mids and tweets, so I didn't see the point. These speakers are pretty open and revealed the Eico's need for the internal pre-amp circuit, like the Chorus II's I had. I wanted to try them with the Wards SE 6BQ5 receiver, and was leary about the 4 ohm impedance. But I did it anyway. For pretty much a cheaper vintage loudspeaker, these things sound nice!! Open, Airy, with plenty of highs, at least for my ears! You do need to use the bass pot a bit. This setup will probably do Jazz the best, or mellow material, Blast beats don't apply. I'm curious to see what these would be like with the Eico HF-12's in reasonably stock form. I know I shouldn't be coming in horn land poppin' off about full-range drivers, but these things sound damn good, with just microwatts! One helluva pair of ten dollar speakers. (Except I got stuck with a gruesome vintage SS Magnavox AM/FM radio with them!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 Mike, believe me, I KNOW how hard it is to pass up some of these deals. "Ten bucks, what the hell, ya know" is my anthem. Consoles (and tube organs) offer the best pounds per dollar value in the thrift store! If I only knew how to fix 'em... My local thrift store currently has a very interresting item. It's an OLD RCA TV/ radio/ turntable console. I think it was model 8-TV-321. Something like a 10" diagonal screen. Early 50's, I'd say. Tubes galore. They're asking $150, though. Wouldn't fit in the rafters, anyway (the only room left, here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted November 12, 2002 Author Share Posted November 12, 2002 Yup. And when one is partial to vintage stuff in general, it's real tough! I picked up a old tube BW RCA Television for 5 bucks as well. Nuthin' special as far as tubes, a 6EM7 is about it. INSIDE the television were a bunch of old tube boxes, (GE, Realistic) and a Radio Shack work receipt dated Nov '71. Along with a Kmart reciept for Jun '71. Nice fire hazard. (What is odd is the Television still had all the RCA tubes in it, other than a couple of Sylvania's.) These Norelcos shine on Jazz! Duke's great london concerts sounds great! (Yeah it's a CD, oh well, life goes on.) Heavy sh*t sounds like sh*t on the Norelcos! But on Jazz, the damn horn section seem like they jump out of the speakers, voices are right there, cymbals are right there, piano evens stands out. And you can actually hear the standup bass player. About 7 feet apart, sitting around 8 feet back with a little under half volume, I read 88, 90 db's on the rat shack meter. And that's a little hiked up from usually when I sit out there, because I'm in the other room. Not bad for a weeny SE 6BQ5 amp. These will keep me happy until I get my Cornwalls home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 Those Norelco's are by Phillips. The Norelco audio line featured some damned good components. Some of their better compact stereo's featured Dual 1219's and 1215's - Not Oracle class but on a par with some very high end TT's. The Phillips drivers were among the better units available for DIY use in the early 70's. I built a set of speakers using a Phillips 15" woofer in a horn loaded bin, a 5" mid and a 1" silk dome tweeter ( I am not sure whether the Phillips was a rebranded Scanspeak or vice versa but I have had the opportunity to examine them both but not at the same time and I think they are the same driver under different names) and had I not been blind sided by a financial problem might be using those speaker systems today because they were DAMNED GOOD ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted November 12, 2002 Author Share Posted November 12, 2002 Thanks Lynn. These are keepers, for sure. They just seem to mesh with SE 6BQ5 amp nicely, IMO. But I am curious what the proper enclosure size would be, or if they are meant for open baffle. They seem do great free-airin', but wonder if I can get a little more bass from a enclosure of some sort. Thanks folks of the Klipsch 2 channel forum for getting me into Vintage tube sound. I wouldn't be listening to this setup, if it wasn't for this place! I am forever grateful!! THANX! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 Mike, I just ran across this thread in a search for the Norelco speakers. I recently picked up a pair of DIY bass-reflex speakers using these as single drivers. Here's a link to a thread about them. I finally got the beasts home from my mother-in-laws, hooked them up this morning, and I couldn't agree with you more! These really do sound fantastic. They seem to be close in efficiency to the Cornwalls. Bass seems a bit tighter. Mids and highs are very clean. $20, what a deal! These float around on eBay occasionally, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 Are you still listening to yours, Mike? fini Edit: I just saw your post in the other thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted October 15, 2003 Author Share Posted October 15, 2003 Sorry. I shouldn't have replied here too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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