greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 I just bought a pair of these for $75. Shown without the driver in this picture. More pics below. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 Home-made by the same guy I bought the Garrard LAB80 turntable from. He built them in the early 60's from a set of plans. He added the Radio Shack mids and tweets later. This picture shows the enclosure for the driver with the slot in back for the bass horn. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 The main drivers that were in them are Knight 8" 3-way, 20 watt. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 The drivers have two sets of voice coil leads. There's one speaker wire coming out of them as well as a pair of screw terminals to hook wires up. They originally came with a high-frequency attenuator, but those aren't there anymore. Can someone tell me how to properly hook these up for full-range listening? I tried putting a signal to the wire coming out of the driver and got no sound. When I hooked up to the screw terminals they worked fine. So what is the wire coming out of them for? Do you suppose those went to the attenuator? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 Here is a picture taken by the owner during construction. He says that there is 176 screws in each of the cabinets all driven by hand! I think he's exaggerating a bit. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 The real question should be How do they sound to you? I suspect that at $75.00 for the pair you made a damned good buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomer9911 Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 I won't buy em.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Quite frankly the Realistic drivers are a little suspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Interesting design. Listening is going to tell the real story. I wonder why they needed an attentuator - that wire you're talking about probably was hooked up to it. You should be able to run them straight from the speaker terminal into the amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 They look heavy! Get some help humping them around. Or use your hoe. I've heard the 183-screw model has a more defined low midrange. I could send you the conversion kit for $40. Keeping the Holiday Spirit alive... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 LMAO fini, I was gonna quip 'how many trees gave their lives for this behemouth' but your mod kit is killing me. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Looks like either a Lowther or Tannoy design from the 50s. If you have the patience, I'd measure the horn dimensions all the way through and plug the numbers into a horn design program to see what comes up. I think those Knight speakers were really Utahs, and not bad for those days. My guess is that the owner disabled the concentric tweeter when he added the dome mid and piezo tweet. A very odd couple there. That dome (very similiar to the MG brand domes) is not very efficient compared to the bass and tweeter horns and is usable from about 800 Hz-3 KHz. My recollection is that it had a fabric dome heavily doped with sticky goo and probably has a high mass for its size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Interesting Gregg. Where does the horn output? Was this that fellow's own design? The Knight drivers were marketed by Lafayette Electronics back in the day. fini, I hear the 197 screw mod is even better still. How much is that one? Too much!! Rick Oh yeah, another thing Gregg. Have you tried the Heat Set PVA and veneer softener from JoeWoodworker.com? Great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Interesting relics of an age during which the average audiophile was much more hands-on than today. What I'd do with those is ditch the drivers and experiment with some good fullrange drivers----JBL LE-8, EV SP8, Altec 755, various Fostexes, Radio-Shacks and such. Boom gave solid advice about running the horn through a design program, some are available online for free. Several current Fostex drivers work well in rear-loaded horns. Ask at the Audio Asylum high efficiency forum. There's also a full-range driver forum out there, those fellas can help you alot. I'll bet you could get those things sounding really swell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 LOL. Thanks anyway fini, but I don't need to get "screwed" that bad! Please ignore the mid and tweet drivers, he obviously didn't know what he was doing. My plan is to see how these Knight drivers sound and what kind of vintage value they may have. But I really think the key is going to be getting a pair of really nice full range drivers. Lowthers? I just don't have time to do the math and the horn calculations. He told me that he built them according to plans he got out of a magazine. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 26, 2004 Author Share Posted December 26, 2004 Lowthers are probably overkill. I don't think I could measure the horn, there's no way into them. The horn output is at the bottom. Many older speakers came with attenuators for the highs. I still would like some input about the inputs on these drivers. Can anyone tell me what the white wires going into the driver are doing? You can see from the picture how they're hooked up. I only get sound when I put a signal into the screw terminals. Nothing from the white wires. Is it that an attenuator between the two white wires would control the highs? So with no attenuator am I getting full highs? I tried touching the two wire together while a signal was going through the screw terminals and there was no difference in the sound. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 OK, Greg, just keep me in mind if you change your mind . FWIW, I have a pair of Philips 9762Ms in some Conwall-sized bass reflex boxes, and they sound damn nice. Rolled off on the top end, but very enjoyable. I see 'em on eBay all the time (I picked mine up at a garage sale). They're not too expensive, and they just might float your boat. http://fullrangedriver.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Greg, If the guy you bought them from built them, does he have the original plans for them. If so, you could use those to se how big the horn is for calculationg what you need. Looks like he squeezed a long horn into that box for sure. I would try the Fostex drivers before I spent any money on Lowthers. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Greg, truly interesting project. Congrats on the find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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