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American lower market Hi-Fi   NEC

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Right, a capstan had greater significance in sea going culture as signifying the power of actually getting a reward, for efforts made.  In the backdrop we look into the harbor and some wooden sailing yachts that were rendered obsolete by the arrival of plastic hull craft in the year 1960 when the exclusive lifestyle of the previous elite was shared with academics,  EMI  speakers and Hi-Fi in general once only for the rich saw the arrival of IMF right below, with an EMI mid range or squawker but still exclusive to the American Harvard University community.  In a 3-way speaker enclosure the squawker determines the overall character of reproduced sound.  Westminster Houses

 

Above, Balniel Anthony (now styled 30th Earl of Crawford) spent years as a Director of the Chelsea Physic Garden (begun in 1673), meeting there Jonathan Chenevix-Trench who'd offer: Narcissus, son of the Greek river god Cephissus, fell in love with his own reflection in a river and unable to move wasted away and died, an ancient story related by a famous Scottish classicist and anthropologist Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941), writing in his renowned work ‘The Golden Bough’ (1890) of his conviction that myth originated from a belief that man’s soul is situated in his reflection below, two roundmirrors. Near Cupar, Fife, there's 'a Scottish Connection' to Darwin,Bankers and to Daffodils (Narcissus).

Left,  a Working Boat yacht operated by St Andrews University in Scotland where Philip Mountbatten below, was educated at Gordonstoun in Moray, a school with connections to Berlin of Germany where the EMI 13 x 8 loudspeaker was made by Siemens in 1931, the school using its 'Salem system' of physical fitness; an expedition that provides challenge and adventure; a project that develops self-reliance and self-discipline with a sense of compassion through service.

Right, Philip Mountbatten, of the British Royal Navy, a compatriot of Alec Issigonis, designer of the original, British Mini car, now a German-engineered BMW Cooper model and still made in Oxford where the founder of Philip's school attended university.  The 'Cooper' name derives from a Scottish Fife County's peasant stock, living in the market town of Cupar, never having had a Clan Chief or been united in that way, Minis today owe their name to a racing driver who'd tuned the cars in the 1960s when EMI loudspeakers were used by a yachting elite.  Coopers made barrel casks, used to preserve salted herring caught by Fifie fishing scows and upon which the St Andrews University's W.B. yacht is based.

Left, Hew Lorimer, educated by a much-loved Swiss governess and at Cargilfield Preparatory School, later attended Loretto School in Musselburgh, also of the Lotus car racing driver Jim Clark.  Lorimer led the St Andrews University's Working Boat Yacht project, here choosing the harbor and nearby buildings used by the wooden hull maintenance support crews.

Within vintage yacht clubs of the United States the Royal Yacht Squadron's Britannia or Kaiser's yacht, was known to be occupied all year, and cared for as a lifestyle choice.  Since the plastic hull yachts of the 1960s, the lower society had tried to approach the old quaint harbor coastal elite's lifestyles just as High-Fidelity...

...has caught on in a big way.  Right the above 26th Earl of Crawford, James Lindsay's yacht based on the Scottish built Cutty Sark set out on an expedition inspired by the Beagle.  By clicking on the photo for full view we enter into far off days of steam and sail powered ships, and we might imagine being on deck, enjoying the sea breezes. 

Left, 'the last true Daimler' as driven by the 29th Earl of Crawford in the 1970s had 123 mph as top speed via an automatic box , a V8 with 9.5 seconds 0-60 mph.  British Empire cars, were conservatively styled, even ugly and as such their driver would get noticed.

Lower market McDonald's BSR record players below have a tone near 200Hz-11KHz but Roger Russell went more in-depth with his Sonotone blog.  1973 Peerless O 610W, 162 x 268 MM copies 1950s EMI 10 x 6 (30Hz-20KHz) but of 50Hz lowest note and 18KHz top, inferior but available in the early 1970s. The elite Hi-Fi record player page top made in California by a military company does 20Hz-20KHz.  Right Bud Fried's 1960s IMF Compact with fiberglass doped EMI and Peerless core, gave Harvard graduates an elite only musical experience then absent from the US, 35Hz-20KHz.  B&o HT1000, 6208 was 45Hz from H65W.  The 1965 year Fiberglass doped Peerless 6.5-inch foam edge, similar to later 1973 year B 65WG.

Martin 352-A and -352CA controller are American Hi-Fi amplifiers
harman/kardon A30K, kit version of the A300 built by tube television techs.

Above Rogers Cadet III.

Left 12-inch Oaktron brand speaker for McDonald's BSR record players above.  The Single-Ended EL84 tube stereo power amplifier was from a Ward Airline console   All such Single-Ended speakers, even for the more powerful EL34 have tiny voice coil formers and speech domes.  Oaktron tweeters used a bipolar electrolytic condenser in network-free fashion.  The corrugated edge is for low Damping Factor in the tube amplifier and needs a suitable vintage. Below heavy to ship solid copper heat-sink in a REALISTIC STA-2000 follows a RadioShack claim to equal any...


  ...competition up to twice the price.  The difference between aluminum and copper saw 1960s British amplifiers use steel plates to keep prices down.  What we have depends on the best inputs and outputs.  A heat-sink is never too hot or cold for devices it's made for.  Steel plates are good and the REALISTIC STA-78 below is a Hi-Fi receiver with aluminum plate heat-sink and SANYO devices of Sansui amplifiers suited to rock and jazz.  Imported NAD 3020 have 1960s RCA output devices of American origin, only build and sound is lightweight for shipping.  Pioneer SX-440.

McIntosh XR19 Column speaker.

Right the harman/kardon A 402 is the 1970s, Solid State rival to the above tube amplifiers and suits alnico V magnets in the JBL Century L100 not working so well with all-ceramic magnet speakers, power only 40 watts for very high priced, wideband F.R. floor speakers.  The ceramic magnet equivalent of the A 402 is the Citation 19, both made by Hitachi.
Other harman/kardon.

Above Ward Airline Console Single-Ended EL84 tube stereo power amplifier.


Right the Pioneer 8500 Mk II is something like a Citation 19.  Pioneer speakers from 1976 - the HPM 100, probably resemble the JBL L100.  But in Britain the A 402 amplifier wasn't seen much outside elite use as way overpriced compared to Pioneer.  In California A 402 were supposedly bargains but not in the United Kingdom.

Left the illuminated power buttons of the early 1970s Hitachi made REALISTIC STA-65C are most often replaced by the 17-inch wide STA-65D OutputTransformerLess version, by Procom PR-1600 and 900 Rotel switches.  Below higher power than the similar-looking '72 year 65D, a 20 inch wide OTL STA-120B has silicon Hitachi output devices in place of germanium Bendix in 1969 transformer-coupled STA-120.

Right the lit power button made its debut in the harman/kardon Festival TA-230 in 1958, then continued in the 1960s 'Award Series'.  The Solid State A230 receiver has a shorter Alps made version than the A 402, its bulb often inside the button but sometimes mounted under it at the back on a rubber grommet. Although many think Rotel a British influenced company, due to its eventual merger with the Bowers & Wilkins, B&W, it's always been a Japanese based family-owned business, the founder originally from Taiwan.  The rare STA-48 below is an FM only version of the STA-45 with the Lo-D (Hitachi) 8-track cartridge system.  The speaker output transformers whilst very good in their day with germanium transistors just didn't measure up to silicon and OTL in effortless power and overall satisfaction.  REALISTIC STA-120 has 1950s germanium Bendix output devices to the later Hitachi made C1030 devices STA-120B, Rotel 120C with Sylvania EC130 Silicon output.

Left REALISTIC LAB-400 are working class and bought for their pick-up arm damping panel that prevents feedback howl at high volumes - akin to SONY's middle-class bio-tracer turntable.  The LAB-440 with a straight arm followed and gets less, so it may not be so good.  The 400 made by Hitachi is an impressive item at the price, reliable and useful to this day, not problematic.  LAB-500 is by SANYO and beat many exotic designs on sound quality.

The E.A. Heppner Manufacturing Co. of Illinois left made 15-inch baskets for church organ use and in the REALISTIC Nova 9, CTS of Kentucky added in a paper cone and surround that people remember with a 'plug magnet', an alnico dropped in where a voice coil once entered the yoke.  So these made a BIG sound but were low powered and disliked.  Lots of American console gramophones had these 15" units.

NOVA 9 is one step downmarket from a Fisher 11c, a 4 inch CTS squawker under the egg box enclosure boasts an aluminum speech dome.  The tweeter is a Radioshack Phenolic ring type from the CTS patent.  All have panel batting but an old grille cloth wrapped baffle hasn't won them a lot of friends, today Heppner speakers are largely forgotten.

Left REALISTIC Nova 9 with prestige Hi-Fi in a Vietnamese bazaar from the time of the American occupation and beyond.  Below Fisher 11c made by SANYO is one step upmarket from Nova 9, that the salesman proves can't take much power but have a very BIG sound at a lower volume.  The Fisher 11c is a SANYO made speaker that matched with a SANYO amplifier gives a nice sound, but won't be so great with all as brands compete.

Below British made speaker of 100dB from 1 watt might hope to compete with REALISTIC Nova 9.  These weren't Hi-Fi in that their sound was closer to Tannoy than EMI.  Many American lower market speakers are louder than Tannoy but only some Lo-Fi and Hi-Fi Altec Lansing are louder than 100dB for 1 watt.  All these loud systems match with the ideal equipment and in the video right, disco equipment is used.

Hartley-Luth speakers right.  The British EMI 16 x 12 elliptical is as rare and known affectionately as the 'Club'.  In cartomancy, the ace of clubs represents the strongest club card and symbolizes the occult power.

Above and left Oaktron CA-12, an American coaxial speaker for output tubes used in guitar amplifiers but engineered for recorded music instead.  Many performers use such old cores but although loud, don't last so long as those made for group musical instrument use.  Oaktron suit harman/kardon A 300 below in tricked out style, others too as giving at least 97dB for 1 watt.  Prices of Oaktron are still lower than other comparable cores but likely nearer Lo-Fi (elite expensive narrow F.R. vintage).  CA-12 has a 6.8oz AlNiCo V...

 ...motor right with 12-watt MAX on a 1-inch voice coil, a 6-watt in British figures.  The DECCA PX25 was developed after WW2 from Royal Navy submarine listening devices and is a 6-watt amplifier.  The RCA MI-9335 doesn't seem equal and is 1942 year vintage.  The bluebell right is a cap over the motor protecting from dampness making the magnets lose charge, having them recharged by someone like JBL will make a huge difference.  The bipolar cap may run-in with use and if replaced change the tonal character.  A chrome bell is a deluxe version with 1KHz more high-frequency sparkle for suitable equipment.

Left Oaktron S-270 Blue Bell (chrome bell version is upmarket) has a lighter magnet than CA-12 of F.R. 35Hz-14KHz and suits higher quality amplifiers.  The motor part of the speaker has a special wire and other materials for lower power, nearer 102dB for 1 watt but each needs different amplifier qualities.  Paper surround best suits amplifier Damping Factor under 10 so 1970s and recent amplifiers won't sound great, although loud enough, likely harsh and distorted.  35Hz low note of CA-12 depends on a power amplifier with larger output transformers than harman/kardon A-300 above.

Right, Oaktron twin cone, chrome magnet cover 12KBW of 25Hz-13KHz F.R., priced near CA-12HD, 25Hz-14KHz (chrome magnet cover version of the CA-12) both with 10.10 oz Alnico V magnet coaxial and 20 watts on 1.25-inch diameter aluminum voice coils, excellent for High Fidelity, Lo-Fi, a flat middle range response and superb high end.  Whizzer eliminates crossover distortion, appearing louder than co-axial.  Lo-Fi to 13KHz and 14KHz for Hi-Fi FM tuner perhaps.  If the basket is rusty, whizzers may not work as intended, devices relying on the good condition of glue and paper.

Left 1971 year Lafayette Minuette Model II, US lower market mock-up of US Benjamin EMI elliptical speakers and Coral BX-8.  3 watt 7 x 4" elliptical bass of Japanese origin has ported reflex increase sensitivity for low power Solid State amplifiers.  TIP31 and TIP32 as output stage use 4 x IN4000 diodes, a tweeter increase Minuette power handling to 5 watts for an F.R. of 80Hz - 19.5KHz.  TI, Texas Instruments 'P' for plastic envelope was 1960s devices of 30Hz-20KHz but sounded like tubes and were enjoyed mainly by hobby constructors.  'Practical Wireless' 'Texan' uses 60 volt TIP41A and TIP 42A, 80 volt B versions don't sound so good but have a little more power. The PW 'Texan' has a lightweight, airy and spacious sound with remarkable 3D images using 1960s tube amplifier speakers.  Bass between 30 and 80Hz was handled by a center mono channel below using a speaker like Oaktron above, EMI 555 with secondhand mono Lo-Fi amplifier.  Before the 1970s sub-woofers a center channel carried the DECCA full frequency 20-15K range, stereo separation affected in smaller apartments by speakers like Minuette II.  Below, Integrex made a ready built version of the 'PW Texan', the...

... name coming from Texas Instruments TIP plastic device output transistors based on tube sounds.  Amplifiers sought after and rightly so for low power that conjures 3D images and back in the day using a constructor's Wharfedale with a cabinet looking like a hexagon.  A 12-inch woofer and the purple 'fried-egg' squawker and tweeter noted of Rank Organization's mass-market early 1970s slimline amplifier.  Lower-market and lower class, the sound is perhaps dated today.  Below a cushion from an estate sale showing the owner's taste in decor.  To be sure these sets were proudly owned but resemble RT-VC and others of the lower society punter, not least AMSTRAD the brand of Baron Sugar of Clapton.

Left, Henelec (Henry's Radio) original PW TEXAN British shoe-box amplifier and below an AMSTRAD.  PW TEXAN has a Todd power transformer used at the time by Revox of Switzerland and more power gives the PW TEXAN its 3D images using Wharfedale W60 woofers, Rank DECCA fried egg squawker and tweeter, (1960s British Empire loudspeakers).  Buyers with AMSTRAD powering the Wharfedale W60 would be disappointed compared to sound with the PW TEXAN heard at a friend's place but the AMSTRAD aimed at custom made speakers from ITT, German made and US owned.  W60 speakers were aimed at the US export enthusiast buyer building his own cabinets and sound best with American semiconductors.  The AMSTRAD below has a much smaller power iron with a bestseller Philips output stage originally aimed at AlNiCo motors but with cheaper custom-made ferrous ring-magnet ITT speakers.

Right, an ITT speaker suited for the AMSTRAD above has an x-over styled like another driver.  The AMSTRAD Output is germanium and different from the PW TEXAN silicon sound.  Early Wharfedale W60 has an AlNiCo motor suited to germanium or tubes, where a later issue is a ferrous ring magnet motor suited to silicon tone amplifiers.  The idea that AMSTRAD were inferior largely comes from ignorance in hooking electronics to speakers.  Although AlNiCo motors are louder with their Ge Output stages, with silicon, the same loudspeakers sound quieter and not at all as good.

Above tube amplifiers like Fisher X-100 have a number of output tube types.

The gold speech dome 19 x 14 left below has a ruler flat 100-15KHz F.R. plot.

Although EMI 19 x 14 is mainly seen in cast basket 901 below or 950 above models, there's an early 1960s brown, stamped steel basket with a chrome magnet.  Speakers of the closed, upper society, they're unlikely to be found, nor detailed in many published plans.  The cone hand made in an old hat press works with an upmarket EMI S141 amplifier.

Left solid gold speech dome model isn't as loud but ruler flat inaccuracy.  People connected with EMI aren't well understood, higher social class and in various groups influencing their ways.

Left the elite Sir Anthony Blunt wouldn't have been filmed, but his spying group had surfaced and such an appearance is reminiscent of seeing an EMI 901 for the first time.  Educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge, a third cousin of the late Queen Mother and taking tea in the birthplace of the Queen, he's unforgettable.

Pamphonic reproducers

Right upper-class Guy Burgess in a television program.  Earmarked for the British Royal Navy, Burgess family's English roots can be traced to the arrival in Britain in 1592 of Abraham de Bourgeous de Chantilly, a refugee from the Huguenot religious persecutions in France.  DECCA Deccalian were swanky record players with US Single-Ended 6V6G output stage, later offered in a miniature envelope as 6BW6 but very hot like EL37.
Harvey Schwartz designed the Deccalian for Full Frequency 78 rpm records, 25Hz-15KHz using Goodmans Axiom 150.  Left Kim Philby - probably upper middle class, (despised gentry, rich but not noblemen or aristocratic).  Lower middle class (ladies and gentlemen) nearer the lower social classes (men and women) and working-class (workmen and womenfolk) in ways.

Right the lower social classes are a mass-market ranked beneath the lower middle class.  Here's an active speaker based on the BBC LS1/8, originally with an EMI woofer, later given a Wharfedale speaker from the 1970s British working class.  Below a record player of a similar nature to EMI 950 has styling copied to lower markets but with fixed tonearms in middle-class players.  The moving headshell cartridge later replaced by linear tracking record players gave zero tracking error.  Better priced as a US export it was carried by Olson in 1973 but is mostly unknown.

Below Hi-Fi 1950s Garrard 301 with lower-middle-class QUAD Solid State sets. Right, acoustic loading pattern for the Goodmans Axiom 10, a Full Range speaker intended for the QUAD II, its 22 controller and tuner sets.  Plywood rectangular port and a long baffle.  Cloth pattern seen is copied exactly and on the rear panel seen below left or won't sound its best. Triplex-sided enclosure prevents vibration as of 'dead box' construction.  QUAD II have a Damping Factor of 11 and the sound of the Axiom gives a somewhat strange tone, albeit a loud one, it is at the very least a pleasing sound but dated, like a powerful radiogram console with Beam tubes.

 

Left, in plain plywood Axiom 10 enclosures, the use of a particular wadding is seen.  The drivers are only 10 watt but aren't designed to use modern amplifiers whose D.F. rating will be too high, resulting in a poor low frequency response. Wadding used will make a different tone for the particular tube amplifier intended.  Goodmans Axiom speakers enjoy huge popularity in the U.S. where louder Al-Ni-Co motor early versions are preferred.  Using Low D.F. amplifiers near 11, will give best with Axiom 10, the push/pull Beam tube type preferred in the U.S.  5 watt tube 'Class A' amplifiers need much lower D.F. suited loudspeakers under 1 with Bass usually above 100Hz.  Axiom 10 are 40-15,000 c.p.s. tube speakers.

 Below, 1960s Lo-Fi Garrard 401 with mass-market LEAK sets and left, a LAB-80 by the same designer, has a Shure M55E and wooden pickup arm, the brand magically transforms vinyl records compared to 1970s Japanese turntables.

Left lower mass market linear tracking record player and harman kardon 'separates'.  Below a 1970s Dynatron gramophone (with a fixed tonearm version of the ZERO 100 INTERNATIONAL) and used by the lower middle class and mass market in Olson plinths, that use instead cheaper BSR McDonald in working-class RadioShack models.

Upper Middle class 1960s folding stereo by Ferguson, surprisingly modest equipment.

Left curious Far Eastern EMI with Pioneer choke and mid-1960s 92390CJ 20 watt woofer, modified to take a Bose 301 tweeter - Bose 301 may have developed from an EMI 711 and off-axis tweeters like the Leak Mini Sandwich and elite only EMI 92390B.8.X.

Leak TL25 is seen on the rack.  The seller of the cores right concluded they were junk, EMI widely and ingeniously modified in the Far East were considered the best of all speakers and worthy of work.  The photo captured above suggests they weren't junk but a Bose 301 prototype and that 'a picture is worth a thousand words'

Left the roll edge 350 does come in a 20-watt version but the magnet is weaker than the above.  The foam edge tweeter left is later covered with PVC below. Right Monitor Audio MA3 was found in CA in the US, other EMI boxes are widespread in Japan, Europe, and the USA.  Canada used round Jensen within HMV styled cabinets.
 








PR Audio Laboratories Milestone

Left a M.A.P.L. was an electronic attempt to bring all the drivers together for a better sound stage.  The black baffle 750 woofer version of the bare baffle 350 is likely to have had a 20 watt 350 at some time replaced.  Back in the day speaker systems for studios had these puzzling features.


Left HACKER 500B, 10-watt coil, 15-watt motor EMI 350 of above tweeter style, and tan color cone.  It might be offered that the amplifiers matching these were built to an exotic standard and that your amplifier may not be the best match.  Best buy something of a suitable vintage to get the best.

 

Right, 1960s EMI LE.300 with 92390FT, a 319 of the 10-watt coil and 15-watt motor.  Very similar core as the 350 in the HACKER 500B above but with a different tweeter cone color.  319 are more sensitive than 350, where the baffle isn't high-density chipboard and the thickness less than in Benjamin American market models.

 EMI 350 need Solid State rectifier tube amplifiers but if an amorphous core power transformer sound is in EMI 557 below it isn't mass market.  Below EMI 557 amplifier power supply selenium rectifiers.    REALISTIC will need some running and care to restore 'as new' sound.

Left, acoustic loading of the 92390BP is a single layer of carpet underlay applied as shown.  In later years the 350 uses white glass fiber batting but is a very different driver and the early 92390AL has yellow glass fiber, all of these catering to different drivers and hooked up amplifiers.  Enthusiasts will find themselves experimenting with different vintage batting but need to remember the tube/ germanium character of the 1960s Hi-Fi amplifiers that the aristocracy would have bought for their EMI 319, 92390BP cores.  Below, the Solid State Rectifier suits EMI 350, as opposed to the '319' and 1964 year 92390PE professional, using the strange yellow rectifier diode cans.

Left junkyard 555.  Click on the image for full view.  EMI 557 power amplifier below has bigger mains iron than in HMV 557 differing as Rolls Royce and Bentley with different grille and badges.  EL84 output tubes and perhaps an elite only Gold-Silicon amorphous core power transformer left above, before 'Stable Ferromagnetic', cool running and longer in life.

Right, detail of the Siemens rectifier module in the Stereoscope 555 hails the Hungarian EAG (Budapesti Elektro Akusztikai Gyárbased) based on the above 1959 year EA-057 and ER-057.  EL34 gives 50Hz-15KHz +/-3dB.  Older Rafilm cinema amplifiers.  HE Iain Lindsay OBE.

Left the Beam Echo SPA-11 made by England's Thorn Electrical is stereo but the shielded-off boxes suggest smaller Output Transformers than EMI above.  The maker of the Stereoscope resembles BEAG more than Thorn Electrical.  Click on images for full-size view.

Above and below very rare 10-watt motor EMI 350, the 92390EW aimed at Solid State rectifier EMI amplifiers like the 557 right.  The later tweeter is fitted with no visible voice coil wires.

Click on image for full size.  1960 year US$150 = $2500 at a modern rate of exchange.

With an EMI 555 amplifier, DLS 529 beat anything else in the 1960s USA.

The left HMV 556 control amplifier differs slightly from the EMI version.  At top right is seen the rectangular style mains transformer, the EMI version has a small, curious canned power iron.  Left Radford TT100, a KT88 power amplifier.



Left Lowther amplifier, British hi-End ($US26000 secondhand stereo set) with rectangular power iron.  Curved edge in EMI 557 may be an elite only Gold-Silicon Amorphous Metal Core type by Klement developed at Caltech, know-how acquired by Hitachi Metals.  EMI Dutton DLS 529 with integrated 555 beat all in the 1950s US mass market.

 Grant Lumley G60S was a British amplifier using EL34 aimed at lower market EMI LE.4 left, seen in a mansion house among leaded stained glass windows, removed after double glazing, on a large, expensive Persian rug with some redundant air conditioning units.  The LE.4 was supposedly available but in those days we couldn't get elite only mass-market items like the Goodmans TwinAxiom8.  They were in certain publications.  There was a surprising exclusion of customers not distinguished in some way, for example by their elite school, and only when these stores closed everybody discovers what had been hidden in stockrooms for somebody else.  Below, 1965 EMI 105, 14 x 9 woofer with cloth edge carpet underlay batting.














Right the 1950s EMI Glyndebourne IV amplifier and tuner for the EMI 9206 speaker so inspired Boffins at Cambridge University that in 1972 the Cambridge Audio P50 amplifier and T55 tuner were offered with a tall narrow KEF cored speaker below based on THORN Electrical's 1960 year Beam Echo...


... EMI cored speakers.  1972 was a watershed year of changing ways.  Left, the Cambridge Audio R50 speaker for the P50 amplifier used the KEF B139 flat diaphragm mass-market woofer based on EMI's superior elite only ellipticals.  Although Cambridge Audio was the lower market, some were superb, this R50 occupies a large private garden.  English salespeople repeated the claim that every Cambridge Audio design was the work of that University but it seems less likely.  The KEF B139 woofer is still highly regarded by those, not in large cities aware of Dynaudio BM15 that doesn't need the tall, narrow R50 style of today.  Dynaudio has some very rare 'large bookshelf' models not easily found on the internet today, powerful and pricey that outperform the KEF B139.

 

 

 

 Right, a REVOX speaker from the Swiss reel to reel tape recorder firm regarded by many as the Rolls Royce of mass-market Hi-Fi brands.  Bernie Appel had the same Isophon tweeters in his 1977 Optimus-X30, 20 and 10 speakers of the European market.  REVOX always hired others to make their speakers and the Whizzer cone in the squawker is interesting due to the flared baffle cutouts recommended by Goodmans for their TwinAxiom8.  German speakers like Isophon differ greatly from RadioShack that was very popular with a lower society 'best value' buyer.

 

Left, the  EMI  15/CD 6.5 inch squawker, often used as a full range unit as sold by RS Components in England, 15 ohm and 8 ohm at 400Hz.  Gap Flux 7500 Gauss, Total, 33,000 Maxwells.  F.R. 70Hz-16KHz, Free Air Resonance: 60Hz.  Power Handling, 10 watts R.M.S.  Speech Coil Diameter: 1 inch.  Cabinet 12mm ply or chipboard, externally H250 x W220 x D150 mm.  19 x 19 mm batten.  Glass Fiber acoustic wadding covering inner panels, glued, screwed and caulked.  Many of the whizzer cone full range speakers are suitable as high sensitivity squawkers.

Far left, the 'High Dome' tweeter is the Isophon REVOX unit above.  The TwinCone squawker midrange isn't offered in the RadioShack enthusiast catalog but a choice of two wide-range units without a Whizzer so avoiding its narrow dispersion.  The dome squawker was favored by RadioShack for wide dispersion and stock receivers meant to be improved by engineers, the Isophon speakers offered to suit.  A few hobbyist tinkered with receivers may appear on internet auction sites.  Ready made x-overs allow quicker results.  Isophon low frequency isn't so deep as EMI but mass-market.  Early 1960s EMI were made by the German Siemens.

 

Left, ECL85 Output Stage in the B&o 608 using Peerless AlNiCo motor full range drivers below.  Philips MiniWatt ECL 85 is a 7 watt tube giving more scope than 4 watt British ECL 86 used in the Armstrong 227 and the 608 has tweeters where the 227 would need a whizzer twin coned or single cone drive unit.  Elderly tubes need matching speakers.
 

Right, a number of low power Peerless speakers aimed at Bang & Olufsen of the early 1960s.  Data informs the reader that Bass Resonance is 100Hz or more, they're small diameter, loud and considered awesome mass-market units, the sound of New York besides the Limited Production and upmarket EMI 13 x 8 speakers.  Although only 6 watts, the cores were mounted in tall narrow wooden cabinets, some only 3-ohm and today for that reason, largely obsolete and forgotten, unknown by younger buyers as using very elderly Audio equipment with either ancient tubes or germanium Solid State amplifiers.  A group of followers are more interested in vintage 1960s High Fidelity used by elite buyers of that era.  The 1960s is today thought the most awesome decade in world consumer history and the sound of Peerless speakers with Bang & Olufsen or Tandberg, is so exceptional that many in the lower society couldn't think of better but of course EMI was better.  Photo: deceased estate

Right, a British Mordaunt-Short x-over and enclosure shows a large scale iron-cored coil, a size judged by engineers not as great as the giants of Klipsch of the US but better than in SONY Carbocon speakers of the however rave reviewed V-FET amplifiers using such dubious components.  Irving 'Bud' Fried of the Harvard University community, also used the small iron core inductor in his IMF compact Transmission Line speakers, so beware of differences in elite ideas of what's best.  An electrolytic is parallel wired with a solid capacitor thereby taking up a combined sound quality, a seriously High End trick for hobbyists to copy when using a solid capacitor at least one tenth of the electrolytic can value.  Rank of England's Wharfedale mounted these brown plastic x-over boards on foam and IMF used acoustic wadding, both improving resolution in that type of x-over board.

Above 100 watt A78 Mk.II and left, the 80 watt power of the Revox A78 Mk.1 is similar to what RadioShack used with the Optimus X-30.  Sound of these is usually colored by age needing refurbished to give best.  The raw sound improves with use but may never fully recover from years of storage in an attic or outhouse and in those cases needs recapped and new soldering.

Above the 1960s Goodmans Module 80 and right its large smoothing cans replaced with small ones similar to late 1970s British designed and far eastern built NAD 3020 power supply.  Solid copper wire needs tested for heating effect with your load current or could glow red hot but solid wire is tidier than stranded cable.  Smoothing caps in these had wore out quick.

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