Flashback67
Member
Just joined Audiokarma after lurking for a couple weeks an realizing what a wealth of information the members of this forum are.
My wife and I recently purchased a Mid Century Modern home circa 1967. The home was originally built for a newly wed couple as a gift from their wealthy families. Architecturally the home was ahead of it's time, with a big open floor plan, electric drapes, remote lighting controls, and a media room stereo speakers in every room. We would have never been able to afford a home like this built new, but because the neighborhood schools are not the best, the price was right. Sadly though the floor plan did not provide any good locations to position my Klipsch Cornwalls I had owned for 30 years or my Yamaha NS-670 monitors I had owned for 40. So I sold them for more than I paid for and started a fund to up grade the homes audio system.
In the home's custom built solid oak media center survived a visually pristine Dual 109 turn table and a Sony 250 reel to reel player. After researching forum members positive comments on this equipment I plan to rebuild the Dual, but am still undecided on the reel to reel. Sadly the rest of the home's original electronics were missing. In it's place were installed a low end receiver and CD player.
My original plan was to just keep the turn table and reel to reel and replace everything else with modern electronics starting with the speakers. At one time I had dreamed of buying a tube amp to power my Cornwalls, but priorities change. The first speakers on the list for replacing were the wall mounted speakers in the media center. Pulling off the grills I was surprised to discover a pair of coaxial 15" speakers in excellent condition. Following some research on this forum I learned the speakers were EV Wolverine LT- 15. A little more research I learned how to adjust the "Brightness" knobs and the speakers started to come alive. With a little work on the surrounds and powered by a good amp they should sound great.
After the pleasant surprise discovering the Wolverines I decided to find out what was behind the grills in the other room's ceiling speakers. What I found was both good and bad. The good was instead of finding a simple 6" speaker screwed to a hole in the ceiling I found a "small" acoustic suspension speaker. The "small" speakers measure 12' X 12' X 16', have a 6" woofer, an EV horn tweeter, and are constructed of 3/4" high grade plywood. Very heavy and painted black.
Now the bad. The woofer surrounds were literarily gone, and the cones crumbled to the touch. Even worse the woofer is installed from the back and the cabinets must have been installed in the ceiling before the plaster board, so the hole in the ceiling is smaller than the speaker making easy removal impossible.
Now my request for technical help;
1) Does anyone have an idea on what manufacture these speakers may be?
2) Is it worth trying to salvage these ceiling speakers?
3) Any suggestions for power electronics or system repair/upgrades?
Heading outside to check out the built patio speakers....
My wife and I recently purchased a Mid Century Modern home circa 1967. The home was originally built for a newly wed couple as a gift from their wealthy families. Architecturally the home was ahead of it's time, with a big open floor plan, electric drapes, remote lighting controls, and a media room stereo speakers in every room. We would have never been able to afford a home like this built new, but because the neighborhood schools are not the best, the price was right. Sadly though the floor plan did not provide any good locations to position my Klipsch Cornwalls I had owned for 30 years or my Yamaha NS-670 monitors I had owned for 40. So I sold them for more than I paid for and started a fund to up grade the homes audio system.
In the home's custom built solid oak media center survived a visually pristine Dual 109 turn table and a Sony 250 reel to reel player. After researching forum members positive comments on this equipment I plan to rebuild the Dual, but am still undecided on the reel to reel. Sadly the rest of the home's original electronics were missing. In it's place were installed a low end receiver and CD player.
My original plan was to just keep the turn table and reel to reel and replace everything else with modern electronics starting with the speakers. At one time I had dreamed of buying a tube amp to power my Cornwalls, but priorities change. The first speakers on the list for replacing were the wall mounted speakers in the media center. Pulling off the grills I was surprised to discover a pair of coaxial 15" speakers in excellent condition. Following some research on this forum I learned the speakers were EV Wolverine LT- 15. A little more research I learned how to adjust the "Brightness" knobs and the speakers started to come alive. With a little work on the surrounds and powered by a good amp they should sound great.
After the pleasant surprise discovering the Wolverines I decided to find out what was behind the grills in the other room's ceiling speakers. What I found was both good and bad. The good was instead of finding a simple 6" speaker screwed to a hole in the ceiling I found a "small" acoustic suspension speaker. The "small" speakers measure 12' X 12' X 16', have a 6" woofer, an EV horn tweeter, and are constructed of 3/4" high grade plywood. Very heavy and painted black.
Now the bad. The woofer surrounds were literarily gone, and the cones crumbled to the touch. Even worse the woofer is installed from the back and the cabinets must have been installed in the ceiling before the plaster board, so the hole in the ceiling is smaller than the speaker making easy removal impossible.
Now my request for technical help;
1) Does anyone have an idea on what manufacture these speakers may be?
2) Is it worth trying to salvage these ceiling speakers?
3) Any suggestions for power electronics or system repair/upgrades?
Heading outside to check out the built patio speakers....