XP Series Speakers 1959-1973

Give the caps a few weeks to completely break in. I've heard anywhere from 50 to 200 hours for Solens caps.
 
The Solens I used in my XP 10's took about 2 weeks of playing about an hour or two a day and then they really hit their sweet spot. I've been very happy with the results.
 
I didn't keep good track of the time, but I would say somewhere between 25 and 50 hours and I find I'm in the sweet spot. Very pleased with this restoration project.
 
Outstanding thread! Great stuff from everyone that has contributed with their known info and experience. The Red1, thanks for starting and managing this along the way.

Thought I would add what I have and come across that may also be of help.

I have picked up 2 sets of The Fishers recently. The XP-1 and the XP10's. both are in very good unmolested condition and I have them in the que for cap replacement and whatever else they might need. The Tweeter on XP10's are long gone which in reading thru this thread seems fairly typical for that original Bill Hecht soft dome. I thought I would share some photos in the event it helps others along the way. Here are the XP-1's:

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IMG_20160527_111824.jpg IMG_20160527_111811_kindlephoto-165444580.jpg HI - Just FYI. I have nice pair of XP-55A that I've owned since about 1973. A while back, I replaced the grill cloths with black fabric window screen and I painted the front panels black as well. I've been using them on my man-cave Sony/PC stack for a few years, but am going to try them out on my Onkyo HT one of these days as the primary stereo pair. I'm sure to need to proceed with caution. Pics attached.
 
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View attachment 738463 View attachment 738462 HI - Just FYI. I have nice pair of XP-55A that I've owned since about 1973. A while back, I replaced the grill cloths with black fabric window screen and I painted the front panels black as well. I've been using them on my man-cave Sony/PC stack for a few years, but am going to try them out on my Onkyo HT one of these days as the primary stereo pair. I'm sure to need to proceed with caution. Pics attached.
I had the XP-55C and thought them the worst sounding properly working speaker system I ever owned, tho' if I found another set today I'd give them another chance.
 
I've got a pair of 55B's and they sound almost as good as my NLA's. In between my Scott S-10's and S15's.
 
I've got a pair of 55B's and they sound almost as good as my NLA's. In between my Scott S-10's and S15's.

Larry, do you happen know how much wattage the 55b can handle? I tried a listen test on the bigger amp, they sounded good, but I don't want to blow them. Thanks a lot for the feedback

Z1968XP-55B.jpg
 
Not a one. I will say that they are comfortable being played with all of my FISHER gear, both Tube and S.S. and most of the S.S. is in the 50-60watt range. I'm not 20 anymore, and my ears aren't even 50 anymore, so I tend to the Soft side of the Volume control now, as my Hi-Freq. hearing repsonse is very much like Bill Hecht's Soft domes now. DEAD! You know you are running bookshelves but when listening you seem not to notice that too much.
 
Saw a pair of xp 6b speakers today at my local goodwill. In pretty good shape...grill covers in good condition...popped em off...drivers looked good. They reminded me of my klh model six's...a little smaller though. I didn't get a chance to hear them. They wanted 20 bucks. I cheaped out and passed. If they're next time i go maybe I'll test em out.
 
One more thing about the xp 6b speakers I saw earlier today...they did have cloth surrounds...similar to my klh's. Now I wish I bought them...lol. Ive got a 500b in my man cave...I could have tried them out on.
 
Go back and get them, cheapskate.:D With Cloth surrounds they're usually better than the foam surrounds.
 
Question for the fisher speaker experts out there, i have only 1 of what i assume was a pair of Fisher XP-2A the grill mat is excellent the drivers/woofers and surrounding speakers look to be in very good condition( no dry cracked crap) all the badges are on it, but the cabinet has some scratches in it and a few places need to be sanded, basically it needs a little wood work done to it nothing crazy thought. I have the tools and space and experience to do it but does anyone know about these speakers?? Is it worth it only having one speaker, i know they are from the 60's and they are pretty damn sexy in my opinion but WTF do i know thats why i am here. Any info would be greatly appreciated THANKS
 
If you have one, and an amp or receiver with a center channel output it's possible to use it for that. Or find another and use them for stereo. Read the posts from sipuser in this thread (page 1 or 2). Lot's of useful info on tweeters and replacements of the Hecht soft dome.
 
Not really worth too much effort unfortunately. I would put it aside in the event you come into a 2nd one but not do the work until you do.
 
Is it possible that the pictures that illustrate the different models could be inserted direct here instead of linking to Photobucket? I have some links that I posted on other sites to my own photos and I see the same verbage from Photobucket about third-party links now and the photos are not visible at those locations.

Joe
 
It can be done. If they are on your computer, just drag and drop it into this box and they;ll be automatically uploaded. Then set the cursor where you want them and scroll down below the box and you'll see thumbnails of the pics. To the right, are buttons for Thumbnails and full size image.

It'll probably take Red a week or 2 to modify all the posts by deleting all reference to the photobucket links and doing a direct drop. When he has time I don't know. I'm doing that to my old posts and threads as I come along to them.
 
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