Anyone Familiar With These Speakers
- Thread starter racfan9
- Start date
Yes, Utah made complete speaker systems. They’re not fashionable (and never were) but some sound pretty good. That’s all I can tell you.
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Could be HS1-C or another along those lines. Look up "Utah speakers" at AK and see if you find any other models. The HS1-C had a 12" woofer. Cabinets are usually heavy with nice veneer, drivers so-so and crossovers minimal. The HS1-C ran the woofer wide open with a cap for the tweeter. OK for garage speakers or for repurposing the nice cabinets but not top of the heap.
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Use the exact values. OK to go higher on voltage ratings. The crossover can be upgraded but it takes quite a bit of testing and design, otherwise it's shooting in the dark.
f0427ea
Super Member
I think so to
I can't vouch for the WD90, but I had a couple of HS1-C.
Utah stuff tends to get widely reviled, but the Heritage HS1-C was a budget entry into high sensitivity that could sound quite acceptable if you binned all the connectors, resistor, capacitor, L-pad, and wiring, and replaced with fresh.
Utah Trivia:
Utah bought Stephens Trusonic in the late 60's (shortening the name to Trusonic), and for a while continued to produce the older premium drivers in California (in green paint!) alongside Trusonic-badged speakers made in Indiana indistinguishable from the Utah line.
Utah were masters of OEM, and you'll find their cabinets labelled Knight, Layfayette, and dozens of house brands. Raw drivers were provided to Lafayette, Seeburg, Fender, Silvertone, and others.
When Utah finally folded, its Huntington manufacturing facilities were put to use by a former employee as the original Pyle company before it was gobbled up by Harman and eventually sent to brand hell under the current ownership.
Utah is remembered as one of the leading former American purveyors of undistinguished, even crappy, budget speakers, on par with, say, Oaktron. Compare to Eminence, CTS, and Jensen's "Special Design" OEM label, which inhabited the same sphere, but don't cause contemporary audiophiles to scrunch their faces up quite as much.
Utah stuff tends to get widely reviled, but the Heritage HS1-C was a budget entry into high sensitivity that could sound quite acceptable if you binned all the connectors, resistor, capacitor, L-pad, and wiring, and replaced with fresh.
Utah Trivia:
Utah bought Stephens Trusonic in the late 60's (shortening the name to Trusonic), and for a while continued to produce the older premium drivers in California (in green paint!) alongside Trusonic-badged speakers made in Indiana indistinguishable from the Utah line.
Utah were masters of OEM, and you'll find their cabinets labelled Knight, Layfayette, and dozens of house brands. Raw drivers were provided to Lafayette, Seeburg, Fender, Silvertone, and others.
When Utah finally folded, its Huntington manufacturing facilities were put to use by a former employee as the original Pyle company before it was gobbled up by Harman and eventually sent to brand hell under the current ownership.
Utah is remembered as one of the leading former American purveyors of undistinguished, even crappy, budget speakers, on par with, say, Oaktron. Compare to Eminence, CTS, and Jensen's "Special Design" OEM label, which inhabited the same sphere, but don't cause contemporary audiophiles to scrunch their faces up quite as much.
Sandstrom
Seldom turns out the way it does in the song
Nice history. I knew some of that but the later information is interesting. I've always felt that although somewhat middle of the road in stock form that Utah's have good potential for modification/re-purposing, the cabinets alone are solid and well built.
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
The heavy (even hernia-inducing) 15" CTS woofers in my Dad's LWE's would take issue with being referred to as undistinguished or crappy. But that would be off topic, so we won't dwell on it. 
