Fried Speaker Pick-up/ID needed

[Wolverine]

Spotted an ad on CL advertising a pair of "Vintage Fried Speakers" that despite my satisfaction with my current set-up got my interest. I have a vague familiarity that Fried produced some highly regarded speakers I have no knowledge of them. Fortunately the seller and I worked a fair price given that we both did not no what model they are and I picked them up today.

The ad clearly mentioned the incorrect model but the model # is clearly missing. Perhaps they were stickers that peeled off. They are covered with a faux leather material rather than a veneer with a foam grill that attaches by strips attached to the front. Fairly heavy and have a trapezoid shape to them. Dimensions are; H14" W10" Base and 6" at the top. There is a 1" tweeter and 5" woofer.

From what I could find they look like what Fried called a Satellite speaker - possibly a model C but I just know. Are there any Fried experts out there that could assist with an ID?

 

[yesshows77]

I'm no Fried expert, but those look like a model C3L.

 

[Wolverine]

I'm no Fried expert, but those look like a model C3L.

You might be right as they look very similar. From what I have seen with the C3L's is that they have 6.5 woofers where as the ones I have I think are smaller unless measure from the basket edge to basket edge but I always thought speakers were measured from surround edge to surround edge.

 

[JimPA]

View attachment 1207163 View attachment 1207164 Spotted an ad on CL advertising a pair of "Vintage Fried Speakers" that despite my satisfaction with my current set-up got my interest. I have a vague familiarity that Fried produced some highly regarded speakers I have no knowledge of them. Fortunately the seller and I worked a fair price given that we both did not no what model they are and I picked them up today.

The ad clearly mentioned the incorrect model but the model # is clearly missing. Perhaps they were stickers that peeled off. They are covered with a faux leather material rather than a veneer with a foam grill that attaches by strips attached to the front. Fairly heavy and have a trapezoid shape to them. Dimensions are; H14" W10" Base and 6" at the top. There is a 1" tweeter and 5" woofer.

From what I could find they look like what Fried called a Satellite speaker - possibly a model C but I just know. Are there any Fried experts out there that could assist with an ID?

Those are the first Fried model C satellite speaker.
Dalesford 6.5" bextrene cone and Dynaudio D-28H tweeter.
The dimensions should be 10.5" width at the bottom, 6" at the top.
The height is 13.5" and the depth is 9".

I also saw the add. but can't find it now.
IIRC there also was a pair of the B1 models.
It looks like one of the D-28H tweeters were trashed in the add I saw a few weeks back.
index.php

 

[Wolverine]

Those are the first Fried model C satellite speaker.
Dalesford 6.5" bextrene cone and Dynaudio D-28H tweeter.
The dimensions should be 10.5" width at the bottom, 6" at the top.
The height is 13.5" and the depth is 9".

I also saw the add. but can't find it now.
IIRC there also was a pair of the B1 models.
It looks like one of the D-28H tweeters were trashed in the add I saw a few weeks back.
index.php

Jim I think you are on the money based on the dimensions. Anything else you can tell me would be appreciated since there doesn't seem to be much on the Web on these. I have become a fan of Dalesford woofers after putting a pair in my BBC Monitors a couple of months ago.

I have heard some Fried speakers could be bought as a kit so not sure how to tell. I would think the vinyl covering would be less likely to be part of a kit but I don't know.

 

[JimPA]

Jim I think you are on the money based on the dimensions. Anything else you can tell me would be appreciated since there doesn't seem to be much on the Web on these. I have become a fan of Dalesford woofers after putting a pair in my BBC Monitors a couple of months ago.

I have heard some Fried speakers could be bought as a kit so not sure how to tell. I would think the vinyl covering would be less likely to be part of a kit but I don't know.

Those appear to be factory assembled models.
The kits never came with grills.
Fried only sold kits in his TOTL models.
I tried to buy a pair of Q4 in kit model but they were not available as kits.

The first model C can handle more power and play louder then the Ls3/5a speaker.
Many years ago my friends took a pair of model C satellites to a dealer to compare to the Ls3/5a.
The owner eventually conceded that the Fried's were superior and asked us to leave.

I know that the early model C used a stock D153/50 woofer then later models used an oem Dalesford.
I have talked to Bill of Millersound / who has repaired Kef and Dalesford drivers.
He told me the Dalesford were a superior design.

Back in the early 1980's Dalesford woofers were hailed in the former Speaker Builder publication as being superior to Kef and Audax bextrene cone woofers.

 

[JimPA]

Here is a photo of the motor structure of last oem Fried 6.5" Dalesford I bought back in 1993.
There were not many of these made according to Fried.
They are the D153/80 model.
The Dalesford is on the right and the C6 Gefco composite cone is on the left.

The photo below is a stock D153/50 that was on Ebay a few years ago
.

 

[Wolverine]

Jim -Thanks so much for the info!! I guess given the LS3/5 comparison it is appropriate I have them sitting on the Monitors which are a early version of LS3/6's.

I have had some good bookshelf speakers but I think these may turn out to be the best yet!

 

[JimPA]

Jim -Thanks so much for the info!! I guess given the LS3/5 comparison is appropriate I have them sitting on the Monitors which are a early version of LS3/6's.

I have had some good bookshelf speakers but I think these may turn out to be the best yet!

Just remember that if there would be a tweeter problem there are no suitable replacements for the D-28H tweeter.
The Morel MDT-37 morel-cat-378-1-1-8-soft-dome-horn-tweeter--277-084 faceplates are smaller then the D28H.

Fried used horn loaded domes on sloped front baffles for correct time alignment and zero plain delay.

The only problem with Dalesford woofers is the PVC surround coming loose from the driver frame.
This is why I contacted Bill at Millersound.
He told me this was because the surrounds were glued to paper to make it easier for hand assembly when they were being built.
This was the reason for most of Bill's repairs with Dalesford woofers.

 

[Wolverine]

Just remember that if there would be a tweeter problem there are no suitable replacements for the D-28H tweeter.
The Morel MDT-37 morel-cat-378-1-1-8-soft-dome-horn-tweeter--277-084 faceplates are smaller then the D28H.

Fried used horn loaded domes on sloped front baffles for correct time alignment and zero plain delay.

The only problem with Dalesford woofers is the PVC surround coming loose from the driver frame.
This is why I contacted Bill at Millersound.
He told me this was because the surrounds were glued to paper to make it easier for hand assembly when they were being built.
This was the reason for most of Bill's repairs with Dalesford woofers.

I have only about 3 hours listening time with them and based on that there doesn't seem to be any problems with the drivers. I suspect it is hard to damage the vinyl covering but all signs point to the fact that these appear to have been well taken care of by their previous owner.

 

[JimPA]

I have only about 3 hours listening time with them and based on that there doesn't seem to be any problems with the drivers. I suspect it is hard to damage the vinyl covering but all signs point to the fact that these appear to have been well taken care of by their previous owner.

Wolverine I look forward to hearing your opinion of their sound.

I would replace the caps and resistors if the previous owner hadn't.
Fried always skimped on caps and resistors.
He did use air core inductors in his designs.

 

[Wolverine]

Well I have spent several more hours with them today listening to a variety of music mostly from my limited SACD collection.

I continue to be amazed by depth of sound these speakers produce. I am not a audio writer by any stretch of the imagination so forgive my inability to use the proper/acceptable audio terminology.

I started out this morning pairing them up with my Sherbourn LDS2/75 amplifier which has a line-level input and my Oppo DV981HD Univeral SACD/CD player. Since I didn't want to wake the house I started out with Nick Drake's "A Treasury" and they handled this title with ease letting you hear every twang and twitch of Nick's guitar playing. Vocals were dead center and amazingly clear. I moved onto Linn Records "Linn Selektions" and was treated with a taste that these bookshelf speakers can go lower than their size would indicate. Some Dave Brubeck "London Sharp - London Flat" showed that they could separate and present an accurate presentation of a 4 piece Jazz group. And so it went with a variety of titles and with each one my appreciation grew. The only title where they had a noticeable struggle with the music was a Living Stereo SACD of Mahler's "Symphony #4" proved a little too complex for this little 2-way to give good separation. However when there was a quiet passage they again showed their strength and produced some stunning highs especially with bells. I capped my listening off with one of my reference discs the SACD version of Dire Straits "Brother in Arms". Drums were tight and Knopfler's guitar was clear and sustained as recorded. Up until now the Celestion SL6si were the best bookshelf speakers I had owned but these Fried easily beat the sound of the Celestion'.