Atlantic Oracle 4

[toxcrusadr]

The bottom pair shouldn't be right on the floor, I'm thinking. I would need some kind of a base to set it on. Obviously it would have to be fairly heavy - three of these = 171 lb. What do you think, concrete blocks with a blanket over them?

 

[tyella]

The bottom pair shouldn't be right on the floor, I'm thinking. I would need some kind of a base to set it on. Obviously it would have to be fairly heavy - three of these = 171 lb. What do you think, concrete blocks with a blanket over them?

That should work!
Have you listened to the mega stack yet?

 

[toxcrusadr]

Still working on surrounds, only my existing pair is up and running at present. Between the two new pairs, the M&K double sub, and a pair of Infinities, I've got 12 woofers to refoam and the foams haven't arrived yet. Here's hoping spring doesn't come TOO soon!

 

[toxcrusadr]

BTW the two new pairs are one set of IV's and one set of III's. So the Oracle Mega Stack (OMS) will be, two sets of IV's on the bottom and the III's above.

I wonder if Dennydog is still around and still has his pair. I think he's been at Twangfest-KC before.

 

[tyella]

 

[toxcrusadr]

I know this is an Oracle IV thread, but someone suggested making it a general Oracle thread so: Here's a schematic of the Oracle III crossover which I am recapping right now. They may be the same as the IV which I can verify as I have both models.



Fairly standard crossover with a couple interesting points. The high midrange driver operates from its crossover point all the way up - there is no upper limit to its input. I expect it rolls off somewhere in the region where the tweeter takes over.

The low mid (mid woofer) has a 7.5 ohm resistor on it and that's the only resistor anywhere in the circuit. That driver must be a lot more sensitive than the others to require that much padding.

I don't know the value of the 3 iron core inductors yet. They are not marked and I don't own an inductance meter, so I'll have to wait till I get to another AKer's shop who has one.

I'll post more when I'm done with some restoration on these and the second pair of IV's. I'm putting Dayton metallized poly caps in for the 4 and 16, and electrolytics for the 50's.

 

[DonQuixote99]

A wonderful project you've got going.

My just completed project was flipping the living room, as in moving all the electronics from one wall to the opposite one. Took three days. I'm liking the results--better speaker placement (though still not really right), and no more window glare on the TV, and better accessibility.

Atlantics would not fit in this room, I fear....

 

[toxcrusadr]

Sure they would, just lose some of that furniture! Who needs furniture when you can have stereo?

 

[DonQuixote99]

I'm of the firm opinion that even a listening room should seat more than one....

 

[toxcrusadr]

Found this bit on Stereophile's forum posted by a "Mudgie" in Apr. 2016. Mudgie posted one post in another Oracle thread here at AK in Aug. 2017.

I corrected the names ("Team 3" to "Oracle 3") since he corrected himself anyway in a subsequent post on the Stereophile thread.

"In days gone by - 1970's, I worked in the plant that made these speakers. Becker Electronics Manufacturing Corporation in East Durham, New York has long since been closed. I was a supervisor on the line that assembled these speaker systems. The plant purchased the baskets, ceramic magnets, gaskets, cones, glass and maybe a few other components but all other components such as the voice coils, cross-over networks and cabinets were produced in-house. The cabinets were made of 3/4" walnut veneered cabinet grade particle board. These speaker systems were of a "different" design compared to all the others we made. The Oracle 1 was a bookshelf speaker whereas all the others were floor designs. The Oracle 3 was a great speaker system comprised (as well as I can remember) of a 10" woofer paired with a 12" passive radiator, 5" mid range speaker wrapped in its own enclosure and a 3" flare-dome tweeter wrapped in its own enclosure as well. These were mounted on top of the cabinet that enclosed the woofer/radiator combo. They were surrounded by a wood framed cloth covered grill that was topped off by a glass plate. The whole system was designed to double as an end table. I used to test these speakers with an oscilloscope and music. For the time, they produced very smooth deep bass to sparkling treble which rivaled the quality of any of the other speakers we made. I know the new systems have evolved to heights unknown to us at the time but still I'll bet they'll hold their own."

Interesting about the glass making it more suitable as an end table. I had not seen that angle before. Actually since I am working on a pair of III's right now, I suggest they are a bit tall for end tables. Maybe the Oracle II would be more suited but I've never seen a pair in person and don't know the height. Apparently they were in fact made at the Becker factory. I thought Becker made the drivers and assumed they were put together by Atlantic Corp. in Minneapolis. Apparently I was wrong about that assumption.

 

[toxcrusadr]

By the way, these speakers are not to be confused with the Atlantis "Atlantean" line, of which there was a model III. Completely different speaker, apparently made by Winona Industries in Winona MN. I assume made for Atlantic like the Oracles were made for them by Becker. The Atlanteans had a vertical driver arrangement.



The label on this thing is formatted exactly like the Oracles -- they used a fair amount of flowery language like "Acoustic Specifications", listed the crossover frequencies, the whole works. Just like on the Oracles. I believe the Atlantean line came slightly after the Oracles but don't take my word for it. They were also said (by some owners who have posted around the web) to be not that great.

 

[toxcrusadr]

The directory of defunct audio manufacturers says this about ATL/Atlantis. Refers you to an entry called 'Target' - which I assume is not the Target big box stores we all know today, but who knows.

ATL Atlantis/ATL Award See --> Target (Loudspeakers - USA mid 1970's to early 80's)
Target - USA based chain of retail stores, while their consumer retail divisions mostly sell branded goods from various well known companies they have a brand called Trutech that they use on budget Asian sourced AV electronics. The Minnesota based company has traditionally traded as the Dayton-Hudson Corporation but the company itself has been known under an unusually large number of names including "Team Central Inc.", in the 70's Target sold their own branded audio electronics under the Soundtrack name and loudspeakers under the Atlantis name and variants thereof such as ATL Atlantis and ATL Award.

http://audiotools.com/t.html#targetusa

 

[Nat]

A vacuum clean hose approaching those pushed in lower tweeters or midranges would improve their appearance and maybe their performance.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Sure would. I stole that pic off the web so who knows if the owner ever did that.

 

[Greg W.]

I narrowly missed a set of heavy speakers on Freecycle that I haven't heard of before, just wondering if they were any good. I have a marker in with the donor in case the first person doesn't pick them up. Here's the description.

"30+ years old. They stand 3' high and measure 15" x 18" each, with a walnut
veneer cabinet and fabric grille covers. There are five drivers in each one: 10" woofer and 15" bass radiator, 4-1/2" cone-type lower midrange, 1-1/2" dome type upper midrange, and a 1" dome type tweeter."

Oh, and they say they're 57 lb. each.

Anyone know anything about these? They sound a bit unusual with that 15" PR.

I have a set of Oracle 4’s. They sound excellent! Running off a Vector Research.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Hi Greg and welcome to AK.

The tweeters look a little different on your speakers, but maybe it's just that they're missing the metal mesh cages. Can you post a picture of the backs of the drivers, and the whole crossover?

I have not seen that Peerless sticker - is that original? We've been told all the Oracle drivers were made by Becker in the US.

 

[jberger]

Team Electronics was the chain of retail stores, owned by Dayton-Hudson (who owned Target, among others).

Their house brand of speakers was Atlantis (not Atlantic), and they added the Oracle moniker when they went upscale with the design. MSRP on the Oracle III was $279, and it was the best seller (and best sounding) of the four models. I found the IV to have some bass boom, as you've noted.

They later made a Visonik-inspired small speaker, the SA-1, with a cast cabinet, but with a larger cabinet and some mass loading on the driver for deeper bass.

Greg, it looks like the upper midrange and tweeter are not original, and have been replaced. They should be round, and not squared off, and they were all made by Becker.

 

[Greg W.]

Team Electronics was the chain of retail stores, owned by Dayton-Hudson (who owned Target, among others).

Their house brand of speakers was Atlantis (not Atlantic), and they added the Oracle moniker when they went upscale with the design. MSRP on the Oracle III was $279, and it was the best seller (and best sounding) of the four models. I found the IV to have some bass boom, as you've noted.

They later made a Visonik-inspired small speaker, the SA-1, with a cast cabinet, but with a larger cabinet and some mass loading on the driver for deeper bass.

Greg, it looks like the upper midrange and tweeter are not original, and have been replaced. They should be round, and not squared off, and they were all made by Becker.

I got these from my father in law. I’m sure something was replaced somewhere down the line. I know he had these for a long time before I got them. My wife said her parents rocked some house parties with these.

 

[Greg W.]

Hi Greg and welcome to AK.

The tweeters look a little different on your speakers, but maybe it's just that they're missing the metal mesh cages. Can you post a picture of the backs of the drivers, and the whole crossover?

I have not seen that Peerless sticker - is that original? We've been told all the Oracle drivers were made by Becker in the US.

Not sure if the peerless stickers are original but they were on them when I got them. They are old enough that the glue on the backs of them has worn off. I read somewhere a while back that parts on these came from over seas.

 

[Greg W.]

Team Electronics was the chain of retail stores, owned by Dayton-Hudson (who owned Target, among others).

Their house brand of speakers was Atlantis (not Atlantic), and they added the Oracle moniker when they went upscale with the design. MSRP on the Oracle III was $279, and it was the best seller (and best sounding) of the four models. I found the IV to have some bass boom, as you've noted.

They later made a Visonik-inspired small speaker, the SA-1, with a cast cabinet, but with a larger cabinet and some mass loading on the driver for deeper bass.

Greg, it looks like the upper midrange and tweeter are not original, and have been replaced. They should be round, and not squared off, and they were all made by Becker.

Have you seen any of these that are 100% original and functioning? That would be impressive.