Fisher knowledge base: SPEAKERS

[illinoisteve]

I've read, participated in, and even started threads before that have to do with specific models of speakers carrying the Fisher label. Some of those models garner user praise, others are dismissed as "crap." But have Fisher enthusiasts here at AK ever pulled together a broader outline, with examples-descriptions-reviews, of the whole Fisher speaker line? I haven't so far found it in the archives, but I'd be happy to have the links to such a thread(s) posted here.

To fulfill what I'm asking for, I'd like this (or those cited threads) to try to answer questions like these:

What years did Fisher manufacture (and/or put their label on) free standing speakers (not speaker systems in consoles)?

Where were these speakers manufactured in various periods?

What speaker models seem to represent the best ever offered by Fisher?

Which speaker models might now be regarded as underrated?

Alternately which ones are okay but not great, and which one's are the worst...even to be avoided?

Obviously, any AKer's personal experience with certain models, pictures, and reviews are welcome. Any citations to links filling in background, also welcome.

As a starting place, let me say that some of the AK threads I've read indicate that the (c.1973 Fisher 111K speakers can be valued highly by users, as are the slightly earlier Fisher XP series speakers. From AK threads and my personal experience I know that the much more recent Fisher STV series of speakers are closer to the crap sandwich end of the continuum (though I have managed to get better sound out of my pair, partly through modification and partly through careful use). The XPs and 111Ks sound very interesting to me since I have a similar vintage Fisher 404 stereo/quadraphonic receiver. On the other hand, I realize that in those early 1970s Fisher was transitioning from US to Hong Kong to Japanese manufacturing. What Fisher speakers were, sounded like, and signified prior to 1970 could be entirely different; I suspect others here know much more about that.

Well, time to jump in AK's Fisher devotees! How expansive can we make this examination of Fisher's speakers?

 

[TheRed1]

I think I've got you covered at least as far as the XP and 100 series:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=479002

That pretty much covers it for the Avery Fisher and Emerson eras.

I've acquired more sources since the original post so I do plan on updating and expanding the series eventually. I'm still looking for more information from the tail end of the Emerson era but I will leave the Sanyo era for somebody else. It's not that I don't think there aren't worthy models from that era - there are just too many models.

I have accidentally acquired brochures that cover the speaker lineup for 1978 and 1982 that I'd be happy to send copies to anyone who want to start a series on the Sanyo era.

 

[illinoisteve]

I think I've got you covered at least as far as the XP and 100 series:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=479002

That pretty much covers it for the Avery Fisher and Emerson eras.....

What a fascinating thread! All the more because of all the ads and catalog descriptions you posted. It is interesting that Fisher began making freestanding speakers at the dawn of the stereo period--XP-1s coming out right around the time that Shure introduced its M3D stereo cartridge. Adding numbers as speakers were introduced at various price/quality levels, it's clear after a couple of years that the number is no clue to what level speaker one is talking about.

Those first speakers in the XP line seem to be in rather shallow boxes compared to the average later speakers I'm familiar with. ...until they come up with the XP-10 "Consolette."

Some people seem to like the XP-10, yet others seem to complain of rolled off highs in much of the XP line. I am a bit confused over how much this is because of Fisher's preference for how they would sound and how much is because these speakers have deteriorated since the decade of the 1960s and early 1970s. I found it interesting to begin reading this thread linked in yours about the dissection and "restoration" or modification of an XP-10: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=471760 Post #60 of that thread suggests that users of any of these vintage Fishers consider replacing the tweeters: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=7678323&postcount=60 It's a little funny, because I had to do that with my 90s (?) Fisher STVs, too.

It looks like if I wanted to match some Fisher speakers for my 404 quad receiver, introduced at the end of 1972, I could either select something from the end of the XP series or the very beginning of the (1973) 100 series, maybe ones with 7 or 8 speakers in them!

With the exception of the better XP revival speakers of the 1980s, what can be said about the alphabet soup of 1980s and later Fisher Speakers? Does anyone on AK have some of those models, and have something positive to say about any of them?

 

[illinoisteve]

Well, I'll jump in with a description and review of a member of the later STV series of speakers--the STV-430M. It's been my presumption, right or wrong, that these were intended to be large front anchor speakers for big screen TV sound systems, not audiophile sound systems. (I got them pretty inexpensively, with 3 smaller speakers and good-sized Kenwood surround sound receiver thrown in.)

I never had any speakers with 15" white woofers before--I was curious. The the mids are 4" and the tweeters, 3". It turned out that 1 of the tweeters was dead, so I have replaced both with small plasticky horn speakers from 'bay. Can't recall make/model, but they work and sound pretty good. The boxes are 36" tall, 18" wide, and about a foot deep: particle board with woodgrain contact paper covering them, but not so well at the corners. Now, you're probably wondering what Asian country they came from but the label on the back clearly says they were made in the U.S.A., by Fisher Corporation on Lassen St. in Chatsworth, CA. They aren't made like any of the classic XP series or the 100 series of old. I really don't know when they were made, but I would guess 1990-ish.

But besides cheapo appearance, what's wrong with them. I'll tell you: if they get too much bass, they get very...what I call BOOMEY! The bass bruises and muddies up the midrange and to some extent the highs. Yuck, phooey, sounds bad. Bad design. Fisher shoulda been paying somebody enough money that they woulda known how to correct that, but they didn't bother. But if you dial down the bass, the boomeyness goes away, the mids and highs come back clear. Depending on the amp/receiver, and to some extent the material I'm playing, I've had to dial back the bass somewhere between -2 and -6 to get acceptable sound, except with my Kenwood KR-750. With it I just kept the bass flat, and the Fisher STV-430Ms sounded great.

My new adaptation is to play them together with another pair of slightly more efficient 3-way speakers that have flatter and always clear response. That way the big Fishers are just filling in added low bass, and perhaps some other things here or there. The combination sounds much better than the STV-430Ms alone.

Who else can fill in some background about others of the 1980s and later Fisher speakers...the good, bad, and ugly of them?

 

[illinoisteve]

TheRed1,

In doing some browsing, I found a picture of some speakers with a badge on them that says:

THE FISHER
(logo) 2750

You'll note that they don't have any letters in the name and they aren't in the 100 series. I can tell you that they don't look like the cheapo particle board with contact paper later construction. They aren't referred to in the thread you linked. Have you ever heard of this series, and do you know when/where they were made and anything about their specs. None of that info is where I found the picture.

 

[TheRed1]

Could you include a link to the photo?

I have a suspicion they might be part of a component group. Some of the groups consisted of an all-in-one receiver/turntable/8-track/cassette/whatever packaged with a set of usually entry-level speakers. In some of these Fisher just mashed the "receiver" model with the speaker model minus the XP prefix such that 2750 would be a model 27 "receiver", (which exists,) and XP-50's, (which may exist - I don't have my library at hand.)

I should amend my prior post to note that there are a few other pre-Sanyo speaker series besides the XP and 100 series. There were the KS series and the WS (Wide-Suround) series as well as the component group speakers that share a model name with the rest of the group. And there was that very groovy flat panel thing that looked like a painting.

There may be a few other oddballs but the XP series contains most of the interesting models.

TheRed1,

In doing some browsing, I found a picture of some speakers with a badge on them that says:

THE FISHER
(logo) 2750

You'll note that they don't have any letters in the name and they aren't in the 100 series. I can tell you that they don't look like the cheapo particle board with contact paper later construction. They aren't referred to in the thread you linked. Have you ever heard of this series, and do you know when/where they were made and anything about their specs. None of that info is where I found the picture.

 

[illinoisteve]

Here's a pair of them. I thought they did resemble some of the XP line, though there were other grille types available with some of that line.

http://images.craigslist.org/00b0b_omHBLlnYAi_600x450.jpg

Here's just the badge:

http://images.craigslist.org/00Q0Q_6BForFA2448_600x450.jpg

It occurred to me that they might be accessory speakers meant to go with something like a 2-speaker quad console...or something that needed additional or separate speakers as part of the package deal. Maybe that linked thread shows or tells about an XP 50--I'll delve back into it.

 

[illinoisteve]

TheRed1,

If as you propose they may be essentially XP-50s, although I didn't see that number in the other thread, judging by your "periodic table" of XP series speaker models, it would seem that they would fall in the same row as the XP-5 models and XP-55 models. And would probably be 2-way speakers with 8" woofers and 3" tweeters, and would have originally sold for around $50-60, unless they are more like the XP56s which were closer to $80 and had slightly more bottom end.

 

[TheRed1]

As you can see in this illustration of The Fisher 3056/3070, the 'The Fisher' badge is similar to the 2750. Fisher referred to these component groups as "Stereo Mods" and "Stereo Music Centers" in their literature. I scanned this image at 600 dpi and tried to tease a model number out of the digital hash without success. I can't confirm if these were branded with their XP model number or the four digit component group number. Neither can I confirm the existence of an XP-50 model, nor can I rule it out. As the Emerson era came to an end in 1976 there was a sudden surge in strange, new XP models with numbers seemingly chosen at random: XP-48, XP-57, etc. It is certainly possible there was an XP-50 but I have yet to run across proof. I have pretty good information for every Emerson year except 1976 which is when I would suspect the 2750 would date from.

If as you propose they may be essentially XP-50s, although I didn't see that number in the other thread, judging by your "periodic table" of XP series speaker models, it would seem that they would fall in the same row as the XP-5 models and XP-55 models. And would probably be 2-way speakers with 8" woofers and 3" tweeters, and would have originally sold for around $50-60, unless they are more like the XP56s which were closer to $80 and had slightly more bottom end.

 

[illinoisteve]

I'd guess you're right, and they probably came out in 76. They are pretty speakers, even if they are rather low on the periodic table. I wonder how good they could sound with decent equipment?

Is it generally thought that the XP-10s and 111s (if I'm remembering the models I'm thinking of with correct numbers) are the best sounding of all the Fisher speakers?

 

[Stratakit66]

The Fisher 2750 speaker systems were manufactured by Fisher for Allied Radio in the late '60s. In size and weight they are almost identical to the XP-7. However the driver compliment is different. While both have a 12" woofer, the XP-7 has two 5" mid-range speakers vs. one 5.75" in the 2750. In addition, the 7 has a 1.5" soft-dome tweeter vs. the 2750s 3" cone type tweeter. About 1970, Fisher introduced the XP-7 (b) & (c) models. They have two 3" cone tweeters that are very similar to the 3" tweeter in the 2750. I bought a pair of 2750 systems from Allied in Dec. of 1969. They still sound very good and I have them teamed in my shop system with my 1966 Fisher KX-90 that I just finished restoring earlier this month.