Frazier Manhattan's restoration

RS Steve

Tube Junkie
Subscriber
My picker friend called me a few weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in a pair of Frazier speakers, so being a Frazier fan I had to say yes. Turns out they are early consecutive serial # Manhattan's done in a cherry or a mahogany finish. These are very simplistic speakers sporting an 8" woofer, small tweeter, and tweeter control, crossover is comprised of a single 3MF capacitor. The back panels were particle board that had become crumbly from soaking up humidity over the years, they fell apart after trying to remove them.

Restoration was very simple on these, cabinets needed a bit of steel wool and feed and wax to look absolutely beautiful. I replaced the old wax ended capacitor with a nice Dayton 3 uf, replaced the cheap screw terminals with Dayton premium binding posts, Deoxed the high frequency control pot, and cut new particle board back panels for each speaker.

Initial listening impressions are that they have a very pronounced midrange sound, bass is decent but not all that deep, highs are clean but not up to par with the midrange. I am going to try them with some of my Fisher tube equipment, I have a feeling they will really match up well. Not sure what year these were made, but I would guess early 60's. The builder signed his name in both cabinets which was pretty much the norm for Frazier, his name was Sammy.

20180801_121349.jpg 20180801_141256.jpg 20180801_141304.jpg 20181110_151659.jpg 20181110_151722.jpg 20181110_151737.jpg
 
I have a pair of Mark VI/Mediterranean's I rebuilt that Sammy made from early/mid 60's I believe. 12" woofer I had Freeman-Tuell rebuild, the 8" midrange and two 3" tweters were in good condition still. They sound great now after I removed L-pads and replaced caps.
 
I have a pair of Mark VI/Mediterranean's I rebuilt that Sammy made from early/mid 60's I believe. 12" woofer I had Freeman-Tuell rebuild, the 8" midrange and two 3" tweters were in good condition still. They sound great now after I removed L-pads and replaced caps.
I just love the midrange these produce, I'm looking forward to hearing them on tubes to see if they have better balance.
 
Hello RS Steve, Trying an old thread. Do you still have the Fraziers? If so how are they doing? Do you know the ohm and efficiency rating of them? I have these Fraziers and haven’t found a name much less some specs.
 

Attachments

  • 49F06046-89C2-4F73-A389-69A6698240E8.jpeg
    49F06046-89C2-4F73-A389-69A6698240E8.jpeg
    129.6 KB · Views: 24
Hello RS Steve, Trying an old thread. Do you still have the Fraziers? If so how are they doing? Do you know the ohm and efficiency rating of them? I have these Fraziers and haven’t found a name much less some specs.
Someone purchased these some time ago, no longer own them.
 
Hello RS Steve, Trying an old thread. Do you still have the Fraziers? If so how are they doing? Do you know the ohm and efficiency rating of them? I have these Fraziers and haven’t found a name much less some specs.

Absent dimensions, if the slot-ports are on both sides, first guess is Black Box that somebody low-boyed & tarted-up (because legs are angled). Last I knew, FB had a Frazier group where you should receive a definitive answer.
 
Absent dimensions, if the slot-ports are on both sides, first guess is Black Box that somebody low-boyed & tarted-up (because legs are angled). Last I knew, FB had a Frazier group where you should receive a definitive answer.

Thank you Grindstone I sincerely appreciate your response. No ports, sealed.
It does but I’m not on Facebook.
They are playing very well right now with a Marantz 1030. Sound very good with everything I’ve used.
 
Glad to hear it. Didn't know if you were shopping or an owner. Understand no FB well. If you've exhausted the Frazier threads here, you might want to root-around in the FUG thread at Klipsch. Congrats!
 
Back
Top Bottom