Phase Linear (Andromeda) Phase III speakers -familiar with these?

Wow.....you got a deal of a life time there! Those are really rare. And here I thought my $4.00 a pair of Celestion DL4's was a deal! lol

Anyways....congrats on a truly awesome pair of speakers. And welcome to AK!


Those and RSL Speed Screen's are on my speaker bucket list. lol
 
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This is my first post here. I have to say I've found a lot of useful info on AK in the past to guide me vintage audio journey/obsession.
Two days ago the church around the corner was having a yard sale and I saw some roughly 5 foot speaker panels with some groove retro looking cream colored grills on both sides...

A church sale!

hallelujah and congratulations, enjoy the listening sessions.

Are you located in the Pacific Northwest or...?
 
I recently passed on a pair for 200., 120 mi. round trip and sans EQ electronics and subwoofer.
I was tempted, probably could have gotten them for less.
The question is can these sound good without the original electronics and subwoofers?
 
By themselves the panels sound fine but they lack the bottom end that is supplied by the bass module. The MCM has special circuitry that tailors the bass, mids, and highs to blend a tad better and is almost like a mini EQ if you will. You won't hear the differences when you make changes to the settings as much as you would using a real EQ but you will still notice a difference in the overall spatial imaging and even to the sound stage. I thought it was probably a worthless device early on but it really does work. I see sets of panels come for sale every so often sans the bass module and/or the MCM and if they are in good shape I am all over them if they are within a reasonable distance. The bass module is much easier to ship than the panels so I am always on the lookout for an extra one of those too. The Andromeda/Phase III systems are getting really difficult to find in good condition now. And when they do come up for sale, they are commanding some pretty decent prices. Anyone who hasn't heard them set up correctly will be blown away by them if they do. My listening room is always open to anyone who is in the area and wants to hear them. Just give me some advance notice so I can make sure I have a couple of cold ones on hand. :D

I recently passed on a pair for 200., 120 mi. round trip and sans EQ electronics and subwoofer.
I was tempted, probably could have gotten them for less.
The question is can these sound good without the original electronics and subwoofers?
 
Re: Church sale score

Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions! I am indeed feeling very lucky to have found these. I have them hooked up in the "rock out room" which is about 18' x 25'. Bamboo floor on a concrete slab foundation. The wall opposite has a large opening flanked by two expedit 4x4 cube shelves full of lp's. Overall a very bright and open room acoustically, with no rosonance issues whatsoever. I am powering the andromeda system with a mint condition Onkyo TX-5000. Sources are 2x Technics 1200mk2s with Ortofon cartridges(sometimes I use shure v15 III which sound amazing) through a Dennon dnx500 mixer. For digital I use both a Dennon hd2500 for cd/iPod/thumb drive, and a laptop running Traktor throug a Mark of the Unicorn 828mk2. For tape a Sony tc-wr11es cassette and an Akai gx-635d reel to reel. Speakers I have been using in this room previously are New Large Advents (emotional) and ADS L780s (clinical). Both of these I used with an Energy As-180 powered sub. I was already at my audio bliss threshold and was not thinking of changing anything forever, but who can resist a good deal right. Back to the Andromeda system, I have them placed about 8' apart and 2-3' from the wall behind them on either side of a bay window with the sub in the middle. My musical diet is varied having been a dj/record collector for about 30 years I'm as likely to be playing big band, delta blues, no wave, new wave, acoustic or electronic... In this setup these speakers have performed effortlessly. The soundstage is huge, detail is amazing, and the bass, holy bottomless pit! Even powered as such by the Onkyo they are impressive. I will be on the lookout for a power amp as the consensus is that these thrive with more power. Any suggestions appreciated. For now I am just gonna grin and soak in the sound.
 
Congrats on getting them set up to where you are able to 'start' enjoying them. As for amplification I would think any good high powered amp would drive them as long as the amp has plenty of headroom and can handle ohm loads at 6 and below. This system is rated at 6 ohms nominal impedance but at times those ohms will drop down below that. Ideally if you could find a nice clean working PL 700 you would be doing great. A couple of PL 400s biamped into them would do the job nicely as well. Factory specs recommend a minimum of 200 wpc but they will handle a great deal more and the more you can feed them, the better they perform. You have something to look forward to down the road as what you are hearing now from them is only the beginning.....:thmbsp:
 
I have been on the lookout for amps locally, and have a couple of candidates so far. An Adcom gfa 5500 for $350, and a crown cts 600 for $199. Both seem up to th task. I am leaning for the crown as if I don't like it with the andromeda system it will be a great addition to my mobile dj system. Any thoughts?
 
Re: Church Sale Score

Thanks again for all suggestions! After inspecting both of the amplifiers under consideration I decided on the Crown cts 600 on the basis of build quality(Tanklike), and relative condition(clean and near mint on the Crown vs rough around the edges on the Adcom). The Crown will also get some road use if something else comes along. The connections for line in on the Crown are terminal block plugs which I connected to balanced XLR cables running out of a Denon dn-x500 mixer. This connection is dead silent with no source playing even with the amplifier's gain at about 2/3 a little hiss at wide open. First impression is clear, spacious and deep. The Crown has a variable speed fan which only activates when needed. I have not noticed unless I went over to lean in and check. I am extremely pleased with this amplifier and look forward to some more listening time. Here's a mirror trick picture of my rock-out room. The Crown amp is on top of the bass module and powering the Andromeda System only. The New Large Advents are in independent system for late night use. Thanks again to all.
 

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Hi, fellow Phase Linear III owners. I have a set of Phase IIIs (with the Audax dome tweeter) that I purchased new in 1978. They are in pretty-much mint condition. When the surrounds gave out on the mids, I was fortunate enough to obtain a set of 4 new Peerless mids from Madisound before they went out of production about 10 years ago. I have taken the Motion Control Module out of the system, as I am powering the panels with a Sony 5.1 channel receiver (120 wpc) and the sub with a Carver M1.5t. My current problem is the subwoofers are sagging and need to be rebuilt or replaced. Of course, I want the subs to sound like they once did, but I am unsure of what is the better way to go: have them rebuilt, or just buy some new drop-in replacements? It seems that reconing results are dependent on the skills of the reconer in choosing and installing the parts. On the other hand, I have found several excellent quality 12" subs that I could install, but I do not have the expertise to match the speakers to the cabinet sound-wise. I fear that either way, I am buying a "pig in a poke" and have no assurance that the bass commode will perform as good or better than it did before. Any thoughts?
 
I should add, I live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul/St. Cloud area, if you happen to know a professional re-coner nearby.
 
Hi, fellow Phase Linear III owners. I have a set of Phase IIIs (with the Audax dome tweeter) that I purchased new in 1978. They are in pretty-much mint condition. When the surrounds gave out on the mids, I was fortunate enough to obtain a set of 4 new Peerless mids from Madisound before they went out of production about 10 years ago. I have taken the Motion Control Module out of the system, as I am powering the panels with a Sony 5.1 channel receiver (120 wpc) and the sub with a Carver M1.5t. My current problem is the subwoofers are sagging and need to be rebuilt or replaced. Of course, I want the subs to sound like they once did, but I am unsure of what is the better way to go: have them rebuilt, or just buy some new drop-in replacements? It seems that reconing results are dependent on the skills of the reconer in choosing and installing the parts. On the other hand, I have found several excellent quality 12" subs that I could install, but I do not have the expertise to match the speakers to the cabinet sound-wise. I fear that either way, I am buying a "pig in a poke" and have no assurance that the bass commode will perform as good or better than it did before. Any thoughts?

I have used a guy located in Sacramento, CA who did a superb job on both of my bass modules and all the mids in my four Andromeda panels. I can send you his website link if you want me to as I can highly recommend him. As you know PL claimed a low frequency response of 24hz but after his re-coning job and putting them back into the cabinets, both of mine now respond cleanly down to 20hz. He scoped both out before releasing them to me. I was extremely pleased with his work and his pricing is not out of line either but it may have gone up a tad since mine were both done about two years ago. Let me know if you have interest in this guy.................

Regards, Terry
 
Thanks, Terry. Sure, send along his contact info. Sacramento is a long way from Minnesota so the shipping could be expensive...I'll have to check that out.
Regards, Gary
 
Thanks, Terry. Sure, send along his contact info. Sacramento is a long way from Minnesota so the shipping could be expensive...I'll have to check that out.
Regards, Gary

Here's his address and info. He does take speakers in from all over the country and has done speaker repair for several famous rock groups, etc. He has a website, just Google Neal's Speaker Repair and it should pop up so you can check it out. Hope this works out for you as he does quality work at reasonable pricing...........


Neal's Speaker Service
9300 Matador Way
Sacramento, California 95826
(916) 363-6524
Email: nealspeakers@sbcglobal.net
 
Thanks, Terry. Sure, send along his contact info. Sacramento is a long way from Minnesota so the shipping could be expensive...I'll have to check that out.
Regards, Gary

As a footnote, you don't have to send the entire bass commode, just take the drivers out and send them, that's all he needs. As long as you can remove and install them yourself, you should be good to go. I am fortunate as I live only short distance from him and was able to take both bass modules to him and he removed and re-installed the drivers. Oh, and to do a little bragging here, if you think the sound of a single PLIII system is good, try two of them in a two channel setup and you will be blown clear out of your listening room. They do take some real power to get them going but if you can feed them that power they will take it and give it back to you in spades in terms of reproducing sound about as close to being there live as it gets...............:thmbsp:
 
Here's his address and info. He does take speakers in from all over the country and has done speaker repair for several famous rock groups, etc. He has a website, just Google Neal's Speaker Repair and it should pop up so you can check it out. Hope this works out for you as he does quality work at reasonable pricing...........


Neal's Speaker Service
9300 Matador Way
Sacramento, California 95826
(916) 363-6524
Email: nealspeakers@sbcglobal.net

Thanks, Terry!:D
 
I have a complete Andromeda (Phase III) for sale. Includes two panels, electronic "motion" module, sub-woofer, schematics for module and panels, and the original factory brochure. Everything works great! The front and rear mid-range speakers in each panel have new foam surrounds. The tweeter reflectors which buzzed, have all been epoxied back together and their respective openings enlarged slightly. No more noise! One IC in the electronic module was upgraded to a more modern chip, but this was done using a DIP carrier so that simply unplugging the carrier/chip assembly will allow the original chip to be used. The fabric on the panels could stand to be replaced, which is a simple stapling job. All electronic joints on the speakers, crossovers and motion module have been resoldered. What a difference that made. I am the original owner and the panels have been, and currently are in use. I'm located in western N.C. (Hickory) and would prefer not to ship these. Contact Gary 828-495-8702

I'm pretty sure this one is going to get moved to another area on this forum but before it does is there any chance you could move to No. California so I can buy them and pick them up?..................:D
 
I'm pretty sure this one is going to get moved to another area on this forum but before it does is there any chance you could move to No. California so I can buy them and pick them up?..................:D

Actually I'm sure it's going to get deleted altogether since it's totally against the rules.
vtponut, if you want to sell here, you have to become a subscriber and do it in the subscriber's only Bartertown section.
 
:music:My nostalgia system: Still cranking out the tunes after 32 years.

Sony C222Es SACD player, rugged, great sound. (the newest addition)
Carver TX-11a – still one of the better tuners ever made
Carver C-1 Pre-amp – just cleaned the pots and switches, otherwise working like new.
Carver M1.5t – repaired and recapped by Carver about 12 years ago.
Phase Linear Phase III speakers – everything works, amazingly.
Digital feed via iTunes and Airport Express, and Blu-ray Player. (just in case)

Repeat and corrections to a post from 2004:
I purchased the Phase Linear Phase III (Andromeda III) system in Houston, TX in 1978 after listening to all the best of the day. If I remember correctly, I wheeled and dealed and got about $300 off the $1,295 listed price at Finger’s Furniture because they were going to clear out the model. To this day, this stands as one of my best ever hi-fi purchases. I have had the speakers in five different home living rooms in two states from as small as 12x16 feet to as large as 20x30 feet.

Here are a few thoughts.
1. It takes a lot a perseverance to keep them. My wife wants them gone every time we move. She brought it up again last night when I was cleaning the POTs on the preamp.
2. They need power. I use a Carver M1.5t for nostalgia and am halfway looking into something with a little more current and quality, but still keep the Carver around. I have tried other amps (Crown DC-300a, SAE, Hafler, Dynaco) and power/current and damping factor all add up to better sound.
3. They need room and sound better with a little deadening of the side walls to stop early side reflections. Given room they present a pretty good image.
4. I have never been able to get them to image precisely like speakers such as the Audio Physic Virgo III or Aerial Acoustics 7b speakers, but the have a smooth mid-range, airy highs, deep bass, and wonderful for jazz and guitar, and they paint a really big image with a lot of depth, just not as much precision. My current set-up is sub-optimal due to limitations of our home. All in all, I have never heard anything better, many close, but different, but none better. So as you can see, I will keep them as long as I can keep my wife convinced.

I like many others in the forum, I periodically check to see if I can find a second pair for insurance and/or to build a surround theater system, better than my current system in another room. I have only found a few systems for sale during last ten years, and they were not in good shape. Mine...eat your hearts out, are in great shape, no scratches, original drives, all due to some very serious coaching of movers. No children, no smoking and vigilance against the dust and pet hair.

If you have to move them, here is my advice:
Wrap them in blankets after removing the feet. Discuss placement with the movers so the understand they can have nothing on them. Stand vertically and place where protected by other furniture. Alternatly, box like mattress with lots of padding, and pray. Anyway, if you have a pair, enjoy, if not, keep looking. If you have a pair and want them to go to a loving home, send me a message.

2010 Update:
I thought my Motion Control Module had failed. Fortunately, it was only a dirty pot and all is well. I have not experienced any need for driver repairs. I have noticed that the bass is not a tight as before and have considered getting the drivers repaired. Your experiences and recommendations in this area would be appreciated.

Other systems:
I have a Yamaha 7.2 system in the living room, a small Sony system in my office, a Teac system in the guest room, speakers on the patio and everything is interconnected to a music server using iTunes, which sounds decent and is very convenient. I still play vinyl and have a nice collection of CDs and SACDs. Like many of you I have been through 8-track, vinyl, cassettes, reel-to-reel, CDs, DVD-Audio and SACD. Now I am getting into high resolutions downloads via groups like HD-Tracks and find it a lot of fun. I still wish there was more support for SACDs. They sound competitive with the best of my D2D vinyl and are a lot more convenient. On the road, I carry an iPOD and go back and forth with Senheiser and Sony noise canceling headphones. So I guess you could say I am music enabled at all times. Currently, I have been experimenting with several pre-amps and cartridge combinations with the help of a friend to fully tweak out my vinyl playback system with plans to digitize all the old albums, especially those out of print or never released on CD. I have been using a M-Audio 1816 AD/DA that allows me to record at 192/24 or 96/24 capturing all the good stuff (and the crap) on the vinyl in full fidelity. I have tried some tools like SoundSoap with limited success trying to clean up without killing the highs.

It was nice to see all the recent comments on the Phase III. Keep them coming.
2013 Update

Over last three years I have had three focus areas:

1. Completely build out a whole house system (mid-fi) using the latest Apple Express routers, and Remote app on iPhones and iPad. Now we can turn on music, select, adjust volume from any location. We can send one stream across the whole house or use remote devices to stream too specific room. This is very flexible.

2. Upgrade the quality of my living room, master bedroom and office systems. I got rid of a Technics Sl-1300 Mk2 that was having speed problems. Then added a Micro Seiki BL-51 and Denon DP-62L turn table in the office and living room. This includes adding Bob's Devices MC Step Up transformer, Denon DL-103R and Koetsu Redwood Signature cartridges. I also have had several tube amps in my system, long term loans form a local audiophile buddy. Have an amp in the office running EL-34 tubes. This is the best my analog has been in years.

3. Finally, I moved the Phase III speakers from the master bedroom back into the living room, and upgraded the bedroom with some refurbished Boston Acoustics CR-95 tower speakers. The bedroom system sounds good, and the Phase III have room to breath on the long wall of a living/dining room that is 16' x 30' x 8'. I sit about 11' from the speakers and when the autocorrelation system is tuned and set up with well recorded music, the dimension in the sound is amazing. I just wish it wasn't so finicky about sitting in the sweat spot.

Alas, the living room system is now:
Denon DP-62 L turntable with Koestu Redwood Signature
Bob's Deivces SUP
Carver C-1 preamp (have a decent MC preamp, but sound it better using the SUP and feeding the MM preamp - less noise, more air, mid-tones like "butter" especially using the Koetsu
Carver TX-11a tuner
Carver M1.5T - had the caps and protection systems rebuilt just after 2010 message.
Phase III speakers (Bass - good, Motion Module - good and I use it, but alas the 4" midranges now need to have new foam surrounds.)

The system sounds fine unless I drive it too hard, and then you can hear that the midrange surrounds have begun to seriously deteriorate after 35 years.

I have been rereading all the quotes on updating the surrounds and have the info on the Sacramento, CA source of the repair. Can anyone tell me if Neal's Speaker Service is still up and running and if you have had recent experiences? That would be appreciated.

In closing, I finally met Bob C. last year after all these years. He spoke at a Los Angeles Orange County Audio Society meeting in LA. I didn't bring my speakers for him to sign, but I did bring along my original calibration vinyl disc that they used to ship with the C-4000, which he gladly signed. Bob was showing off his new Bob Carver Black Beauty 305 mono block tube amps. And… they were beauties in both looks and sound. I was watching with lots of expectations this spring when he joined with Emotiva and was hoping to see price reductions and starting to save some coin to get a pair of these amps to power my system, but now alas, I read that he is on the outs with Emotiva. Not sure why, but it is a shame. I don't know what is going to happen to the tube amps, but my guess is that if production stop, the few on the market are going to gain in value like a Masaratti sports car.

So as you can see, lots of changes, but not too involving, and always protecting the Phase III sound, which I still love. Over the past three years, I have heard some speakers I would own if I win the lottery, but in each case to beat the Phase IIIs, we are talking minimum investments in the $15,000 and upward range, so I will keep the Phase IIIs and spend the coin I have on music.

Finally, just for fun, my buddy and I build our own improved but ugly versions of VPI knock off record cleaning machine. I would say this have been my best investment over the past two years. And seeing the quality I have been able to get our of used vinyl I have been buying up by the box, I would recommend that all vinyl lovers shouldn't spend another dime on anything until they get access to a good record cleaning. My collection of music today is about 2,800 CDs, 1,000 vinyl, and 200 SACDs. I continue to buy high res downloads from HDTracks, have all CDs on my music server and now have started a program to archive all the vinyl. I will still listen to the vinyl at home, and the archive will be to add some of the rare vinyl tunes to the whole house system and for my iPhone - when I travel.

That is all for now, thanks to all for the continuing saga of the Phase III speakers.
 
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