Phase Technology PC 80

[Yamaha B-2]

Anyone know the Phase Technology PC 80? Recently sold a receiver to someone who is using these. Nice sounding/looking 2-way monitor with a flat cone bass driver (ala Sony APMs). Surrounds are shot and Phase Technology recommends only replacing the full driver cone and not the surrounds. Also, have heard that Phase Technology invented the dome tweeter. Any truth that? Thanks.

 

[Punker X]

You can read all about Phase Technology here:

http://www.phasetech.com

Yes the founder Bill Hecht invented the soft dome tweeter and the solid piston driver.

As far as doing the surrounds, I tried to do a pair of PC-600HO's and found it very difficult. I ended up sending them into Phase Tech to get rebuilt. Some drivers they carry and you can order it and just send them the old drivers as trade in, others they need your drivers to rebuild on the original cage. Their prices are very reasonable, it was $120 for both woofers, this included new everything from magnet to surround.

The PC80 is an awsome speaker and worth the repair. Maybe its just me, I seem to be one of the few Phase Tech fans out there with a total of 9 Phase Tech speakers in the house. 2 - PC3's, 2 - PC60's, 2 - PC600HO's, 1 - PC33.1, 1 - PC-50, and 1- Octive 12.

I have several friends still running PC-80's in their system and still sound great. If ran across a pair at a good price I'd pick them up in a heartbeat.

X

Anyone know the Phase Technology PC 80? Recently sold a receiver to someone who is using these. Nice sounding/looking 2-way monitor with a flat cone bass driver (ala Sony APMs). Surrounds are shot and Phase Technology recommends only replacing the full driver cone and not the surrounds. Also, have heard that Phase Technology invented the dome tweeter. Any truth that? Thanks.

 

[Nat]

I have refoamed a pair of smaller Phase Techs, but it is more difficult than a regular driver and almost impossible to do it so it looks nice. Phase Tech puts a foam coating on the front of the driver, and the edges of the surrounds are also covered, I think. So you end up having to intrude on the coating to put new surrounds on, which doesn't look so good (though the several Phase Techs I have seen all have crumbling foam anyway, so its a little late to worry about looks.
I think the reason they suggest replacement rather than refoaming may have to do with the weight of the styrofoam block -- it seems heavier, and at least in their subwoofers, the weight distorts the foam over time.
Incidentally IMF used a foam block woofer (with a center suspension, if memeory serves)back in the mid sixties and KEF of course has been builging the B139 for years (to say nothing of the Leak Sandwich or those horrible flat panel styrofoam atrocities sold by Radio Shack etc) so I don't think that Bill Hecht invented them. I have wondered about the soft dome tweeter claim also - can it be a claim to a specific patent about some aspect of soft domes, or is it the entire idea? Any one know?

 

[gonzothegreat]

I missed out on a pair of pc80s at a thrift recently. Foam cooties all over - the tweeter foam was crumbling and the surround foam was shot on both drivers as well. I was kinda bummed since I have a fondness for any speaker that tames cabinet reflections (AR9, Jamo's Magic series, etc). Some musician got them and I pointed him at AK for refoaming info. Hopefully he saw PunkerX's post about factory reconing.

 

[Eunomians]

I have always wanted to take some Phase Tech speakers for a spin...

 

[johndoe3]

PC60's

I have a pair of PC60's. Very nice sounding speaker in a very nicely built oak box. Phase Tech makes great stuff.
Not too many people are aware of them.

 

[mikey3117]

I just missed out on some Phase Techs on my local CL because I had never heard of the brand... I thought "Phase Tech" sounded like a white van speaker! Guess I was wrong...

 

[gonzothegreat]

Looks like I'm going to be a Phase Tech owner in about a week.

I haven't been checking local eb-ay auctions lately but last night I spied a pair of PC 8.5 from a nearby seller. I was intrigued by the description of these brutes. Three way towers (10" woofer, midrange & 1" dome tweeter) with the flat mids & woofers. The cabs supposedly weigh 94lbs yikes each and the xovers have 30+ components. More importantly, the woofers and mids were recently replaced with factory new drivers so foam decay shouldn't be an issue. The owner probably has nearly as much $$$ in the replacement drivers as he's getting for the full speakers.

As for the name being reminiscent of White Van garbage, the same thought popped into my gourd when I saw the PC80s. A quick check of the cabs quickly dispelled any possibility of any link to the van scam. The knuckle rap test was impressively dead and the binding posts were quality as well. I poked around the Phase Tech site and the name apparently is a reference to their phase correcting crossover design and not some generic technobabble marketspeak. I bet the name throws a lot of people.

I wasn't planning on buying any speakers in the near future (unless a cheap pair of AR9s or EV Interface Ds showed up) but the cabinet design struck me as interesting enough to keep me happy for the time being. Well, until I get a chance to play with a pair of nines (then all bets are off)

The seller sent me a bunch of reviews of this speaker and I'm bloody impressed. According to the reviews, bass goes down to 33Hz and the tweeter response is amazingly flat. Its a powerhungry bastard (89dB) though. One of the reviews from High Performance review went so far as to favorably compare it to his default speaker. What might that be? An AR-9! OMG! I nearly fell out of my chair.

So for a little over $200 I just nabbed a cousin (designwise and performance-wise) of the AR-9. Too bad I can't pick it up until next week at the earliest.

WRT the soft dome tweeter patent - his protection ran out in 1987.

Finally, another review the guy sent me was for the PC80. If anybody wants it, give me a holler.

 

[soundmotor]

You can read all about Phase Technology here:

http://www.phasetech.com

Yes the founder Bill Hecht invented the soft dome tweeter and the solid piston driver.

I thought that he patented the dome tweeter in the US but was not the originator of them? AFAIK, the patent was never enforced. According to the link, he patented a manufacturing process for making flat piston drivers.

Still, a very interesting company making innovative products. The frameless woofer/midrange mentioned with his patents most notable. Fisher sold a bookshelf speaker like that. Owning that USS built Fisher's speakers, where that design likely came from is more clear.

 

[gonzothegreat]

Dragged the PC 8.5s home Tuesday. The high end doesn't have the snap I'm used to from my EV Sentry 5s. I tried angling them toward the listening spot and that helped greatly but still not enough for me. I'll dig up an EQ out of storage and bump the 8k & 16k sliders up a few dB.

I'll post a more in-depth review after I have a chance to tweak 'em to my liking.

 

[Hanleyster]

What size foam surrounds do these take? I am going to redo the surrounds and simply attach it to the underside of the cone like a JBL.

 

[Hanleyster]

I just cant find the foam dimensions anywhere.

 

[psarahtonen]

I used flat-attach 6.5" rings I got from SpeakerWorks. It wasn't that hard actually. I did a very interesting mod of the foam for the face of the piston... I used the foam filter from a 120mm computer fan. Fit perfectly an is actually lighter in weight than the unicellular material.

I've been proj-ing on making the foam tweeter lenses for over a week. Phase Tech's after-market supplier MCE Audio in FL charges $35 EACH for the stupid lenses. Ridiculous! 1" unicellular foam can work fine I just need to find the correct grit to sand them into the odd convex shape the originals have.

 

[arbalest]

I came across this thread while searching on nearly the same question. Since it is recent enough I thought hijacking the post might be better than creating a new one (for others who search later).

I have a pair of original/old PC-60s. I've had them in storage for a while and they were old when I got them. Well, the foam has a break in one and two breaks in the other. I would be up for trying the repair but these don't look like the speakers I see in the typical how-to article or video.

Two questions -- 1) would this be a mistake to try for a first-timer? 2) one of the speakers has a slight buzz on low-notes. Since the other does not, I am wondering if this could be due to something other than the damage to the foam surround?

I have already sent a note to Phase Tech to inquire about factory repair. I can update this post if/when they reply.

 

[zunde]

I came across this thread while searching on nearly the same question. Since it is recent enough I thought hijacking the post might be better than creating a new one (for others who search later).

I have a pair of original/old PC-60s. I've had them in storage for a while and they were old when I got them. Well, the foam has a break in one and two breaks in the other. I would be up for trying the repair but these don't look like the speakers I see in the typical how-to article or video.

Two questions -- 1) would this be a mistake to try for a first-timer? 2) one of the speakers has a slight buzz on low-notes. Since the other does not, I am wondering if this could be due to something other than the damage to the foam surround?

I have already sent a note to Phase Tech to inquire about factory repair. I can update this post if/when they reply.

David Miller at SpeakerWorks in Tulsa, Oklahoma (mentioned above) can do them for you. I live in NW Arkansas and drove a pair of Phase Tech PC-8.5's over there many moons ago and had him refoam them.

 

[Mamrak1]

I still have a pair of Phase Tech Velocity V-12s that I use. A great tower speaker for little dough at that time.

 

[zunde]

I still have a pair of Phase Tech Velocity V-12s that I use. A great tower speaker for little dough at that time.View attachment 1013634

I would like to try a pair of the V series speakers. A local seller has a pair of V-10s for $250, trying to decide whether to pick them up.

 

[ATLjeffro]

You can read all about Phase Technology here:

http://www.phasetech.com

Yes the founder Bill Hecht invented the soft dome tweeter and the solid piston driver.

As far as doing the surrounds, I tried to do a pair of PC-600HO's and found it very difficult. I ended up sending them into Phase Tech to get rebuilt. Some drivers they carry and you can order it and just send them the old drivers as trade in, others they need your drivers to rebuild on the original cage. Their prices are very reasonable, it was $120 for both woofers, this included new everything from magnet to surround.

The PC80 is an awsome speaker and worth the repair. Maybe its just me, I seem to be one of the few Phase Tech fans out there with a total of 9 Phase Tech speakers in the house. 2 - PC3's, 2 - PC60's, 2 - PC600HO's, 1 - PC33.1, 1 - PC-50, and 1- Octive 12.

I have several friends still running PC-80's in their system and still sound great. If ran across a pair at a good price I'd pick them up in a heartbeat.

X

Punker, I just got a pair of PC-80’s on the cheap. Is contacting Phase Tech and mailing them both drivers for re-fit still your recommendation?
Thanks for any insight
ATLjeffro

 

[Punker X]

Punker, I just got a pair of PC-80’s on the cheap. Is contacting Phase Tech and mailing them both drivers for re-fit still your recommendation?
Thanks for any insight
ATLjeffro

Only running a pair of PC600's on the TV system. If they were to go, yes I would contact them for a rebuild. Very old thread. No idea what there prices are today. Probably cost more than the speakers are worth.

 

[Pinzgauer73]

Yes I see this is an old Post. I became a Phase Tech fan when I recently obtained an excellent pair of PC-80's for a cool $60. Liking them so much, I checked out my local Craigslist and found three nice condition Phase Tech 7T tower speakers for $100 for the lot. So I arrived late to the Phase Technology party, but they probably sound as good as they originally did, since all are in great condition. I power these speakers with my newly aquired vintage Sansui 7000. These speakers got me into the Vintage addiction!