RSL speakers, am I alone?

Well, I got an over the phone service estimate of around $150 per Elan, this was assuming they would refoam the passives in the back and the woofers in the front. I'd do it if I was going to use them myself, but I have no idea about the resale market. I'm located in 90025 FYI.
 
Well, I got an over the phone service estimate of around $150 per Elan, this was assuming they would refoam the passives in the back and the woofers in the front. I'd do it if I was going to use them myself, but I have no idea about the resale market. I'm located in 90025 FYI.
The Elan woofers are not foam. You can order the passives from a store in OC Cali called Orange County Speaker and glue them on yourself. Both passives are about $40. OC speakers are on Ebay too.
 
Well, I got an over the phone service estimate of around $150 per Elan, this was assuming they would refoam the passives in the back and the woofers in the front. I'd do it if I was going to use them myself, but I have no idea about the resale market. I'm located in 90025 FYI.
Your close to me how much do you want as is ? Rick 818 441-3323 text me. I'm looking at some RSL and some JBL from a seller in Tarzana on EBay. I would guess fully restored value around $450- 500 range for your speakers. $300 for the repair ?
 
Last edited:
Your close to me how much do you want as is ? Rick 818 441-3323 text me. I'm looking at some RSL and some JBL from a seller in Tarzana on EBay. I would guess fully restored value around $450- 500 range for your speakers. $300 for the repair ?

I'm sending you a text from 562-522-xxxx. Professional repairs should be less than the $300 since there is no foam to replace in the woofers as icenine has stated.
 
i have my original beat up pair of 3800's in the garage (lent them to my bro and he let the bottoms get wet) - so at some point, I hope to build some new cabinets for them.
- today I found a beautiful pair of RSL Max speakers, will post some pics when the wife gets home ( she mistakenly took my cell phone with her )

happy Saturday people ! ec
 
I am thinking these might be a real early version of the Max speaker... (all info I have been able to dig up on these speakers (and there is not much info out there) list these as 12" 3 way ) as these have 2 tweeters versus 1 soft dome tweeter. ? Any RSL gods want to chime in?

These guys are beautiful, I have not done a thing to them -they sound wonderful, -easy to listen to, tons of low end. ec

Pretty large, 32" tall 18 wide 12 deep Shown next to my Genesis II speakers











 
Very Nice and very clean. My Evans I purchased from above last week need some new Passive Radiators 12" there 300 watt max. They have some from Simply Speakers. I have removed the AR speakers above and have each Yamaha receiver 30 watt per channel is hooked to each speaker. Turntable right channel is hooked to top receiver and left channel is hooked up to bottom receiver. I was trying to squeeze more power. Not sure if that works ? but they sound nice. I need to do the repairs.
ESS 12" Passive Radiator Repair Kit PASK-12 (PAIR)IMG_0661.JPG
 
Last edited:
I'd really like to know what's up with the dark woofers. My Elan pair (estate sale) has one white and one black. I pulled them, and everything to the eye appears identical except cone color. They do sound different, with the black one having brighter midrange. I ran a woofer tester on them and they indeed spec pretty differently - the dark one has a significantly higher Qts.
I'm trying now to get a matched pair of the white ones (seems pretty rare to find the dark ones).

It's also worth noting, the white one seems to have some aperiodic element that might explain the spec differences - the cone does not return to zero right away after being pushed, even in free air. I've never seen this behavior in woofer before. The dark one is normal in this regard.

Any insights on this, Howard, or others?
 
My guess is that the dark cone woofers were used in Elans near the end of RSL's initial corporate existence (I believe the chain went bankrupt around 1992 when the investor group that had purchased the company from Howard in the late 1980's ran it into the ground). I worked for RSL in a part time capacity up through about 1990 and all of the Elan woofer cones were white paper up to that point. Dark colored polymer/plastic 12" woofer cones were used on the 3800 model exclusively during my time at RSL.

The difference you notice in how quickly the cones return to their centered position may have something to do with age. RSL had acquired large quantities of the white paper cone woofers which may have sat in their speaker production facility for years while the dark ones may have been a last minute purchase just prior to production. The treated cloth accordion surrounds used on many RSL woofers can stiffen somewhat over the years so that they do not move as freely as when they were new as has occurred on my pair of Model 3600's.
 
RSL Passive Radiators
There are no weights of any kind on the radiator panel. Just a 1/8 inch thick cardboard disc . . .

If I recall correctly (I have lost the original hardboard disc), the one I weighed was almost exactly 1/4 lb - This is almost double what the foam-core replacement radiators weigh. Can anyone confirm this? Alternately, does anyone know what the designed Fs (system resonance) of the Elan system is supposed to be? I can only guess maybe some where around 30 Hz, as the claimed response (per brochure) is down to ~25 Hz.
 
My Elans have been my go to speaker system for a year or so now. These are speakers you keep. I am thinking about selling by 3600s but every time I listen to them I have second thoughts also.
 
Just got some Elans yesterday, did a quick demo sans the passive radiator and have to say I was mostly impressed with them. Might be the rear facing tweeters or the fact they were 4 ft out from the back wall, but really nice depth. Also found the adjustments of the levels to be more responsive or have a greater range than anything I've seen before with other speakers, will have to get them into the rotation for an extended amount of time.
 
Just got some Elans yesterday, did a quick demo sans the passive radiator and have to say I was mostly impressed with them. Might be the rear facing tweeters or the fact they were 4 ft out from the back wall, but really nice depth. Also found the adjustments of the levels to be more responsive or have a greater range than anything I've seen before with other speakers, will have to get them into the rotation for an extended amount of time.
Love the Elans I have. Replaced a pair of JBL L100s with the Elans. I think they sound better. I also have a pair of the RSL 3300s and 6600Hs. All are excellent speakers and very underrated.
 
Just got some Elans yesterday, did a quick demo sans the passive radiator and have to say I was mostly impressed with them. Might be the rear facing tweeters or the fact they were 4 ft out from the back wall, but really nice depth. Also found the adjustments of the levels to be more responsive or have a greater range than anything I've seen before with other speakers, will have to get them into the rotation for an extended amount of time.
Thats good to hear. I purchased mine from a guy on this site. I have some older vintage RSL also SOUND amazing. I did replace the passives on the Elan's . I ordered some on Amazon around 40 bucks. When I came back in January to California for a visit I did the replacement. I removed the front panel and carefully from the inside scraped the old adhesive off with a razor blade. then vacuumed up the mess. I applied the glue and placed passives in let let dry 24 hours. I then put back together must be very carful not too pull wires off there are so many (MONSTER CABLE) going everywhere. After I hooked them up I had a bad vibration on my right speaker. I pulled it apart and found that one of my wires was touching the back of the woofer. I careful placed insulation and wires so they came no where near the woofer. Back together and they sound so good with only a 35 watt vintage Yamaha. I'm in Amsterdam and have purchased some new gear with more power. Can't wait when I move back and hook it up. But my wife hates those speakers and I might have to stain them really dark brown or just go black.

ESS Speaker Passive Radiator Kit, 12" Speakers, ESS AMT-1A,
 
Love the Elans I have. Replaced a pair of JBL L100s with the Elans. I think they sound better. I also have a pair of the RSL 3300s and 6600Hs. All are excellent speakers and very underrated.

Totally agree, a pair of 3600s are my everyday mancave / garage speaker. Everyone who listens to them comments on how good they sound. Also picked up a pair of what seems to be a homebrew RSL speaker at an estate sale this weekend. Looks to be the 12" driver form the 3300/3600s and a metal horn for mids/highs with a self contained crossover in a metal enclsoure? They needed a little TLC and wires fixed, but hot damn they also sound great.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1850.JPG
    IMG_1850.JPG
    51.4 KB · Views: 51
  • IMG_1852.JPG
    IMG_1852.JPG
    42.9 KB · Views: 46
  • IMG_1880.JPG
    IMG_1880.JPG
    32.2 KB · Views: 44
  • IMG_1881.JPG
    IMG_1881.JPG
    42.7 KB · Views: 43
Last edited:
I bought a set of RSL 3600's about 10 years ago. My 2nd set of "nice" speakers.
They also came with what appear to be the original slanted speaker stands. Does anyone understand why they are labeled as studio monitors? Was this a home audio sales gimmick or were they marketing towards actual sound studios? Thanks
 
I bought a set of RSL 3600's about 10 years ago. My 2nd set of "nice" speakers.
They also came with what appear to be the original slanted speaker stands. Does anyone understand why they are labeled as studio monitors? Was this a home audio sales gimmick or were they marketing towards actual sound studios? Thanks
Can you post a photo of the stands?
They did make both home and 'studio' versions; the studio versions were black, and had the controls on the front of the speaker, while the home versions were walnut (nice thick veneer, when it comes to refinishing time), with the controls on the back. I believe they had the same drivers. Given that they were in the middle of the San Fernando Valley, I'm sure there were some RSLs put into studios.
 
3600 speaker stands. Look OEM but not sure
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0441.JPG
    IMG_0441.JPG
    53.8 KB · Views: 53
  • IMG_0442.JPG
    IMG_0442.JPG
    29.2 KB · Views: 53
Back
Top Bottom