Sony SS-M9 driver identification

[tyella]

I'm working on a pair of Sony SS-M9 speakers. These are absolute beasts at 120+ pounds each.

Both midranges and one woofer are out, as in no continuity. I assume the voicecoils are fried, as there is significant rub. Presumably they were played way too loud, or well into clipping.

Here is one of the midranges. It is made in Norway, so I assume it's a SEAS? Anyone have a guess as to which driver it is?


And here is the woofer. It's an 8 incher made in Denmark, so presumably a Vifa/Scanspeak.


Any help identifying these would be much appreciated, as Sony won't be any help.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Pete B]

A few of the old Vifa woofers are sold under the Scan Speak name now,
this might be it:
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-8-woofers/scanspeak-22w/8534g-discovery-8-woofer/

You might be able to go cheap with this, check dimensions and T&S parameters:
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-8-woofers/silver-flute-w20rc38-08-8-wool-cone/

There are also some new SB Acoustics 8" woofers that you might look into.

 

[Pete B]

I can't read the label on the mid, how about typing out the numbers here.

 

[tyella]

I can't read the label on the mid, how about typing out the numbers here.

Mid:
SONY1-505-177-11
817
Made in Norway 37/96

 

[bakes]

Midrange looks like a SEAS H143 or a variant thereof; same driver used in some Snell speakers. https://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/seas-mca11fc-h143-08-snell-type-a-iii-midrange.html

The woofer is likely from the Peerless side of the SEAS/Vifa/Peerless family that existed at that time. Those speakers use the Peerless wide angle dome tweeters, which were one of my favorites back in the day; very smooth sounding tweeter.

 

[restorer-john]

SONY1-505-177-11

This is the internal Sony part number they have allocated the driver.

 

[tyella]

Midrange looks like a SEAS H143 or a variant thereof; same driver used in some Snell speakers. https://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/seas-mca11fc-h143-08-snell-type-a-iii-midrange.html

The woofer is likely from the Peerless side of the SEAS/Vifa/Peerless family that existed at that time. Those speakers use the Peerless wide angle dome tweeters, which were one of my favorites back in the day; very smooth sounding tweeter.

That has the same frame, for sure! I found some other SEAS mids/woofers in the same frame. I'm hoping to get a little more specific with the parameters/measurements. With both not working, it's tough to measure resistance, etc.

Here's some stuff copied from the SEAS website:
14 cm woofers

• H0423 P14RC4Y/DCH0393 P14RCY
• H0395_P14RC
• H0626_P14RC/TV
• H0702 T14RCY/P-H
• H0761 L14RC/P
• H0762 L14RCY/P
• H0822 T14RCY

 

[tyella]

This is the internal Sony part number they have allocated the driver.

The wonderful magic would be if someone had a spreadsheet that cross referenced those Sony part numbers with off-the-shelf model numbers!

 

[Pete B]

I think that the H143 is 11 cm whereas that is probably 14 cm.
What is the diagonal measurement?
Is the cone poly or treated paper?
This might be it but is NLA:
http://www.seas.no/images/stories/vintage/pdfdataheet/h0522_mp14rcyp.pdf

Are both mids blown? If not it would be good to know the DCR since Sony might
have had a custom version made.

 

[Pete B]

Miller Sound might be able to repair the drivers and if takes them apart it would
be good to know the VC wind height DCR etc.

 

[Pete B]

The woofer frame looks like Vifa or SEAS but the dust cap looks like Vifa from what I remember.
Is there a part number on the rubber edge?
Is the back plate raised or not?
Is the cone paper or poly, hard to tell from the picture.
Looks like a P21 type.

 

[Pete B]

This might be closer to the original woofer:
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...MI9ZOK59PP3gIVC61pCh0FEAfMEAQYASABEgIB_fD_BwE

It is a Vifa P21 type but now sold under Scan.

 

[baco99]

10 ohm impedance on that woofer, FYI...

 

[Pete B]

Here's the input impedance and about 5 ohms in the bass range so
that makes sense for each woofer to be 10 ohms:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-es-ss-m9-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[tyella]

Here's the input impedance and about 5 ohms in the bass range so
that makes sense for each woofer to be 10 ohms:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-es-ss-m9-loudspeaker-measurements

Thanks for all of that great info, Pete!
The 8" woofer's rubber surround has SR 185 / 13 stamped on it.
The midrange/midwoofers have nothing on them.

 

[tyella]

Oh, and it feels like a poly cone. Not sure what a "raised backplate" is, but here is a pic. There are ridges:

 

[tyella]

Interestingly, this little guy has 8 screw holes. All of the comparable ones I've seen have just 6.

 

[baco99]

for reference, the SR stamping on the rubber surrounds doesn't signify anything. just size for the rubber itself.

 

[Pete B]

This might help: http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....with-rubber-surround-i-need-your-help.698484/

Do you have a budget for fixing them?

 

[tyella]

RE: the link, I sold off a single Vandersteen 2ci woofer a year ago. I wish I'd held on to it now!

As for budget, I'm not sure. I'm repairing these for someone else. I have a feeling that $400 for repair/replacement of the 3 drivers and another $100 for crossover work might be too much. Those are my current rough estimates, anyway. I'll have to check in with them and see. These potentially wonderful speakers may end up parted out.