Goodmans Dimension 8 Speakers

[vishalk]

It's not often something catches my eye and makes me think "what are those?"

These vintage speakers did just that, and i had to have them to try out.

Can you imagine 1971 they put 4 bass drivers, 2 mids, 2 tweeters and a 12inch Passive bass radiator.

These need a little TLC but this should make for a fun project. Anyone got experience with these? Looking to check the drivers, thinking the crossover will need new components etc.

 

[ra.ra]

Wow, those certainly are unusual and very interesting. Please give us cabinet dimensions and share more pics as you dig into them. Also, it looks like you've got a Poulsen artichoke ceiling lamp, yes?

 

[totem]

Had a pair in a wood veneer which can be seen here.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/goodmans-dimension-8.121244/

 

[merdy]

Wow brings back some memories,I remember seeing these speakers in an audio shop on charing cross road called modern electrics,shopping with my dad,it was a pretty fancy store as they also had some quad,leak,revox,gale,whaferdale,Farrah,lenco,ferrograph,etc
I had a copy of deep purple machine head and played smoke on the water,they sounded huge for a 14 year old boy,I would love to hear them again including the gale speakers.

 

[vishalk]

Took out the passive bass driver to reveal the crossover, speaker wires could do with a tidy.

Crossover just needs the capactiors replacing being some 40 + years old. Thought i would i use ALCAP capacitors as they are close to the originals.
Next would be to test each driver, i have a Dayton DAT V2 which i will use to test them all.

Speaker cabinets could do with some TLC so i will get them resprayed.

 

[ra.ra]

Thx for the pics - - - yeah, those ELCAP black/red caps (also found with CALLINS and TEMPLE labels) are notorious for having drifted (high) in value and definitely require replacement, and ALCAP's will probably work just fine as replacements. Is there any reason to think your crossover might be missing R1 and/or C3 due to those blank areas on the circuit board, or is it possible that this board was also used for similar crossovers for other speaker models?

 

[vishalk]

I wondered about the missing R1 and C3, my guess like yours, was that the crossover board was used in other speaker models and the components placed based on the model and drivers used. I ordered ALCAP capacitors, i was thinking of going more exotic but for the price there was no need, these caps will be perfect for this job.

 

[ra.ra]

I ordered ALCAP capacitors, I was thinking of going more exotic.....

Totally agree that simple e-lytics should work well for this project. Cool speakers.

 

[Dominic N]

I wondered about the missing R1 and C3, my guess like yours, was that the crossover board was used in other speaker models and the components placed based on the model and drivers used. I ordered ALCAP capacitors, i was thinking of going more exotic but for the price there was no need, these caps will be perfect for this job.

No the filterboards were also used in other models, hence the empty spots with other parts.

I have these speakers in my living room for years I have the three sets that were available at the time, teak, walnut and in white veneer.

 

[vishalk]

just an update on the rebuild on these:

removed all the drivers.

Some of the drivers need tlc like the bass radiator, the plastic skin over the cone was coming away so it had to be stretched and glued back down.

All the drivers were tested with the dayton dat v2, here you can see the midrange being tested. The green line shows before, the blue shows after the surround was reglued.

 

[vishalk]

new caps fitted

Midrange pod sound deadened and wool wadding applied, new speaker wire and connectors

Front panel prepared for respray

 

[Dominic N]

 

[vishalk]

Breakdown of parts

Silicon sealed to prevent air leaks

Complete respray (cabinets were veneered where necessary, filled, sanded and prepared)

Paint dried time to rebuild

New and much better speaker cable

New speaker wadding, this time instead of just two pieces of sponge all the walls were lined with wadding

3D printed blanking plate

New binding posts fitted.

Speaker finished ready for testing

Better speaker spikes

listening for air leaks and unwanted vibrations

not bad 30hz from the passive woofer!

Showing tweeters, midranges and bass driver readings.

 

[vishalk]

Still a few bits to do like finish off the cabinets by lightly sanding and cleaning up the paint lines, fine tuning the speaker and doing more measurements etc. Just finishing the other speaker and then i can test the out!

 

[totem]

Cudo's a very extensive rebuild.

 

[vishalk]

Finally managed to finish both speakers, just wanted to hook them both up and start playing some music!

 

[Dominic N]

Wow what a beautiful update, very nicely done I am very impressed.
What kind of speaker cloth are you going to use? on evilbay is a person from GB europe (named.?..?.tannoy) who sells very nice retro fabrics.

I'm going to test my loudspeakers again for leakage of air, the set that I'm using at the moment sounds much better than the one I have now on my suspicion is that false air escapes.

 

[vishalk]

Hi Dominic the original speaker cloth is actually in good condition, but it does need updating. I was thinking of maybe going a little more modern on the colour and style of the speaker cloth.

 

[Markoneswift]

Have you recapped the crossovers ? Just wondering because those ELCAPS sound like a$$ lol.

 

[Markoneswift]

Never mind, I see you did nice work !