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Stumbled upon a rummage sale... Little Kings are responsible

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Cosmos

Cosmos

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Stumbled upon a rummage sale. Little Kings are responsible - Heathkit 4 ways AS-1321

There we are, sitting by the lake on a stupendous day when we realize we are dangerously low on Little Kings.. and the nearest store is 20 miles away.. damn!

So off we go in the quest of the Ale... Along the road.. a sign.. a rummage sale at a Church. Neither my wife or I had ever been to a rummage sale.. oh well, what the heck.. it'll only take a couple minutes...

As we walk in I catch something large that looks a little like room dividers in Walnut and Black fabric across a large room.. In my mind, I immediately think EPI 1000 towers! No, can't be.. the fabric is divided horizontally.. What the heck..?

Well, sign says.. Vintage Heathkit Towers... Heathkit??? Really?

Yep, heathkit.. peel back the grills.. Ribbon Tweeters and a large nice looking mid dome?? Heathkit? Price is right.. Ok, they are coming home.

Despite the replaced midbass unit, they sound really nice... and my wife LIKES the look!!! Holy moly!

Fostex ribbon (lief) tweeters, Dynaudio mid domes.. unknown woofer and a replaced cheapo midbass... in Nice cabinets..

Here they are:
 

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Check out the crossover connections:
 

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Damn C, those are pretty cool looking. The back of the tweet says Foster....was that a Fostex driver? Have you fired them up yet? How do they sound?
 
nice score,

btw, back in my Michigan days, we would swill some "Little Kings Cream Ale"
 
Foster became Fostex.

They sound nice.. I would like to find out what they had for a midbass...

Anyone have these?
 
Heppner

''unknown woofer and a replaced cheapo midbass...''
the bass driver is a Heppner....see them in a lot of guitar amps and organs.
 
Stephen J said:
''unknown woofer and a replaced cheapo midbass...''
the bass driver is a Heppner....see them in a lot of guitar amps and organs.
Click to expand...
Heppner, Thanks StephenJ!

Now, I wonder is it is original?

I am also thinking these midbass units (MCM 55-1585) might work nicely or perhaps the infamous philips mid..? :scratch2:
 

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Very nice find those look amazing! It`s great sometimes waht can be found in the strangest places? Congrats. And yes those would do nicely for mid-bass!
 
What a cool find! How many of those ever existed? How many could possibly still be around? They seen to have pretty cool components.
I'd love to hear about them, if you get them fired up.
 
I've been checking out the Heathkit speakers offerings on Fleabay for a couple of years now and I've never seen anything like those before! Those midbass units do not seem to match the quality of the other drivers as you've noticed but could someone have really blown the originals out? If these speakers were used as PA speakers in a church then maybe, but still... Its too bad you didn't mention Heathkit in the thread title as maybe a heathkit fan would notice this thread and add some information. It sure would be nice to know what the original midbass drivers were.
 
If the woofer module is an AS-1320 and the 3-way module is AS-1321, what the heck is the top 1/3 of the speaker? Or is it more box volume for the woofer?

BTW, those D-52s are very nice drivers. I think Bruce Edgar used them in his mid-horns for years.
 
eurasian said:
If the woofer module is an AS-1320 and the 3-way module is AS-1321, what the heck is the top 1/3 of the speaker? Or is it more box volume for the woofer?

BTW, those D-52s are very nice drivers. I think Bruce Edgar used them in his mid-horns for years.
Click to expand...

I agree, the 3 way section is a AS-1321 and the woofer is a AS-1320, but it is all one cabinet. There are no divisions and the crossover and labels are all in one area. They came from Heathkit as one piece.

The D52 are nice. I believe the tweeters were also used by Soundlabs.

I'd bet the midbass and woofer needed foam and rather than repairing them, both units were replaced. I doubt the Heppner woofer is original.
 
When I was doing research for these Dan, I read, somewhere, that the 3-way version was an option for the 1321. Without that option it was just a two way.
 
In the second image, the ~6" driver looks like it came from a vehicle.

Are they the same in both speakers?

Great rescue too, those have to be rare.
 
soundmotor said:
In the second image, the ~6" driver looks like it came from a vehicle. Are they the same in both speakers?
Click to expand...
I would agree they look like cheap car speakers and they are made in China.

soundmotor said:
Great rescue too, those have to be rare.
Click to expand...

I believe them to be rare. As far as I can tell, they were only made for one year.. 1984. Further, they look incredibly well built. The cabinets are braced and filled with damping. The crossovers look incredible. Frankly, the weight and the size of the cabinet and the quality of the tweeter and midrange is all I had to go on, but it seemed enough for me to easily take the chance. The drivers made this a "no brainer" pickup.

djnagle said:
When I was doing research for these Dan, I read, somewhere, that the 3-way version was an option for the 1321. Without that option it was just a two way.
Click to expand...

That is not correct. The AS-1321 is a 3 way and the AS-1320 is the "subwoofer" option. The strange thing about these, is that the subwoofer is not a separate item. It is integrated into the electronics and cabinet as tight as can be. They sound nice... very nice.
 
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For the sake of posterity, here are pics of the crossovers..
 

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