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Magnavox Horns anyone?

Thespeakerdude8

Thespeakerdude8

Super Member
I've got a pair of magnavox horns from a console and they are easy to come by. I'm sure a lot of you know the ones I am talking about. They aren't the Jensen or heppner ones, they are the ones with the green plastic cover over the driver, possibly made by Foster?

I would like to know if they are worth using as stand alone horns with some good speakers, and what a recommended cutoff frequency would be for them. They are quite efficient and sound pretty good to me with 1uf poly caps as the only crossover.
 
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I had a pair of those years ago! And I did exactly as you, I crossed them with 1 uF 50v caps and sat them atop some smaller MCS series speakers I was using at the time. It DID improve the highs pretty well! I used them like that for years!
 
No, I remember trying them first with 2.2 uF, then with 1 uF. I thought they were still a bit harsh with the 2.2's. I guess that's what you get at 6db/oct rolloff. 10uF probably would have fried them once ypu got on the volume control. They weren't made to handle much power.
 
I just bought a set of Magnavox woofs and horns from a console that are in shipment. Since they were packaged in those styrofoam enclosures, I'm guessing late 70's - early 80's vintage. I'm gonna fab them up to go into some EV wall-mounted enclosures I have.

Anybody got any recommendations for a crossover design?
 
If you're talking about these.



They are Heppners. Are they actually plastic covers or foam? Ive got horns aplenty from maggie consoles and Ive only seen three kinds. Of course I only play with tube consoles.
Jensen early big ones, Magnavox Jensen copies big ones from about 57' and the Heppner foam backs that are smaller starting in about 61'.
Theyre Ok horns and perform well up to about 20 Watts. Stock-ular speaking, I think the Heppners typically use a 3mfd cap and the bigger ones a 8 mfd cap for a x-over.

The Heppner EIA code is 575, Maggie 232, Jensen 220. I dont have Foster on my list.

Theres always a first but Ive never seen anything but these in Magnavox consoles up to about 1967. After that I dont know. I guess they could be from later huh.

All the Magnavox Speakers are Jensen design copies and thus are really pretty good speakers for what they are.


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resound, yes the waveguide looks like those but the cap over the motor is green plastic, not styrofoam, and is not domed. They are the ones with the sticker on them saying that the warranty will be voided if they are opened. I could be wrong, but I think I remember them being crossed over with a 100uf cap with the 15" woofers in the console. BTW, the console was a SS astrosonic so it was more mid 60's ish.

580088-1 is the only number printed on them, and I can't get the plastic cup off to get a look at the diaphragm.
Here's a pic I found online. Interestingly enough, they say made in japan on them, while mine do not. MIJ would probably mean Foster.
mag_horns.jpg


http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=99647 Here is a link to DIYaudio discussing them. I think someone made a plot for them with dayton woofer tester? Maybe this can be used to calculate x-over points, and see if they are worth using or not?
 
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I just dropped a pair of the foam-topped ones into a 2-way cabinet with a 3.2uf cap to replace the stock tweeter.

attachment.php


I tried them over about a week, just sitting atop the speaker switching between several different cap values. To my ear and for my application, the 3.4 uf cap sounded best. This was fourtunate because that was the value of the cap in the existing crossover!

This horn can sound like a tweeter or a punchier mid-range, depending on what value you choose. If I was using them in a large area I'd want the horn to project more.
 
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Thespeakerdude8 said:
resound, yes the waveguide looks like those but the cap over the motor is green plastic, not styrofoam, and is not domed. They are the ones with the sticker on them saying that the warranty will be voided if they are opened. I could be wrong, but I think I remember them being crossed over with a 100uf cap with the 15" woofers in the console. BTW, the console was a SS astrosonic so it was more mid 60's ish.

580088-1 is the only number printed on them, and I can't get the plastic cup off to get a look at the diaphragm.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I havent seen those before. Unusual not to have a EIA code on them.
Also unusualish is that 580088-1 is the same part # thats on the foam back ones I have.

StarMover said:
I just dropped a pair of the foam-topped ones into a 2-way cabinet with a 3.2uf cap to replace the stock tweeter.

I tried them over about a week, just sitting atop the speaker switching between several different cap values. To my ear and for my application, the 3.4 uf cap sounded best. This was fourtunate because that was the value of the cap in the existing crossover!

This horn can sound like a tweeter or a punchier mid-range, depending on what value you choose. If I was using them in a large area I'd want the horn to project more.
Click to expand...

Thats what Ive always been planning to do with my stockpile. They keep piling up. I can never bear to toss them out and theres not alot of interest in the name Magnavox when you're talking about speakers nowadays. I let a pair of the Jensens go and got decent value for them but the same exact ones marked Magnavox are pooh-poohed. I was thinking about putting a set of the bigger ones next to my JBL 131's in a big console. :scratch2:
Looks good in your speaker there. Good to know that x-over value range. I'll mark that on them so I remember.



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I found the speakers on the curb perfect condition and free! Bose Interaudio. So I had nothing to loose and decided to make a frankenspeaker. The sound nice to my 40-something ears. Kinda nice to have a speaker built to one's own specification. Kinda like Herseys on a budget! Installing a variable control might also be a good idea. Then you can tune it as you like.
 
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I have a similar pair of horns (from a SS console I think) with grayish white covers. I also have the matching 12" woofers. I plan to try stuffing the ports on a set of JBL 902VX cabinets that I have on hand and modding for the horns just to see what they can do.

mike
 
Wiring arrangement for Magnavox console speakers?

I just got my 1971 Magnavox console speakers in, wires but no crossover included. Does anyone have any idea how these things were wired up originally? With what I think was the original arrangent, I get 4.7 ohms total impedence - was this typical for these units?

The 4 x 10 horns are Foster (Japan) at 12 ohm and the woofers are 12" Eminences at 7.8 ohms. I've seen a small picture of the original crossover on eBay that seems to show a single cap and a longer square-cross section piece (maybe a resistor?) glued together. Was the crossover simply a cap in-line for the tweeter?

My final question regards a recommendation for a crossover/wiring arrangement for these drivers in a DIY arrangement. I'll probably start with open baffle, then see if an enclosure makes any improvement. Comments are welcome!
 
A question regarding adapting the 902 cabinets. They have 12" woofer plus 5" or so mid and a 3" tweeter. I will need to cut out for the horn and can do so either at the tweeter location or the mid location (and plug the other). Should I put the horn at the tweeter location to get it up closer to ear level or put it in the mid location to get it as close to the woofer as possible?

mike
 
My quick guess...

Hokieman said:
I just got my 1971 Magnavox console speakers in, wires but no crossover included. Does anyone have any idea how these things were wired up originally? With what I think was the original arrangent, I get 4.7 ohms total impedence - was this typical for these units?

The 4 x 10 horns are Foster (Japan) at 12 ohm and the woofers are 12" Eminences at 7.8 ohms. I've seen a small picture of the original crossover on eBay that seems to show a single cap and a longer square-cross section piece (maybe a resistor?) glued together. Was the crossover simply a cap in-line for the tweeter?

My final question regards a recommendation for a crossover/wiring arrangement for these drivers in a DIY arrangement. I'll probably start with open baffle, then see if an enclosure makes any improvement. Comments are welcome!
Click to expand...

I think with a DCR of 12 ohms for the horns you have 16 ohm horns. The crossovers with these systems were very crude and simple, just a cap for the horn and the woofers run straight without crossovers.

I would recommend 1st order cap @ 1600hz for the horn (6 ufd for 16 ohms) and I would still use a coil in series with the woofer with a .5mH to 1 mH value to slightly roll off the top end to the woofer.

More involved crossover designs would cost more than what you probably paid for the horns and drivers.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Regards, Ron
 
green plastic caps

I have about 18 of these sitting on a shelf from parting magnavox cabs. (ones with green plastic cap). Most of them say 220625 along with 580088-1. rest of them dont have have the # but say japan on them.would this be considered made by Jensen being "220", most of them measure 8" in length1000hz. but have a couple of pairs that are 12" i think are 400Hz by reading liturature I have. Iremember getting these from a tube unit alon with 12" woofer and 93 series amp.
 
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