I have a pair of Sherwood Tanglewoods given to me by Mark Hardy, who found them at the dump. The Tanglewood seems to be a relatively rare speaker -- I've never seen another pair, and even references to them are unusual. They are a large 4 way -- 2 10" rear firing woofers (each in its own chamber), an 8" lower mid in upper cabinet, a sealed back 8" upper mid, and a 1" dome tweeter (the earlier model had two ring radiators).
They were in rough shape cosmetically, but worked. When I first got them I found the ferrite slug from one coil was out and had attached itself to the back of the tweeter magnet, so I replaced it. The speakers sounded good in a very large room, but in my office they were a bit loose and thin. So recently I went in (the grill frames are attached with screws from the inside of the upper cabinet). The lower mids were problematic -- all the coating had come off the cloth surrounds, so there was not acoustic suspension or isolation. And the gaskets had come up, pulling the surround away at points. I redoped the surrounds with rubber cement and reglued the gaskets. I also removed the elaborately stapled and nailed grill over the woofers of one speaker, and found that one woofer's suspension had sagged enough to seize it, so I rotated it 180 degrees, which freed it up. Haven't gotten to the other speaker.
But noticeably better sound -- fuller and smoother response. The high end is not as smooth or transparent as more modern drivers, but not bad. Deep bass is good. Midrange is okay, but two 8" woofers probably create interference and comb filtering -- would probably be better in a larger room where I could get farther away. But unfatiguing -- a little dim by modern standards, but less chestiness on vocals than many speakers.
I like them. Thanks Mark.
They were in rough shape cosmetically, but worked. When I first got them I found the ferrite slug from one coil was out and had attached itself to the back of the tweeter magnet, so I replaced it. The speakers sounded good in a very large room, but in my office they were a bit loose and thin. So recently I went in (the grill frames are attached with screws from the inside of the upper cabinet). The lower mids were problematic -- all the coating had come off the cloth surrounds, so there was not acoustic suspension or isolation. And the gaskets had come up, pulling the surround away at points. I redoped the surrounds with rubber cement and reglued the gaskets. I also removed the elaborately stapled and nailed grill over the woofers of one speaker, and found that one woofer's suspension had sagged enough to seize it, so I rotated it 180 degrees, which freed it up. Haven't gotten to the other speaker.
But noticeably better sound -- fuller and smoother response. The high end is not as smooth or transparent as more modern drivers, but not bad. Deep bass is good. Midrange is okay, but two 8" woofers probably create interference and comb filtering -- would probably be better in a larger room where I could get farther away. But unfatiguing -- a little dim by modern standards, but less chestiness on vocals than many speakers.
I like them. Thanks Mark.
