• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Picked up some SARAS

S

steelhead97

Active Member
I saw these at the salvation army and instantly thought they might be good. I bought them on a whim, two of them to be exact, two pairs one is model 30 and one is 30 A, The white grill is model 30. they are 3 way and appear to be from 70's based on grill design. Anybody know anything about them? They have large 12" woofers and mid and inverted tweeters similar to my epicure M110. I think I will stack these.... oh yeah price for them was under $45 a pair... On the back it says the drivers and design contained in this cabinet are made in USA by SARAS. Anybody know if these are any good?? Like i said i bought them on intuition and they are pretty well built beautiful cabinets and are heavy. Hooked them up and all drivers are working... They sound good with tight bass better than my current JBL L80T...:scratch2: :scratch2
 

Attachments

  • saras1.jpg
    saras1.jpg
    81.7 KB · Views: 377
  • saras2.jpg
    saras2.jpg
    51.9 KB · Views: 402
  • saras3.jpg
    saras3.jpg
    83.2 KB · Views: 956
Register to hide this ad
Those woogers and mids look like Seas to me. I woulda scooped 'em up for that price too.
 
devoid said:
Those woogers and mids look like Seas to me. I woulda scooped 'em up for that price too.[/QUOTE

Yeah the cabinets are rally furniture grade and still ook good and the surrounds on the mids and woofers are rubber so i figured it could be good. Tried to talk them down some more but couldn't do it...:sigh:
Click to expand...
 
They were a West Coast speaker. The founder was the father of Randy Stoklos of volleyball fame. He made his own drivers. The 30A's had a slightly different crossover than the 30. Very good low bass, lacking some midbass, great tweeter. Other models were 10 (10" 2 way) 20 (12" 2 way) 30 (12" 3 way), then some towers (St-200), and some satalite/sub speakers. The ST 200 used the same tweeter and mid, used 2 10" woofers. Didn't go as low as the 30's but tighter bass with more midbass. The line died when the founder died.
 
Columbo said:
They were a West Coast speaker. The founder was the father of Randy Stoklos of volleyball fame. He made his own drivers. The 30A's had a slightly different crossover than the 30. Very good low bass, lacking some midbass, great tweeter. Other models were 10 (10" 2 way) 20 (12" 2 way) 30 (12" 3 way), then some towers (St-200), and some satalite/sub speakers. The ST 200 used the same tweeter and mid, used 2 10" woofers. Didn't go as low as the 30's but tighter bass with more midbass. The line died when the founder died.
Click to expand...
Great information. I had never heard of the speakers before. I have heard of the son however.

cubdog
 
One of the things I think they could have improved upon is the speaker post, very poor quality metal screws that appear to be oxidized rather than the screw RED and BLACK post that you normally see in the quality speakers.
 
Is that woofer surround inverted? Cool looking speakers. How do they sound? Is that an EPI tweeter? I like those a lot. :thmbsp:
 
kfa888 said:
Is that woofer surround inverted? Cool looking speakers. How do they sound? Is that an EPI tweeter? I like those a lot. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...


Hi, yes that is an inverted rubber surround, and someone said the tweeter is a copy of the EPI tweeter, they look the same to me, definitely similar design but i think these were made by saras. They are not boomy and have tight bass which is what west coast speakers are not known for, compared to another west coast speaker which i have the JBL L80T they are more clear and not as muddied. They however don't image as well as the EPI's but more of an in between west coast and east coast sound... sort of like a midwest sound... :D
 
Of course the woofer surrounds are inverted!
With a palindromic name like SARAS, you know they are mirror image pairs too.:beerchug:


:banana:
 
They didn't image that well because the drivers were not in a vertical line. The towers and satalite systems imaged better. The name was a combination of family initials.
 
Im thinking Saras were the makers of the speakers I bought with my Yamaha receiver and turntable back in 1983.I bought them at a high end hi-fi shop in Burbank,CA,and they impressed me the most of all the speakers they had in my very limited price range(I think the whole setup was about $1100).
My sister inherited them when I joined the Air Force a year later.Im going to visit her this weekend,and Im hoping she kind find where she stored them.Ill bring them back with me and take some pics.Hope she can find them......
Jimmy
 
2DualsNotEnough said:
Im thinking Saras were the makers of the speakers I bought with my Yamaha receiver and turntable back in 1983.I bought them at a high end hi-fi shop in Burbank,CA,and they impressed me the most of all the speakers they had in my very limited price range(I think the whole setup was about $1100).
My sister inherited them when I joined the Air Force a year later.Im going to visit her this weekend,and Im hoping she kind find where she stored them.Ill bring them back with me and take some pics.Hope she can find them......
Jimmy
Click to expand...


Audio Mart on Magnolia?
 
Columbo said:
Audio Mart on Magnolia?
Click to expand...

Yeah,thats it!I spent soooo many hours in that place as a teenager after school.I bought several MFSL albums from them there also,and my first set of AKG 240's.Thats the place I first heard a pair of K-Horns,and my first set of DQ-10's.Do you know if they are still around?Id love to drop by and see how much theyve changed in the last 20 years.
Jimmy
 
When I worked for ALCO Home Electronics as a saleman in the early '70's, we carried Saras speakers. I would up buying a pair of Saras 20s -- as noted 12 inch woofer and inverted dome tweeter. Used to drive them with a Mac 240 or 275. I still have these speakers, in their original boxes. I haven't listened to them in probably 15 years. The last time I pulled them out, I remember being (un)impressed with how tizzy the tweeters sounded. The cabinets are lovely, and the woofer goes deep -- if I remember correctly from when I pulled the woofer one time, it was run full range to cover the midrange. I've sometimes thought about turning them into some nice three-ways with addition of a decent midrange.

And re: the EPI resemblance -- I remember being told as a salesman that the folks building the Saras tweeter had had a hand in inventing the inverted dome tweeter but had had a split with EPI. I had and still have no way of knowing the truth about who did what first.
 
Saras St 200a

Here are a few pictures. This is next to my ADS L1290.
 

Attachments

  • SARAS 006 small.jpg
    SARAS 006 small.jpg
    23.3 KB · Views: 285
Saras St 200a

Here are pictures of the crossover. It is not located in the speaker chamber, but is inside the base of the cabinet. No printed circuit board here! I think the hand wiring looks impressive and there is a look of quality.

The "A" model has "plastic" woofers and was a later version listing for $1,800 pr. The earlier version ($1,500) had "pulp" woofers, and from what I remember from 30 years ago...they sounded better.
 

Attachments

  • SARAS 001 small.jpg
    SARAS 001 small.jpg
    29.5 KB · Views: 216
  • SARAS 003 small.jpg
    SARAS 003 small.jpg
    20.2 KB · Views: 145
columbo i was cruising the net for info on the Saras line of speakers. I have a pair of the ST200 like yours but mine have the paper coned woofers instead of the plastic cones as you stated. I love the sound of them. I have many fine vintage speaker sets so I rotate between them and enjoy hearing the sublte differences in them. My main speakers are AR9s, then I rotate to Yamaha NS1000M, Dahlquist DQ18, B&W 805, and my SARAS Speakers. How long have you had the SARAS speakers and have you done any upgrades to them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom