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1959 Motorola Console, Gauge Wire?

I got mine secondhand, but PE is as good a place as any. Those are fairly similar looking to the ones I have. A 10uf cap between the tweeter and the existing driver will give a crossover about 3khz. If thats too much midrange, a smaller cap will move that upward.

If the problem is lack of highs, adding a proper tweeter should help some with that. A lot of console speaker setups didn't go way up on purpose. Limits how much noise you get from less than stellar records and radio reception. Quite honestly the speaker systems in a lot of consoles are their real handicap.
 
So, I’m not exactly sure how to wire it. There’s 3 speakers on each side already, and what I believe is also a 10uf cap between them and the amp. How many volts does the 10uf tweeter cap have to be?
 
whats the current speaker arrangement on each side? By your description I was thinking it was a single 5 1/4" driver.
 
There is an 8 inch woofer and 2 5.25 inch woofers on each side. You are right, there is a cap running between them. So the wiring goes from the amp, to the 8inch, and then from the 8 inch to the two 5.25 inch with a cap run in between them. I took a picture of it. So wouldn't it make the most sense to maybe replace one of those two 5.25 inch woofers on either side of it?
 

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Actually, I think I'm wrong on the sizes. I think one is 8 inch, one is 5.25 inch, and then the top right one is something smaller than the 5.25 inch, because it doesn't look like 5.25 inch.
 
How much would say that improved the sound? Was it worth the money? On a scale of 1-10, did it move from like a 6 to a 10, or a 4 to a 6? How much of a difference would you say it made?
 
I changed all of the drivers in mine. They were all the same size but not the same brand. I also put proper 3 way crossovers in there, salvaged from a set of Infinity speakers. Mine ran the 12" full range, and the 5" and the 3" were both wired through a simple cap to keep the bass out. It was way too loud in the middle and had very weak top end. Not much for bass either. The University 12" speakers I subbed for the original woofers helped with the bottom end. The replacement 5" and tweeter gave it a lot more top end without the big hump in the midrange. I also lined the cabinets with thick cotton batting. Its all pretty subjective but I'd say it went from maybe a 3 to a 7. Its not as good as my main system but it went from something that I really didn't want to hear to something I will actually listen to.
 
I had a two channel version that I recapped and converted to a stand alone amp. I ended up selling to a member on AK a few years back. Wish I still had it!!
And yes it is more like 12-16 WPC. But with sensitive speakers like the ones built into the console it should be more than enough for most of us.
Enjoy it.
 
gadget73 said:
I changed all of the drivers in mine. They were all the same size but not the same brand. I also put proper 3 way crossovers in there, salvaged from a set of Infinity speakers. Mine ran the 12" full range, and the 5" and the 3" were both wired through a simple cap to keep the bass out. It was way too loud in the middle and had very weak top end. Not much for bass either. The University 12" speakers I subbed for the original woofers helped with the bottom end. The replacement 5" and tweeter gave it a lot more top end without the big hump in the midrange. I also lined the cabinets with thick cotton batting. Its all pretty subjective but I'd say it went from maybe a 3 to a 7. Its not as good as my main system but it went from something that I really didn't want to hear to something I will actually listen to.
Click to expand...
Thanks, so just wondering if this tweeter would work. It's 6 ohms. I've been trying to figure out what the ohmage is on the current speaker but I'm having trouble figuring it out. There's nothing glaringly obvious on it that I can see that indicates what it is.

Also, the cap that I have in there is this one. So, it's a 5uf. The lower the number, you said, the higher the crossover. So, would it benefit me to get a higher uf cap?
 
It might be fine with the stock value. The exact value depends on the speaker impedance too. A 5uf cap with 6 ohms load is 5300 hz. With 8 ohms it would be about 4000 hz. On some level you might just have to trust your ears. That tweeter would probably work fine, certainly should give you more treble than the stock paper tweeter does.

https://www.v-cap.com/speaker-crossover-calculator.php

it would be the first order crossover. Just plug in anything you want on the low pass side, it doesn't matter for this.
 
So any guess what the impedance on the 5.25 speaker would be? I have to assume it would be higher, because why would you cross over that high on 5.25 woofer? Is that typical? I just would figure you would want the two primary speakers to get a more full range, especially since the drop off on old stuff is probably around 15,000 if not less. The numbers on the back don't give me much to go on.
 
not honestly sure. DC ohm measurement would probably give a hint. If its in the 2.5-3.5 ohm range, its probably 4 ohms. 5-7 ohms is probably 8 ohms. Also depends how those two speakers are wired. If its a pair of 8 ohm drivers in series, that comes out to 16 ohms, and 5 uf with 16 ohms is 2000 hz.
 
gadget73 said:
not honestly sure. DC ohm measurement would probably give a hint. If its in the 2.5-3.5 ohm range, its probably 4 ohms. 5-7 ohms is probably 8 ohms. Also depends how those two speakers are wired. If its a pair of 8 ohm drivers in series, that comes out to 16 ohms, and 5 uf with 16 ohms is 2000 hz.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Now that I've thought about it, I'm pretty sure it's 8 ohms, at least for the tweeter. I had taken a reading on them a while back to make sure they were functioning, and I believe the one on the right side measured out at 7.2, and the one on the left side (the one pictured) was 7.8
 
I'm honestly torn between the Dayton Audio DC28F-8 and Tymphany D27TG35. The Tymphany is much higher reviewed, but the Dayton seems to be be more in line with what I need, considering it's 8 ohms. Plus it's $10 cheaper. There's also a Dayton 8 inch I can buy, to swap out the bottom speaker, if the tweeter doesn't improve the sound quality significantly. Or if I wanted to get fancy, I could get this one: The HiVi F8 Bass midrange. So I could potentially pair the Tymphany or the Dayton with the HiVi. That would sound pretty beastly. I doubt I will go that far, though, I really just want to improve the high-end, and will probably stick to the Dayton.
 
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