Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Indeed, quite rare. I've seen the pre out there for a while now and that is actually quite reduced from the prior asking price. It also needs work.
Beveridge Model 5 - Restore
- Thread starter Audio Fan
- Start date
Indeed, quite rare. I've seen the pre out there for a while now and that is actually quite reduced from the prior asking price. It also needs work.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
You don't sit between them. Normal listening distances apply.
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Yes indeed. I think we have established that the Model 5 series were not designed to be placed facing each other like the earlier Model 2 & 3. My comment of sitting between them is going to be just for fun since in the new room in which they will be placed, I will have total flexibility of placement. They will most likely end up being placed exactly how they they are today, slightly toed inward toward the listening position. No audio enthusiasts will be harmed with these lab experiments.
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Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Had a VERY interesting conversation this evening. The Beveridge history is just falling into my lap, it seems. A local audio buddy, ironically, met a very nice fellow named Kavi that lives on the westcoast recently. They get to talking and he mentions he worked for Harold Beveridge in the early '80's, so my friend gets me in touch with him and we spoke for two hours! :yes:
Kavi is an extremely interesting person without a doubt. He started working with Harold not long after he formed his second company which is of note.
First company was called Harold Beveridge Inc. which produced the Models 2 and 3 (and other iterations like 2SW). This company went bankrupt, so a second company was formed, Harold Beveridge International and this company ONLY made Model 5's. Kavi also confirmed that the new company opened it's doors in the same building as the prior and, somehow, managed to keep a lot of the prior company's inventory of parts which explains why some of the early Model 5's have the original transducer. Eventually, this company would also go belly up and Harold opened a third company, but could no longer use the Beveridge name, so it was called California Audio Labs and built the Model 6 and Kavi thinks there may have been some Model 7's either made or in the works (no idea what happened to a Model 4).
Although Kavi was only there a short while, he was able to convince Harold to improve the transformers and, if you look at my crossover and 335's, you can see that the new Model 5 have a MUCH bigger transformer. A funny story, on one day, the usual builder, a young man named Michael Edwards, did not show up for work, so Harold asked Kavi to help him finish one of the speaker pairs that needed to ship. Kavi has long hair and as he was using one of the electric screwdriver/drills to install the outer cabinet, his hair got caught up in the screw and had to be cut to free himself. Later, as they were boxing it up to ship to Singapore, he drew the Eye of Horus on the shipping container as a joke. (and no, he did not know about any Mexico scribblings, lol).
As for case finishes, Kavi told one very interesting story about the white lacquer finish on some Model 2's that has been seen in some photos. Apparently, some very well known actress, which some say was Julie Andrews, that was from Beverly Hills wanted a set to match her white piano. So Harold went through a local auto paint shop and had 3 sets made. Most interesting, one set went to someone in Sweden (this was in the mid-70's) and they eventually found their way into the hands of Kavi. The 2nd pair, was sold to a well-to-do Doctor in California that developed a friendship with Harold. Years later, in the late 80's, this set also found their way to Kavi (he had sold the other set before moving to the States around 1982). No idea what happened to the set that was sold to the actress.
Kavi is on the music creation side of things and was hired by Harold to test each system. He was also responsible for managing the setups at various shows, like CES. Overall, he viewed Harold as a brilliant engineer, but obviously not a good business manager.
One more note, as he recalls, the speakers were initially crossed over at 80 hz, but it became apparent that was too low, so they were changed to be crossed over at 100 hz. Not sure if anyone can confirm where theirs are crossed over. I think 24res, you had some estimates.
I have a few more notes, but will post them later. Our "Audio Archeology" continues! If this thread keeps going, we'll have all the Beveridge history right here.
Kavi is an extremely interesting person without a doubt. He started working with Harold not long after he formed his second company which is of note.
First company was called Harold Beveridge Inc. which produced the Models 2 and 3 (and other iterations like 2SW). This company went bankrupt, so a second company was formed, Harold Beveridge International and this company ONLY made Model 5's. Kavi also confirmed that the new company opened it's doors in the same building as the prior and, somehow, managed to keep a lot of the prior company's inventory of parts which explains why some of the early Model 5's have the original transducer. Eventually, this company would also go belly up and Harold opened a third company, but could no longer use the Beveridge name, so it was called California Audio Labs and built the Model 6 and Kavi thinks there may have been some Model 7's either made or in the works (no idea what happened to a Model 4).
Although Kavi was only there a short while, he was able to convince Harold to improve the transformers and, if you look at my crossover and 335's, you can see that the new Model 5 have a MUCH bigger transformer. A funny story, on one day, the usual builder, a young man named Michael Edwards, did not show up for work, so Harold asked Kavi to help him finish one of the speaker pairs that needed to ship. Kavi has long hair and as he was using one of the electric screwdriver/drills to install the outer cabinet, his hair got caught up in the screw and had to be cut to free himself. Later, as they were boxing it up to ship to Singapore, he drew the Eye of Horus on the shipping container as a joke. (and no, he did not know about any Mexico scribblings, lol).
As for case finishes, Kavi told one very interesting story about the white lacquer finish on some Model 2's that has been seen in some photos. Apparently, some very well known actress, which some say was Julie Andrews, that was from Beverly Hills wanted a set to match her white piano. So Harold went through a local auto paint shop and had 3 sets made. Most interesting, one set went to someone in Sweden (this was in the mid-70's) and they eventually found their way into the hands of Kavi. The 2nd pair, was sold to a well-to-do Doctor in California that developed a friendship with Harold. Years later, in the late 80's, this set also found their way to Kavi (he had sold the other set before moving to the States around 1982). No idea what happened to the set that was sold to the actress.
Kavi is on the music creation side of things and was hired by Harold to test each system. He was also responsible for managing the setups at various shows, like CES. Overall, he viewed Harold as a brilliant engineer, but obviously not a good business manager.
One more note, as he recalls, the speakers were initially crossed over at 80 hz, but it became apparent that was too low, so they were changed to be crossed over at 100 hz. Not sure if anyone can confirm where theirs are crossed over. I think 24res, you had some estimates.
I have a few more notes, but will post them later. Our "Audio Archeology" continues! If this thread keeps going, we'll have all the Beveridge history right here.
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jimfet
Lunatic Member
One thing about the Beveridge speakers facing each other. You dont have to sit in between them. You can be 10 or more feet from the center of the speakers up or down and the sweet spot stays in front of you. That is one of the things that made the 2's and 3's so amazing. As I said I have not heard the 5 models. Oh yeah, great story. As his web page. I kinda wish he would have sold out to Sony. Could have been a plus.
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Hi Audio Fan,
I finally cleaned up my notes, shot a binding post picture, and also found a Model 5 spec sheet I had downloaded years ago. Looks like you figured this out many posts ago, so our notes agree. This info probably only applies to these very old epoxy transducer 5’s. The binding post photo shows jumpers that were in place when I picked up my pair.
Input wiring = plus to A/E, ground to B/F.
I have never seen any documentation that may have been provided to the original purchaser on recommended set-up. Maybe we’ll get lucky someday and someone will scan and post it.
All this has inspired me again to get work on some front firing external woofers and to try tweaking the XO, or go active, to get a seamless blend. All good fun!
Dave
edit : looks like the spec sheet did not post. I'll see what I have to change and try again
Just curious about your binding posts and cross connects. If yours are wired the same, help me understand how you connect these.
I am interested in getting an external crossover, but at this point, I am not sure I can bypass the internal crossover to do so.
Hey...
If you remove all the jumpers you can have individual access to each driver, and also each crossover. Also note that my woofer measures 27 ohm. Not very standard.
G= direct + input to panel - The fuse and capacitor to limit the lows to 70 hz will always be inline to protect the panel.
F= direct to gnd to panel.
C= direct to + woofer terminal - The woofer fuse is the only thing between the C terminal and the connector on the woofer frame.
B= direct to gnd woofer terminal.
Are you considering bi-amping? with electronic crossover? and a 2nd amp for the woofers?
Dave
If you remove all the jumpers you can have individual access to each driver, and also each crossover. Also note that my woofer measures 27 ohm. Not very standard.
G= direct + input to panel - The fuse and capacitor to limit the lows to 70 hz will always be inline to protect the panel.
F= direct to gnd to panel.
C= direct to + woofer terminal - The woofer fuse is the only thing between the C terminal and the connector on the woofer frame.
B= direct to gnd woofer terminal.
Are you considering bi-amping? with electronic crossover? and a 2nd amp for the woofers?
Dave
Attachments
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
An interesting tid-bit to add to the thread. I won an auction for a Beveridge crossover, so out of curiosity, I sent the seller a note to ask with what speakers he had used it. He replied that he has used it with a set of Model 3 Beveridge speakers he bought from Dahlquist that were used in their reference room. :thmbsp:
I've seen several comments that Dahlquist had used Beveridges as their reference speaker in the design for the DQ series. So now we have confirmation that as least they were indeed using a set.
I've seen several comments that Dahlquist had used Beveridges as their reference speaker in the design for the DQ series. So now we have confirmation that as least they were indeed using a set.
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I think the DQ10 came out before the Beveridge commercial offerings, iirc, but the 2 may have been used as a reference for his later designs.
I found that for my listening levels and types of music, the 2 was fine "as-is" and really didn't need a subwoofer. In fact, to my ears the later 2-way speakers always sounded "plummy" and discombobulated in the bass. although they could play louder.
I found that for my listening levels and types of music, the 2 was fine "as-is" and really didn't need a subwoofer. In fact, to my ears the later 2-way speakers always sounded "plummy" and discombobulated in the bass. although they could play louder.
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Your timing made me go back and look at the email, he actually purchased Model 3's, not Model 2's, so your timeline is probably dead on. I edited my prior post to correct that mistake.
I agree that the later hybrid models were a step down in the bass area (at least in my experience with this one Model). I think Harold's passion was his transducer and he had less ambition to address the shortcomings of the 2-way designs. He was moreso concentrating on cost reduction at that point to keep the business moving. Rick has also commented that Harold considered his pure transducer models to be the best of his vision.
Now that I have the external crossover and with 24Rez's great help showing me how to connect these exotic binding posts configurations, I'm looking forward to setting these up with some much higher quality low end. This will be a similar setup to what MeatInStereo is using today with his Model 3's.
I agree that the later hybrid models were a step down in the bass area (at least in my experience with this one Model). I think Harold's passion was his transducer and he had less ambition to address the shortcomings of the 2-way designs. He was moreso concentrating on cost reduction at that point to keep the business moving. Rick has also commented that Harold considered his pure transducer models to be the best of his vision.
Now that I have the external crossover and with 24Rez's great help showing me how to connect these exotic binding posts configurations, I'm looking forward to setting these up with some much higher quality low end. This will be a similar setup to what MeatInStereo is using today with his Model 3's.
Audio Fan
YT Channel - https://tinyurl.com/29zytwu9
Hi Baranyi,
I've been in the process of moving the whole system into another room. This has taken more time than I expected, partly because I had some things in there I needed to sell to make room and partly because I picked up some other stuff along the way (Luxman set and other stuff).
However, once I do get the room ready, I need to dig into one of the Beveridges. Several weeks ago, I turned on the system only to hear the stat go out in one of them. It was not all of a sudden, it faded out, came back on after switching sources, then faded out for good, so I think something in the crossover. 24rez has been kind of enough to give me some tech support, so I think I'll be able to get it going again. Rebuilding the crossover is something that is needed anyway. I also picked up a Beveridge crossover, so I plan to put that into play when I get them up running and moved, so I am anxious to hear them with that in place as well.
Will keep you posted.
I've been in the process of moving the whole system into another room. This has taken more time than I expected, partly because I had some things in there I needed to sell to make room and partly because I picked up some other stuff along the way (Luxman set and other stuff).
However, once I do get the room ready, I need to dig into one of the Beveridges. Several weeks ago, I turned on the system only to hear the stat go out in one of them. It was not all of a sudden, it faded out, came back on after switching sources, then faded out for good, so I think something in the crossover. 24rez has been kind of enough to give me some tech support, so I think I'll be able to get it going again. Rebuilding the crossover is something that is needed anyway. I also picked up a Beveridge crossover, so I plan to put that into play when I get them up running and moved, so I am anxious to hear them with that in place as well.
Will keep you posted.
Check for the bias voltage on the panels. I'm not sure how high it is but standard meters might not go high enough. When the Infinity panels arced the sound would drop momentarily then come back but not quite as loud as it had been.
Coming on and then fading out completely without returning is a new symptom to me. I just thought I should mention my experience.
Coming on and then fading out completely without returning is a new symptom to me. I just thought I should mention my experience.