British Thomson Houston Speakers. What is this worth?

[toxcrusadr]

Perhaps you might drop an email to some of the vintage radio society forum/clubs/societies. They usually have tons of information on the real vintage kit like these speakers... Just an idea...

Mistakes happen Sometimes, you just got to hold in the anger and compose yourself. Did the auctioneer pay for the repair and how was the speaker repaired?

I didn't see this happen but was a buyer at a very large multi day auction where truckloads of stuff had been moved to a venue. I surmised from the damage what must have happened.

I did find someone on the Antique Radio Forums who traced the rear arch support so I can repair it. Unfortunately it's in a queue with a lot of other radios, and now audio projects, so who knows when I'll get to it. This pesky 8-5 job takes a lot of time away from important stuff.

 

[Sandstrom]

Yes, these are incredibly old. I thought these where to be dated back to 1983, but might be dated 1883. I need to look into this more.

I would probably guess that the 83 date is possible re-cone date? Surely these are much older than that

 

[BloodyRemote]

Not 1883

Cough cough, still new

 

[BloodyRemote]

If they were mine, and they worked fine outside of the cone tear, I would make repairs on the back of the cone using a gauze-type material with a high thread count and your choice of a flexible glue of some type. The tear will still show, but if the repair is done using common sense and care, the cone should be able to deliver essentially as well as when new. JMO.

GeeDeeEmm

I have tested them and run without any issues. Would you know of what high thread count material I could possibly use? What is your opinion of watered down PVA glue?

 

[BloodyRemote]

Most Western countries have similar clubs: https://canadianvintageradio.com/
Here is another that could be of interest: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/

Great, thank you. I will see if someone there might know one or two about these speakers. Hopefully, someone might know!

 

[BloodyRemote]

I would probably guess that the 83 date is possible re-cone date? Surely these are much older than that

I am as clueless as you. I have not clue on the age of these, but seen someone selling this one and the seller said they are near 100 years old? Not sure if it was a load of B***L, but they are very difficult to find information about. I did contact someone who had a blog about BTH, his name is Iain. He also said he had no more information apart from it was a incredible find and that everyone in the forum is correct about the T/S parameter to find more about it.

 

[arts]

Geez,and I thought they only made magnetos! And if their speakers are anything like their magnetos,they'll be pretty darned good

 

[Gazdatronik]

Cough cough, still new

British stuff tended look Brunel until well after the victorian era, its just how they rolled. Another good example is the Garrard Lab 80, turntable/analog contraption of nightmares.

I am in awe whenever I see one.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Yes, was looking at how I could repairs these, but still on the fence about repairing them and tinkering with them or selling them. I have seen some people use tissue and to what i think it to be is watered down PVA glue to allow flexibility. If that is not the 'right' way, what other options of repairs would I be looking at?

I've used black tissue paper and slightly thinned Ailene's glue to patch speakers with great success. With that much tearing, I'd probably put at least two layers over the tears, and make sure you get glue all over the overlapping torn surfaces so they fuse back together as best as is possible.

I have a JBL D130 that had around half of the molded surround repaired this way, and it works perfectly.

 

[BloodyRemote]

British stuff tended look Brunel until well after the victorian era, its just how they rolled. Another good example is the Garrard Lab 80, turntable/analog contraption of nightmares.

I am in awe whenever I see one.

That's a big clock. That is just overkill for a turntable. The BTH speakers from what I can see may be repairable if the voice coil was to blow or become damage, but would need some sort of jig to align the magnets and the space between the voice coil and the magnet is paper thin. Very precise from the looks of it. Not even millimeters, just stupid precise.

Still researching methods of repairing paper cone tears. Will be some time

 

[BloodyRemote]

I've used black tissue paper and slightly thinned Ailene's glue to patch speakers with great success. With that much tearing, I'd probably put at least two layers over the tears, and make sure you get glue all over the overlapping torn surfaces so they fuse back together as best as is possible.

I have a JBL D130 that had around half of the molded surround repaired this way, and it works perfectly.

I have seen a lot of people do that. Just looking into alternative methods as one member here said a high thread count gauze material with a flexible glue.