Calrad speakers. Good or junk?

badwaxcaps

badwaxcaps

New Member
Got a pair of 8" Calrad drivers in decent homebrew cabinets at the local thrift for $10. They are CR8-AE's. Little info online about them. They are in perfect condition aside from a little dust. Info? Cabinet or open baffle? decent or junk? They work fine and sound decent enough. Thanks!
 
Register to hide this ad
If they "sound decent enough", then there's your answer. However, in the grand scheme of things, Calrad isn't very high on the food chain. In the old days before a Radio Shack on every corner, "radio parts stores" sold all kinds of parts, speakers and such - much of it sourced from Calrad. Philmore and Midland were similar brands.
 
FWIW........................................

Calrad Alnico horn loaded tweeters are outstanding, IMHO.
Some of their full range drivers aren't bad either.
 
In the 1960s, at least, Calrad sold Asian made, cast-basket coax and twincone drivers that were very similar in design to the EV Wolverine drivers of the same era. If nothing else, they're well made, look nice, and sound OK. Cheaper than the 'real thing'.
 
Calrad is still around.

Their little "Compact 1" Japanese-made mini speakers are true sleepers.
 
1tumbleweed said:
If they "sound decent enough", then there's your answer. However, in the grand scheme of things, Calrad isn't very high on the food chain. In the old days before a Radio Shack on every corner, "radio parts stores" sold all kinds of parts, speakers and such - much of it sourced from Calrad. Philmore and Midland were similar brands.
Click to expand...

Umm...Calrad was one of those Radio Shack competitors, sort of. They seemed to aim more for the ham radio and professional markets, though they sold plenty of home gear. Most, if not all, of it was sourced from Japan.
 
Calrad was a brand name applied to a lot of Japanese sourced speaker drivers back in the 1960's and 1970's primarily. They were widely distributed through independent electronics stores and smaller chains. The drivers were of good quality and my guess has always been they were sourced from Coral (or possibly even Foster). A lot of these drivers were obviously sold back then to hobbyists as they still appear on FleBay quite frequently and sell for moderate prices as they are not highly collectible.

Hopefully they don't have a chemical edge treatment applied to the cone paper accordian surround on the woofer than hardens like rock as many of the Pioneer drivers of that era did.
 
These have more of a fiberous accordian surround. When you hold them up to a light you can see through them. The light that is. The surround does have some sort of red coating on it but is still quite flexible. These came in cabinets but the limited info on the web seems to indicate they perform best in an open baffle setup. Any ideas on what might work best? Will most likely drive them with my Harmon Kardon 300B or Magnavox 142 monoblocs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom