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can someone tell me if these are speakerlab 7s

L

Limpdong

New Member
So i got some speakers that are allegedly speakerlab 7s. They are in rough shape but they were free. The guy i got them from said he has been meaning to get to them for the last 15 years and it was time to give someone else the project. They look llike 7s but i cannot find anything showing that speakerlab used these drivers. Also im not sure about the crossovers. I am almost certain they were built from the kit. Or at least someone did some surgery on them at sometime. So i know the puny wiring needs to be replaced. And most drivers needs to be refoamed. Actually they just need to be foamed. Lol. Is there a way i can test the drivers before going through the trouble and expense of repairing them. Also i have seen diy refoam kits and was wondering if it a difficult repair to do correctly or if it is as easy peasy as it seem like it would be (to me at least). What do shops charge to do that kind of thing. I have a lot of experience owning almost working audio equipment. Im new to repairing any of it. Any info or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Dan
 

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Looks like it could be a 1974-1975 vintage 7 looking at the catalog. People could order kits and build the cabinet and assemble themselves so quality of build can vary. They could order cabinets and assembled speakers. EV (Electro-Voice) tweeter and midrange horn. From past posts it seems the midrange driver was often not an EV.

Here is a link to the 1974 catalog the 7 is advertised on pages 8 and 9. Too bad the pictures are not color. But based on images looks like you probably have the right drivers. Looks like the woofers are AlNiCo. They also sold the drivers those are listed later in the catalog after the speaker line.

Speakerlab

Speakers and speaker kits - A thoroughly modern evolution of the great Speaker kits of the 70's and 80's!
speakerlab.net speakerlab.net

Drivers can be tested. First check would be resistance make sure none are open circuit. Probably 8 ohm drivers DC resistance usually runs a few ohms below nominal likely 5-7 ohms. Can feed drivers directly from amp or receiver but keep in mind keep the power/volume level lower with no box or crossover. Especially the midrange and even more so tweeter with no crossover can be easy to send them too much power.

Old electrolytic capacitors can get out of spec causing loss of output in high pass crossover circuits like the mid and tweeter. Seen that in 90s speakers.

Refoaming not that bad. Not that difficult but not easy peasy you have to keep in mind the surround in front and and spider in back together keep the voice coil in the gap. You need a good bond with the glue and surround needs to be centered so you don't have voice coil rub. Have to match up specs those woofers look to be have inverted surrounds.

There a number of Speakerlab experts on the site, especially in the Pacific NW since they were located in Seattle. Give some time hopefully they will see this and add more info.
 
I don’t think so. They look like knockoffs. Speakerlab made their own woofers, so I doubt that you’d find a CTS driver in an original. I’ve never seen a 7 with the L-pads on the front. Finally, I’ve never seen an Atlas horn in a SL setup.

EDIT: Atlas driver on an EV horn? Looks more and more like a mash-up of available parts from the 70s by someone who liked the S7’s.
 
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1) The tweeter would normally be oriented horizontally.
2) In that era Speakerlab made their own woofers, and they had rubber surrounds.
3) The crossover does not look like a typical Speakerlab crossover.

I would say no.

:beerchug:
James
 
Thank you for your replys. I thought they looked like 7s from a kit but then i couldnt find any info on speakerlab stuff using those drivers. And i didnt think the crossovers looked right but then couldnt find a pic of the crossovers in the 7s.

Any idea if they look worth fixing? I dont know anything about cts or atlas.

Good thing i didnt spend anything on them. Have a great day
 
They are definitely worth fixing and I'd bet they kick some serious butt when working right~!

Talk to someone like Orange county speaker to find the right foams, Take your time clean off the old glue well.

The cabinet will need some bracing and caulking.

Here is a video on improving old speaker cabinets that is useful...

Good luck they will be great speakers.

Last item, The CTS woofers and the horns have Alnico magnets so they will have some serious punch.

 
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Those are diffraction horns and should be used in the vertical position to get a wide horizontal coverage.
 
Limpdong said:
Any idea if they look worth fixing? I dont know anything about cts or atlas.
Click to expand...
If they were free (or close to it) and you had a lot of time on your hands, you might take them on as an experiment. I’d expect to fully rebuild/redesign the crossovers, refoam the woofers, and modify the cabinets. There is nothing special about any of the drivers. You will be hard pressed to find TS parameters, so you’d be shooting in the dark during the work. Trial and error takes time and money.

It might be fun or you might end up passing them along, but the outcome will be a crap shoot.
 
Before I made my comments I looked in the catalogs looked like the 1974-1975 versions looks changed a good bit as time passed by the 80s they had the WA (Wave Aperture) horns. The 1974 catalog I linked to mentions both woofers having Alnico magnets (page 12) and the midrange horn on page 14 shown with a round silver driver on the back. Looking at the front and arrangement look like what is shown in the 1974-75 catalogs. Too bad those are not color images. Might not have had their name on the drivers yet looking on the web they got started in 1971 so this was relatively early. Apparently whoever built them put the l-pads on the front and not the neatest on driver installation. I remember in the early mid 80s they would suggest using silicone caulk for mounting.
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Here is the PDF of your EV mid horn.

EV horn

The sound of these properly working should be similar to Klipsch Heresy's.

In case your wondering what the end result will be.
 
Wow. Thanks for the info and opinions. From what i understand here is they may possibly be very early speakerlabs but possibly not. Nonetheless given the right tlc they should be able to hold thier own. Thats great!

Im in seattle so maybe ill contact the loudspeaker store and see what kind of plan we can work out. Thanks for the advice and input. Ill try and update if i get off my butt and actually do something with these.
 
Last item...

When working properly these speakers will continue to increase in audio performance many years into the future.

As your amplifier, Preamplifier and source material get better they will sound better.

I am constantly blown away that my speakers are many, Many times better sounding then they were 5 years ago.

All due to improvements in the rest of my playback system... I hope that helps, Buck

:)
 
Buck Rogers said:
Last item...

When working properly these speakers will continue to increase in audio performance many years into the future.

As your amplifier, Preamplifier and source material get better they will sound better.

I am constantly blown away that my speakers are many, Many times better sounding then they were 5 years ago.

All due to improvements in the rest of my playback system... I hope that helps, Buck

:)
Click to expand...
Agree strongly. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
And now that I have finally started addressing room treatments it just keeps on getting better.

:beerchug:
James
 
Limpdong said:
Wow. Thanks for the info and opinions. From what i understand here is they may possibly be very early speakerlabs but possibly not. Nonetheless given the right tlc they should be able to hold thier own. Thats great!

Im in seattle so maybe ill contact the loudspeaker store and see what kind of plan we can work out. Thanks for the advice and input. Ill try and update if i get off my butt and actually do something with these.
Click to expand...
Good choice. Paul at the loudspeaker store is a very nice fellow and is the perfect choice to get your speakers sorted out. You won't regret it.

:beerchug:
James
 
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