Early 1960s University 312 speakers

[superdog]

I found a set at a thrift speakers but one speaker is a Realistic coaxial and the other is a University Triaxial.Is there a difference between a 312 triaxial and a 312 diffaxial.Mine says triaxial not diffaxial which is all I can find are the diffs.I have the tri but cannot seem to find a match.Closest I can find right now is a diffaxial.Any comments on these speakers in general is welcome.these are borrowed images.

 

[superdog]

bumparooski

 

[hunter00]

those are very good drivers Superdog.Ive owned and built cabinets around university 6303's.The triaxe's are 3 way built into the one driver and difaxils are 2 ways I believe.
In large ported cabinets the can sound delicious but like most of the quality SPS drivers of the late 50's early 60's the top end can sound weak.Thats why I add a single horn on top ie jbl 075
hunter

 

[hunter00]

heres an old pic of the 6303's
hunter

 

[superdog]

Thanks for the info hunter.Looks like the diffs are triaxial also.The cabs these came in are I believe not suitable for best performance.Triangular shape diy that do not have a lot of cubic space.Can you tell what you have or had for cabinets.Thanks.

 

[hunter00]

these are the 2 cabinets I use for my Triaxials/coaxials/full rangers.The smaller homemade job for 12 inchers and the larger Tannoy cab for 15 inchers.Easy plug and play with these units
The bigger Tannoy cabinet house's a pair of my Stephens fr150's/jbl horns and are now permanent....these perform !!

hunter

hunter

 

[superdog]

Ooh those Tannoy cabs are nice.I had some 12"Red monitors at one time.

 

[hunter00]

how could let those go Superdog????bet your wishing you still had them hey
heres how my tannoy cabs look now..still have to come up with an appropriet grill for them



takla

 

[superdog]

how could let those go Superdog????bet your wishing you still had them hey
heres how my tannoy cabs look now..still have to come up with an appropriet grill for them











takla

Yeah those cabs look real good.Some nice looking grills will really take them to the next level.I got the Tannoys at a thrift in 2005 for $64.I was in the early days of my audio rebirth and didn't think I would ever use them to their full potential with tubes.I was enamored with JBL speakers at the time so I sold them for quite a profit.Yes I regret that decision to this day.Had they been 15" I don't think i would have ever sold them.Like you I have a fondness for these period speakers.I have a set of EV SP15-T35 that i am working on getting them into a cab.A set of bozak 302a,some Magnavox 15".Had Tannoys Goodmans and Jensen.Never had the good fortune to come across some Stephens.

 

[hunter00]

12 inch Tannoy red...65.00 bucks ...unreal hey Superdog.Well you never know what pops up.i don't know if you seen my thread on my Stephens 3-ways that had a pooched 5kt horn on one of them but ive been looking for a yr and for a replacement.Turned out there was one a mile from me,an old buddies dad was right into Stephens back in the sixtys and had numerous drivers kicking in storage....had the exact 5kt horn match to my good one,way up here in Canada by the way.
Birds of a feather SD,weve honed in on the good stuff!

hunter

 

[superdog]

I've followed a few Stephens threads and remembered a bit the ones you scored in the JBL type cabs.I regret the ones that I let get away but on the other hand as much as I like these types they are large so I just can't keep them all. I'm going to review your speaker threads in the next few days.

 

[hunter00]

For me they are the end of the line speaker, paired with vintage tube mono blocks.Took a long time and tons of eq auditions and ownership to get there tho.Im not advocating their for everyone so dyodd.One of my buddies is a trained tech and I have that advantage whereby everything gets rebuilt with the good stuff,good quality caps/pio/ ect
When your audio gets to a hi level its sometimes splitting hairs on whats better .The path my buddies and I have traveled has lead us to where we're at tho and we are all running vintage 30-70 wpc mono blocks and single point source speaker systems as our primary's mainly, my exception is my Stephens soveriegn type 3 way cabs are in my Fisher system .HHscott system runs the Stephens fr150's/jbl 075's
These are just our results and others have found their own way to high level sound and I in no way advocate my experience is better than anyone elses.My gear/my brands/and my results only
Keep your eye peeled for any and all those tri-axials/coaxials from Jensen/altec/stephens,university and others they have a clarity of sound anyone would appreciate

hunter

 

[superdog]

For me they are the end of the line speaker, paired with vintage tube mono blocks.Took a long time and tons of eq auditions and ownership to get there tho.Im not advocating their for everyone so dyodd.One of my buddies is a trained tech and I have that advantage whereby everything gets rebuilt with the good stuff,good quality caps/pio/ ect
When your audio gets to a hi level its sometimes splitting hairs on whats better .The path my buddies and I have traveled has lead us to where we're at tho and we are all running vintage 30-70 wpc mono blocks and single point source speaker systems as our primary's mainly, my exception is my Stephens soveriegn type 3 way cabs are in my Fisher system .HHscott system runs the Stephens fr150's/jbl 075's
These are just our results and others have found their own way to high level sound and I in no way advocate my experience is better than anyone elses.My gear/my brands/and my results only
Keep your eye peeled for any and all those tri-axials/coaxials from Jensen/altec/stephens,university and others they have a clarity of sound anyone would appreciate

hunter

I respect your position on finding the end.Your fortunate to have some assistance with your journey.For me the EVs with Bob Crites crossovers are my end line speakers of that type unless something dramatically better comes along which I doubt and I'm ok with it.I have a lot on my plate in life and feel fortunate with what I have.I'll always be on the lookout though.Next the tube amps behind it all as I have been a solid state man for the most part.

 

[rusomon]

In answer to your original question I can offer you two possibilities, both guesses. One, Electro-Voice coined the term triaxial and also established legal exclusivity as to its use. Under this scenario, University is compelled to cease and desist from calling any product of theirs triaxial. Or two, University made the change of its own volition. If this is the case, they have a new design and decide (belatedly) they want to call attention to it. As in, Hey, this ain't no sinking triaxial. It's a diffaxial. Much better, way better. What? You think this thing around the horn is a whizzer? Seriously, a whizzer? No sir, this here is what you call a diffusicone. Nothing like a whizzer. Look at these holes. Ever see holes in a whizzer?

However you slice it Electro-Voice made coaxials, University made coaxials, tons of other companies as well. What any of these speakers are called boils down to marketing.

I would be surprised if there is any difference beyond the label between your 312 triaxial and a 312 diffaxial. Could be wrong, of course. They don't look any different, that's for sure.

Before today I'd never even heard of a 312 triaxial, let alone seen one, but I do have a pair of 312 diffaxials buried deep in the audio closet. My impression of them was mostly favorable. In terms of sound they held their own with EV 12trxbs, surpassed Lafayette SK-58s with ease, and blew Realistic Americanas out of the water. (The only 12" coaxials I had on hand in those days, well, those and a single Altec 601c with an open tweeter, not much use for comparison.) They did seem a little flimsily built however. Worse yet, one 312 of my pair showed the beginnings of cone breakdown. Fast forward a few years, I dig them out of the closet and both cones are shot. How does this happen? Beats me. The damn things just kind of crumbled when I wasn't looking. Still, for the right price I'd probably pick up another pair, if the condition was good. Which is just a little ridiculous, isn't it?

Incidentally, the speakers I listen to most are Tannoy Reds. ($36 more than you paid, dang it.) I also have a couple of pairs of Stephens 80fr. What's the deal with guys like us, anyhow?

Good luck with your quest, superdog. You probably need 312s in serious need of reconing just about as much as I do, but if you could use them let me know.

 

[hunter00]

Good info Rusomon,nice to hear from another member with experience with these early co/triaxial drivers as they are to me my personal favorites.
You mentioned you own the Stephens fr80's.Another member here has become enthused with these after happening upon a pair...Biggles.
As mentioned Ive found my niche with Stephens FR 150's and of course my 3 ways{w150/8m/5kt} and have compaired {ab-ed}them with many different brands and they just have a special detailed tone to them that ive not encountered with any other FR speaker.Have you had experience with these drivers?
Ive also owned Stephens 120cx drivers and altho they performed admirably I found the co-axials have a very narrow sound field comparatively to the Full rangers.
Superdog,i highly recommend a tube amp/preamp with your move into these vintage drivers.Personally I like vintage amps using 6L6 gc output tubes ,but I also have great results with 6550's and even el84 type amps.

hunter

 

[rusomon]

Hey hunter, I have zero experience with the big Stephens, but I've always thought they looked very promising. The 80frs are pretty nifty little speakers themselves. Both my pairs are in Watterson High Fidelity cabinets and are crossed over to horns, one pair to Heralds, can't remember the other beyond telling you they're Japanese sourced as well. (Watterson also used Jensen RP-103s.) Anyway, super efficient and nice sounding speakers as they stand, and probably could be even better with some monkeying around along the lines of what Biggles is doing with his. Oddly enough, after owning the one pair of Wattersons for maybe a decade I ran across a second pair maybe a year ago. Naturally I bought them, don't ask me why. It just sort of seemed like speakers as obscure as these belonged together, I guess. I do hope they're happy together buried in the audio closet. Jeez, why do I keep buying these things?

Having said that I'd buy either of your Stephens in a second, if the price were right. I'd be really interested in hearing them, especially with SET amplification. Seems like they would have to sound great.

 

[superdog]

I heard from another member that Diffaxial was purely a marketing term as rusomon has alluded to.rusomon thanks for the offer but these 312 were an unplanned addition and need no more. In the meantime I am planning to use my Hafler dh200 through a Audio Research SP8.This is the setup I use for the Bozaks.Smooth presentation is what comes to mind.I will probably use a Chinese tube integrated when the time comes.Just for the sake of simplicity now.

 

[hunter00]

superdog look for a Magnavox radio console circa 1961-65'.These sport stand alone el-84 tube amps some single ended but the higher models in the line have push pull el-34's-4 output tubes per unit.Heres a pic of my latest one only it came out of a 62' electrohome console..People give these away.the whole console cost me 10.00!
The amp was stand alone with an umbilicle cord attached to the tuner preamp,all I did was cut it out and changed coupleing caps in this one.checked online for a schematic and checked voltage's and inspected for any bad resistors .Look at the size of the trafo,output tranys are decent size as well.This tube amp is sooo musical its unreal on my Stephens and has tons of jam,runing it with an Eico hf-85 tube pre...This would be a cheep way to get into a very good sounding tube system.
Keep yur eyes open they come up often..
hunter

 

[superdog]

I'll keep an eye out.Those old consoles like most vintage audio just are not around anymore locally.I think i have a stand alone with pre Westinghouse amp.I'll dig it out.