ELECTRO-VOICE EV FOUR SPEAKERS

Jtheradiohog

Jtheradiohog

Active Member
SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS HERE, BUT IVE GOT A STUCK KEY ON MY KEYBOARD. I FOUND THESE AT A LOCAL GARAGE SALE AND AM WONDERING IF ANYONE CAN HELP SHARE SOME INFO. I CANT FIND MUCH ABOUT THEM, SUCH AS WHEN THEY WERE BUILT, ARE THEY RARE, GOOD QUALITY ETC. I FOUND A PAIR ON EBAY IN WORSE CONDITION AND THE PERSON IS ASKING 10K LOL. I DOUBT THEY ARE WORTH THAT. ANYWAYS, MY QUESTION ISN'T OF VALUE BUT I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THESE COMPARE TO, WHEN THEY WERE MADE AND ARE THEY RARE? THEY ARE HEAVY AND WELL MADE. I TOOK OFF THE BACKING AND FOUND INSULATION AND DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE IT OUT. ANYWAYS THANKS!!
 

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I bought a pair of them cheap a couple years ago, recapped them and used them for a few months before one of the tweeters cracked due to it being dried out and brittle, so I parted them out and tossed the cabs, which were ugly. The woofers are their strength, with that big cast frame. Mids are a cheap horn, tweeters are a paper 5" cone. After caps, they sounded really nice.
 
Hi
They are VERY VERY nice speakers
There's tons about them on the internet
Here's a start
https://www.google.com/search?q=ele...hUKEwjYoJ_N7bXOAhWGLcAKHardCOUQ_AUICygA&dpr=1
I have read there was two versions during it's life, one with a horn and one without
I have heard a pair and they were very nice but I do not know which drivers it had
Electro-Voice never made anything that was bad during the '50 or '60s for what that's worth and all of their drivers are made to extemely high quality
You might like this guy's blog article
http://dtguitar.blogspot.com/2014/04/electrovoice-ev-four-speakers.html
Have fun!
Jimmy
 
JimmyEJames said:
Hi
They are VERY VERY nice speakers
There's tons about them on the internet
Here's a start
https://www.google.com/search?q=ele...hUKEwjYoJ_N7bXOAhWGLcAKHardCOUQ_AUICygA&dpr=1
I have read there was two versions during it's life, one with a horn and one without
I have heard a pair and they were very nice but I do not know which drivers it had
Electro-Voice never made anything that was bad during the '50 or '60s for what that's worth and all of their drivers are made to extemely high quality
You might like this guy's blog article
http://dtguitar.blogspot.com/2014/04/electrovoice-ev-four-speakers.html
Have fun!
Jimmy
Click to expand...

I'll have to take the insulation out and get a picture of the innards. They are in great shape. Cant wait to hear them.
 
True, just want to get a nice photo of the equipment inside. Im having a major surgery on Thursday so it will be my post recovery project. I paid $1.. lol, so Im considering it a score just on your reply.
 
I just read some of that blog. EV4 is a nice sounding speaker, not fabulous though. Again, the strength is in the massive woofer, and in mine at least, the mid horn and paper tweeter, while nice sounding, broke up some at volume. Crossover caps needed replacement, and switches will always do better with a deoxit wash. Mine were $20.

Hey, good luck with the surgery!
 
alteclipsch said:
I just read some of that blog. EV4 is a nice sounding speaker, not fabulous though. Again, the strength is in the massive woofer, and in mine at least, the mid horn and paper tweeter, while nice sounding, broke up some at volume. Crossover caps needed replacement, and switches will always do better with a deoxit wash. Mine were $20.

Hey, good luck with the surgery!
Click to expand...
The ones I heard were fabulous sounding but they were also in good condition like original owner good
 
Here's a view of one of my EV4 crossovers after the caps and resistors were replaced--it really helped the mids and highs.

EV4 xover.JPG
 
Last edited:
Very nice crossover re-build! It looks like you are using two caps at 1.0uF; one at 0.47uF, one at 4uF; and resistors of 6ohm and 47 ohm. Can you please confirm the component values?
 
ra.ra said:
Very nice crossover re-build! It looks like you are using two caps at 1.0uF; one at 0.47uF, one at 4uF; and resistors of 6ohm and 47 ohm. Can you please confirm the component values?
Click to expand...
I don't have them anymore, but from my notes, that is correct.

I see one of the caps on your photos is a .5 uf. I don't recall if the .47 I used was a direct replacement for a .5 or a .47, but it wouldn't make much if any practical difference.
 
i just finished a rebuild of a pair of EV4's.. I collect large vintage speakers and these are absolutely fantastic. Incredible really. They almost have the full sound of my klipsch cornwalls with all the crites upgrades... and they are 1/2 the size. They definitely top the Kilpsch Hersey. Mine have the horn tweeters and a cone mid. The quality of construction is some of the best around, they built these to last, no particle board crap here. The crossover design is sweet too, very easy to remove. Just playing around, I wanted to see what a 12 wpc radio shack unit would do, still fantastic! Be sure to remove woofer and re-coat the cloth surround with the goop to make these last another 50 years..
 
ducati2 said:
i just finished a rebuild of a pair of EV4's.. I collect large vintage speakers and these are absolutely fantastic. Incredible really. They almost have the full sound of my klipsch cornwalls with all the crites upgrades... and they are 1/2 the size. They definitely top the Kilpsch Hersey. Mine have the horn tweeters and a cone mid. The quality of construction is some of the best around, they built these to last, no particle board crap here. The crossover design is sweet too, very easy to remove. Just playing around, I wanted to see what a 12 wpc radio shack unit would do, still fantastic! Be sure to remove woofer and re-coat the cloth surround with the goop to make these last another 50 years..
Click to expand...


Had a pair years ago. Just a very good overall speaker. Fairly deep bass, Good sensitivity, clear mids, and the treble may be the only somewhat low point.
The tweeters go bad over time, for some owners. Mine were still in great condition, and sounded "Good" but not great, but have seen and heard a few where the tweeters are just ruined and sound like crap.

https://silverfacestereo.com/2014/01/21/shocking-electrovoice-ev4/
 
My experience with my Fours is that they're very picky about amplifiers. I've gone through my stash with them and nearly all make them sound terrible. These are all SS amps and receivers we're talking about here - I don't have any tubes. However, the Sherwood S-7100A and my Dual CV-40 both are good fits for these. Since my Sherwood gave up the ghost, the Dual is the amp now and is dedicated to the Fours. I don't know if it has more of a tube warmth to it or the fact it's a lower watt unit - but whatever it does, it does very well in combination with the Fours. With new caps, a bit of insulation inside and the right amp, the Fours have an amazing quality sound to them.
 
anyone know if the woofers can be run up into 3-4k and blended with an altec or jbl horn , making a 2way crossoverless design (just a cap on the altec) ?
 
altec 806 /jbl 2420 tweeters

with altec 414 woofers, I think Im using aprox. 3k cutoff point and works nice. Wondering if the EV woofers could work in similar arrangement
 
Lecta414 said:
altec 806 /jbl 2420 tweeters

with altec 414 woofers, I think Im using aprox. 3k cutoff point and works nice. Wondering if the EV woofers could work in similar arrangement
Click to expand...
806 & 2420 go to 800 hz, why not use them as designed?
 
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