Electro Voice Sentry III

[WedWay71]

Hello all, I have the opportunity to purchase a pair of Electro Voice Sentry III’s for $700, but the seller said that they do not include (have?) the crossovers. I was wondering if that is a fair price?

If so, and while I’m fairly certain these crossovers don’t grow on trees, would it be difficult/expensive to get these up/running?

Full disclosure: I am nowhere near as knowledgeable as most on this forum, never used a soldering iron, but I’ve been lurking for months researching vintage components as I gravitate back towards the systems of my youth & AK appears to be the cream of the crop for trusted audio related info/repair/advice,

 

[absolve2525]

I have one crossover from a Sentry 3 if you need it. I think some parts or wires came loose so it would need to be looked over. I'm not sure if the attenuator is still attatched, I'll have to check. It was a scrap for parts project since the woofer was bad and I could never find a correct replacement. I could never find another one to make a pair and it was a pain lugging it around. Hit me up if you need one for parts or whatever. Good luck regardless!

 

[absolve2525]

Hello all, I have the opportunity to purchase a pair of Electro Voice Sentry III’s for $700, but the seller said that they do not include (have?) the crossovers. I was wondering if that is a fair price?

If so, and while I’m fairly certain these crossovers don’t grow on trees, would it be difficult/expensive to get these up/running?

Full disclosure: I am nowhere near as knowledgeable as most on this forum, never used a soldering iron, but I’ve been lurking for months researching vintage components as I gravitate back towards the systems of my youth & AK appears to be the cream of the crop for trusted audio related info/repair/advice,

I noticed there's a pair of Sentry IV crossovers on ebay. I wonder if you could use the top part for the horns and biamp or convert parts for the woofer? The two models use the same tweeter and midrange horns, although the midrange driver itself might be different but similar.

 

[WedWay71]

I have one crossover from a Sentry 3 if you need it. I think some parts or wires came loose so it would need to be looked over. I'm not sure if the attenuator is still attatched, I'll have to check. It was a scrap for parts project since the woofer was bad and I could never find a correct replacement. I could never find another one to make a pair and it was a pain lugging it around. Hit me up if you need one for parts or whatever. Good luck regardless!

That’s incredibly kind, thank you. If I wind up purchasing them I will definitely contact you.

The seller has some of the components listed as such:
• Electro Voice Sentry III midrange radial horns with EV 1823M compression drivers
• Electro Voice 15" woofers 815 9062 51 rebuilt 15 years ago by previous owner
• Electro Voice horn tweeters

Do you think $700 is a fair price in their current state (at least from what you can tell from the photos)?

 

[homebrew]

Finding a correct crossover will be essential to make these speakers sound their best. If you can't, then you've bought $700 paper weights. You could part them out, but that would be a travesty.

 

[eiraved]

That’s incredibly kind, thank you.

Welcome to AK!!

 

[eiraved]

Hello all, I have the opportunity to purchase a pair of Electro Voice Sentry III’s for $700, but the seller said that they do not include (have?) the crossovers. I was wondering if that is a fair price?

If so, and while I’m fairly certain these crossovers don’t grow on trees, would it be difficult/expensive to get these up/running?

Full disclosure: I am nowhere near as knowledgeable as most on this forum, never used a soldering iron, but I’ve been lurking for months researching vintage components as I gravitate back towards the systems of my youth & AK appears to be the cream of the crop for trusted audio related info/repair/advice,

Here's a post where someone built their own crossover.

Electro Voice Sentry III restoration

Starting to begin the process of bringing these Sentry III's back to their glory. Hated to see that someone replaced the original woofers with 15" automotive sub woofers, but GordonW came to the rescue and was able to build correct woofers for me. I also have ordered new Dayton capacitors for...

audiokarma.org

 

[absolve2525]

That’s incredibly kind, thank you. If I wind up purchasing them I will definitely contact you.

The seller has some of the components listed as such:
• Electro Voice Sentry III midrange radial horns with EV 1823M compression drivers
• Electro Voice 15" woofers 815 9062 51 rebuilt 15 years ago by previous owner
• Electro Voice horn tweeters

Do you think $700 is a fair price in their current state (at least from what you can tell from the photos)?

It's attached to a big wood panel. Geeze these things were nearly 160 pounds each! Now that I recall, the wires connecting to the front level control broke off when the board flung off. I probably have the level control in a baggie somewhere in the garage. It looks very similar to the Sentry IV crossovers. I recapped a set of those for my Sentry IVs

 

[totem]

I noticed the woofers are not original so even if you found crossovers you would still need to deal with that.
If your not up for some work or the challenge I'd give this one some thought.

 

[WedWay71]

Here's a post where someone built their own crossover.

Electro Voice Sentry III restoration

Starting to begin the process of bringing these Sentry III's back to their glory. Hated to see that someone replaced the original woofers with 15" automotive sub woofers, but GordonW came to the rescue and was able to build correct woofers for me. I also have ordered new Dayton capacitors for...

audiokarma.org

Thanks for the post, suddenly wishing I had at least learned how to use a meter during some point in my life.

 

[WedWay71]

It's attached to a big wood panel. Geeze these things were nearly 160 pounds each! Now that I recall, the wires connecting to the front level control broke off when the board flung off. I probably have the level control in a baggie somewhere in the garage. It looks very similar to the Sentry IV crossovers. I recapped a set of those for my Sentry IVs

I noticed some of the components in your photos are also in the photos I had posted from the original ad (namely the rear terminal panel & the Model STR Tweeter Protector). Are those considered part of the crossover assembly?

If it does include those two I guess what I would need is everything below the rear terminal panel & the Model STR Tweeter Protector in your photo?

I’m planning on reaching out to him, just want to have as much info as I can first.

 

[absolve2525]

I noticed some of the components in your photos are also in the photos I had posted from the original ad (namely the rear terminal panel & the Model STR Tweeter Protector). Are those considered part of the crossover assembly?

If it does include those two I guess what I would need is everything below the rear terminal panel & the Model STR Tweeter Protector in your photo?

I’m planning on reaching out to him, just want to have as much info as I can first.

The tweeter protector is generally considered part of the crossover, but I have found that EV physically located them separately in some cases. On my Sentry IV, for example, it's not contained in the little metal crossover boxes. I think was attached to the horn or cabinet, I don't remember for sure. You don't really need them, but doesn't hurt if you're pumping a lot of power into them and don't want to blow your tweeters. My EV Interface Ds had the same protector module connected to the crossovers in the bottom of the speakers. I can't tell from your pics if the tweeter level controls are still in the speakers. They should be in the front next to the tweeters. The crossover is everything on the big board, with wire leads going to each driver, or through the level control to the tweeter.

 

[toddalin]

They could be tri-amped with great success.

 

[WedWay71]

The tweeter protector is generally considered part of the crossover, but I have found that EV physically located them separately in some cases. On my Sentry IV, for example, it's not contained in the little metal crossover boxes. I think was attached to the horn or cabinet, I don't remember for sure. You don't really need them, but doesn't hurt if you're pumping a lot of power into them and don't want to blow your tweeters. My EV Interface Ds had the same protector module connected to the crossovers in the bottom of the speakers. I can't tell from your pics if the tweeter level controls are still in the speakers. They should be in the front next to the tweeters. The crossover is everything on the big board, with wire leads going to each driver, or through the level control to the tweeter.

I think you can see the recessed post where the knob would slip over in one of the photos. On online images from a general search a lot of them have the selector knob missing. But I think there’s supposed to be a black knob present.

Regarding the tweeter protector & power going in I have a Pioneer SA-8500 II that I’m hoping to use (for whatever speakers I wind up getting). It’s in the shop, but I’m hoping it can be fixed. These speakers may be overkill for that unit, but I’m hoping to get a Pioneer Spec 1 + Spec 2 (or 4) combo one day.

 

[Sitka]

I would buy them in a heartbeat! Crossovers can be built new with quality parts for a reasonable cost, or new prebuilt from vendors like parts express.

 

[flavio81]

They could be tri-amped with great success.

Yes, this is what i would do.

Get three power amps (there are also multichannel amps like the ART SLA-4 or even some behringer recent models) and an electronic crossover (I've used the DBX 234 with success). Then it's a matter of choosing crossover frequencies similar to the original crossover and then tuning the levels until everything sounds balanced (the hardest part).

The bonus is that it can reach levels of sound quality higher than with the original crossover.