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F.M.I. - Nuance I (any information?)

MildBillBC

MildBillBC

New Member
Update #1

This is my first post, I apologize if I posted this question wrong, or in the wrong area.

I found two pairs of F.M.I. speakers on craigslist that looked, interesting (like a gamble). The seller only noted they were Fulton speakers, and had two pictures, both were views of the front, one with the covers on and the other with them off.

I picked them up today and they seem to be in fairly decent shape for being over 30 years-old (or more). When I inspected the back I noticed they were both the same model, Nuance I. This threw me off a bit because one of the pairs use 4 tweeters and 1 woofer and the other pair use 1 tweeter, 1 mid (I think, could be a larger tweeter) and one woofer.

The pair with three drivers look like modified version of the other ones with five drivers, as it looks like three of the tweeter holes had been filled and glued and the mid was cut into that area instead.

Long story short, I couldn't find much after googling around, any information would be much appreciated.

Let me know if more information or pictures are needed.

Thank you,
-Bill-

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Not familiar with these speakers at all, but i do note that the 3-way versions have a bolt in back and two knobs (or is it one knob and a fuse holder? hard to tell from the pics) that the 2-way versions lack. It's possible that the manufacturer changed the design but already had the cabinets made up, so they modified them as necessary for the new design.

It would be worthwhile to remove one woofer from each type and get some pictures of the crossovers (plus whatever those bolts attach to). How do they sound?
 
swechsler said:
Not familiar with these speakers at all, but i do note that the 3-way versions have a bolt in back and two knobs (or is it one knob and a fuse holder? hard to tell from the pics) that the 2-way versions lack. It's possible that the manufacturer changed the design but already had the cabinets made up, so they modified them as necessary for the new design.

It would be worthwhile to remove one woofer from each type and get some pictures of the crossovers (plus whatever those bolts attach to). How do they sound?
Click to expand...

The pair I hooked up last night (the ones with 3 drivers), sounded like they worked (none of the speakers sounded broken), but my ears are not as trained as most members here so I don't really know how to judge, and don't have much to compare them to. I am excited to get back and get the others wired up to see how they sound together (I will update tonight).

I am a beginner to audio equipment, so most of what you said went over my head. I will do some googling when I get home to get a better understanding of what you are asking for in terms of the crossover (guessing this is just internal wiring and circuitry)?
 
Yeah, the crossover is the internal circuitry that sends the correct frequency to the correct driver; that is, it sends the low frequencies to the woofers and the high frequencies to the tweeters, and the crossover frequency is that frequency where shift from one to the other. It's not a hard shift, depending on the crossover design, it can be 6, 12 or 18dB per octave (those are the most common), so there will be a range of frequencies, both below and above the stated crossover frequency, that is produced by both drivers. Usually the crossover network is attached to the rear of the connection plate. If you decide to open them up to have a look, since these are sealed, they're probably filled with fiberglass or some sort of fiber fill; have a drop cloth or something under them so you don't make a mess. It's not difficult to remove and replace the stuffing; don't worry about damaging the speakers as long as you're careful with the screws.

ETA: I did find this site, which unfortunately doesn't have too much info. And while I couldn't find anything on this particular model, it does appear as if FMI, or Fulton Musical Industries (their full name) speakers in general were well thought of in the audiophile community of the day. I also found a mention of them in the 1980 Audio Magazine Annual Equipment Directory (see page 84 and below - I couldn't link directly to the page); however, the listing of the Nuance doesn't match either of the models you have.

mwLLMWh.png



Also: 75 lbs each? Are they really that heavy?
 
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Update #2

I will post my day 2 updates here and edit as I go.
(If this is not advised or against the posting rules I apologize, please let me know and I will correct how I post.)

New pictures close up of all the backs(I am guessing I really only needed to show two). The ones that have a fuse and bottom (ground?) screw are the three driver pair.

20190807_201107.jpg 20190807_201134.jpg 20190807_201146.jpg 20190807_201213.jpg

Both pairs are hooked up to my Pioneer SX 3700 and they seem to be working well. I was not quite sure how to arrange them when for the test, so I just went with something that looked temporarily pleasing (I have a picture showing how I had them set up when I listened to them as I sat on the carpet).

20190807_220243.jpg

They sound plenty different then the ELAC speakers I have hooked up to my newer Pioneer receiver. I like how vocals sound, not much bass but you can hear it clearly (might be because I am used to the larger subwoofer attached to the other system).
 
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Instead of posting the pics directly here, post them on imgur and then use the image icon to embed the pics in the post. That will let you post them in high resolution. Images posted directly on AK get extremely downsized.

Also, better to make new responses rather than editing the older ones, otherwise thread subscribers will not see the updates.
 
swechsler said:
Instead of posting the pics directly here, post them on imgur and then use the image icon to embed the pics in the post. That will let you post them in high resolution. Images posted directly on AK get extremely downsized.

Also, better to make new responses rather than editing the older ones, otherwise thread subscribers will not see the updates.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information. I thought those images looked compressed.
 
swechsler said:
It would be worthwhile to remove one woofer from each type and get some pictures of the crossovers (plus whatever those bolts attach to). How do they sound?

If you decide to open them up to have a look, since these are sealed, they're probably filled with fiberglass or some sort of fiber fill; have a drop cloth or something under them so you don't make a mess. It's not difficult to remove and replace the stuffing; don't worry about damaging the speakers as long as you're careful with the screws.

75 lbs each? Are they really that heavy?
Click to expand...

Thank you for all the information, that 1980 audio magazine pdf is super cool (I now have late night reading material).

The speakers definitely dont feel like 75 pounds each, sadly I do not own a (large) scale. I have a 50 pound ELAC SUB and they feel around half as heavy so maybe 25-30 pounds each. The three driver pair feels a bit heavier than the ones rocking the four tweeters.

After getting the speakers set up I ended up listening to them longer than I had planned (still listening actually). I am going to wait on pulling a woofers out as they are working and sounding better than I thought they would. I still want to open them because this crossover wizardry you described has me picturing a robot living in my speakers (I might take a peek tomorrow night or this weekend).

P.S. Sorry for butchering the quote, but everything seemed a bit excessive.
 
MildBillBC said:
Update #2

I will post my day 2 updates here and edit as I go.
(If this is not advised or against the posting rules I apologize, please let me know and I will correct how I post.)

New pictures close up of all the backs(I am guessing I really only needed to show two). The ones that have a fuse and bottom (ground?) screw are the three driver pair.

View attachment 1584301 View attachment 1584302 View attachment 1584303 View attachment 1584304

Both pairs are hooked up to my Pioneer SX 3700 and they seem to be working well. I was not quite sure how to arrange them when for the test, so I just went with something that looked temporarily pleasing (I have a picture showing how I had them set up when I listened to them as I sat on the carpet).

View attachment 1584416

They sound plenty different then the ELAC speakers I have hooked up to my newer Pioneer receiver. I like how vocals sound, not much bass but you can hear it clearly (might be because I am used to the larger subwoofer attached to the other system).
Click to expand...
Yep welcome to AK! AND congrats on the score(s)!
 
I'm guessing that the earlier version with the 4 tweeters either had some of them functioning as midranges and some as tweeters, or they had to use some contouring in the crossover circuit to flatten the response. Eventually they decided to put in a midrange driver to take over that part of the job and at that point they didn't need all those tweeters. As a result the crossovers are probably going to be different regardless of how they utilized the 4 tweeters.

I think the bottom shaft on the one pair is not a ground screw, no need for that on a speaker, but it looks to me like another potentiometer of a type adjusted with a screwdriver instead of a knob. Note where it is set and try to turn it left and right. If it turns all the way in both directions easily like a volume control, it's probably a volume pot for the newly added midrange on that model.

Here's a basic primer on crossovers that I like, covering simple 1st order and then 2d order:

http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/crossover6db.html
http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/crossover12db.html

So what you'll see in there is a little board with capacitors, inductors (that look like coils of wire), possibly resistors, and potentiometers to adjust volumes.



Hint when removing woofers: Keep one hand around the tip of the screwdriver! One slip will poke a hole right through that cone and you'll hate yourself. :biggrin:
Also note which wire goes to which terminal - one terminal on the driver is usually marked with a dot. Don't rely on memory.
 
toxcrusadr said:
I think the bottom shaft on the one pair is not a ground screw, no need for that on a speaker, but it looks to me like another potentiometer of a type adjusted with a screwdriver instead of a knob. Note where it is set and try to turn it left and right.
Click to expand...
Proving once again that you're more observant than I. Of course this is almost definitely correct. Obviously that would normally be on the connection plate along with the other knob. Have to wonder how many iterations this speaker went through before they found a design that they liked.
 
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