I picked up a pair of Fisher 111K speakers a few weeks ago. I've read a bunch of threads about these on here, a lot of which are years old. Now that I've re-capped mine and listened for a while I have a few thoughts. So if you love these speakers (or if you hate them) follow along with my information and thoughts and let me know what you think.
1) I couldn't find a schematic of the crossover anywhere on the internet, so I drew one up. It's attached below. The inductor values were based on measuring both crossovers (which were close) and averaging them. The capacitor values are from the print on the capacitors. As an aside, they were all Temple capacitors and from what I've read are considered junk. Still, 7 of my 8 were within 10% and the last was only out by 11% but I replaced them anyway. I didn't put the speaker polarities on the diagram so make note that the Tweeters have the Black wire connected to the signal in and the Red wire connected to the "-" input, so they're essentially inverted.
2) In this thread...
The pictures of RMS330's 111K's look a little different than mine. His have (I think) a 3uF cap in the Mids instead of 8uF. Also, they have 3 resistors for the SuperTweeter selection where mine has 2 plus straight through. If I'm reading them right he has 6.3, 3.3, 1.8 where mine have 3.3, 1.8, 0.0. I can see that we both have 3 resistors for the Tweeter selection, but I can't tell from his pics if the values are the same or not.
3) Does anyone know which way the grills are supposed to go? Mine came with the logo at the bottom but most pictures online show them with the logo up, as do most all Fisher speakers in their brochures. I would just assume that logo up is correct except that the cross-support in the grill runs across the top of the Woofer like that. If you put them on logo down the cross-support is right in between the Woofer and Mids and not blocking anything. Maybe at some point someone flipped the outer plastic part of the grill and the inner part with the frame on mine?
4) Ok, this is the real point of it all, right, how do they sound? There is a lot of praise for these in the historic threads. Here's what I found. Keep in mind, it appears that all of my drivers are original and all measure the correct DC resistance. All have the 8ohm ink printed on them (except the Woofers obviously). The Woofers have had the surrounds treated and then broken in for a while. And I'm giving my evaluation after re-capping the crossovers. The Mids on these are harsh......very harsh. Both speakers the same. Like a tin can, or cardboard box, or whatever analogy you want to use. Highs and lows are solid, but the Mids are pretty much unbearable. I ended up putting a 75ohm resistor in series in the Mids circuit to drop the Mids by about 3-4db in the 500-3000 hz range. That put everything in pretty good balance for me. If anyone has any ideas why mine might sound so harsh in the Mids (without my mod), or your thoughts on how yours sound, feel free to share.
I guess that's it for now.
Steve
1) I couldn't find a schematic of the crossover anywhere on the internet, so I drew one up. It's attached below. The inductor values were based on measuring both crossovers (which were close) and averaging them. The capacitor values are from the print on the capacitors. As an aside, they were all Temple capacitors and from what I've read are considered junk. Still, 7 of my 8 were within 10% and the last was only out by 11% but I replaced them anyway. I didn't put the speaker polarities on the diagram so make note that the Tweeters have the Black wire connected to the signal in and the Red wire connected to the "-" input, so they're essentially inverted.
2) In this thread...
XP Series Speakers 1959-1973
Found a pair of 111 k at salval. 50$ price tag. Should I grab them? Pretty good shape. Have chains weaved thru the grills so they have probably been hanging somewhere for a long time
audiokarma.org
3) Does anyone know which way the grills are supposed to go? Mine came with the logo at the bottom but most pictures online show them with the logo up, as do most all Fisher speakers in their brochures. I would just assume that logo up is correct except that the cross-support in the grill runs across the top of the Woofer like that. If you put them on logo down the cross-support is right in between the Woofer and Mids and not blocking anything. Maybe at some point someone flipped the outer plastic part of the grill and the inner part with the frame on mine?
4) Ok, this is the real point of it all, right, how do they sound? There is a lot of praise for these in the historic threads. Here's what I found. Keep in mind, it appears that all of my drivers are original and all measure the correct DC resistance. All have the 8ohm ink printed on them (except the Woofers obviously). The Woofers have had the surrounds treated and then broken in for a while. And I'm giving my evaluation after re-capping the crossovers. The Mids on these are harsh......very harsh. Both speakers the same. Like a tin can, or cardboard box, or whatever analogy you want to use. Highs and lows are solid, but the Mids are pretty much unbearable. I ended up putting a 75ohm resistor in series in the Mids circuit to drop the Mids by about 3-4db in the 500-3000 hz range. That put everything in pretty good balance for me. If anyone has any ideas why mine might sound so harsh in the Mids (without my mod), or your thoughts on how yours sound, feel free to share.
I guess that's it for now.
Steve
