Fisher STE-C5's -- "Studio Standard"

A

atrac

Active Member
If someone had told me a day ago that I'd be buying a pair of Fisher "Studio Standard" speakers from a Thrift Store, I would have laughed in their face.

Today, I bought a pair of Fisher "Studio Standard" speakers. Model STE-C5.

I couldn't resist! The cabs look fantastic, they are quite heavy for bookshelf speakers, and I couldn't resist that metal polished look on the drivers.

Of course, I knew nothing about them. It is 50% off day at SA, so I knew that they'd probably be gone if I waited.

So I've hooked them up and they sound quite nice. Not my best pair of speakers, but well worth the price I paid. And oh, those cabs.

I've searched and found very little on these. Only one thread on here that I believe says they are "Peerless Drivers" and that have bubinga veneer cabinets.

Anyone know anything more about them? The drivers are screwed in with hex screws so I need to search around for a screwdriver that I can remove them with. But I thought that perhaps from the pics someone could identify the drivers. The badge on the grill states that they are "Carbon Metal."

The speakers are 6 ohms, 100 Watts, and Made in Japan. They look very 80's, don't they? :)

At any rate, I definitely don't regret buying them.
 

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nice score... not the typical vinyl/cardboard , cone tweeter garbage we're used to ....

look more like yamaha ns-10m, the "real " studio standard .
 
Since they are from Japan, its about 100% likely that the drivers were also sourced in Japan and they look like very high quality units. They sure are a cool looking little speaker and if I came across something like that at that price I would have grabbed it too! Interesting find.
 
Those are very, very hard to find, and were Fisher's absolute TOTL when they were being sold. (ca. 1980)

The woofer cones are a two-layer composite porous metal. Liquid nickel was "foamed" into shape, and then sealed with a 20 micron layer of aluminum.

The STEC5 was the smallest model. 8" carbon/metal cone woofer, 1 1/4" aluminum hard dome tweeter. 50 Hz - 20 kHz. 6 ohm impedance. 91 dB SPL.

Genuine bubinga veneer.:yikes: 18 3/4 lbs each.

I'm jealous beyond words.
 
Lol. :)
I understand your pain, Fisherdude.
Totally.


Good find, Atrac.

Very cool.
Keep up the good work, brother.
Saving, preserving, and utilizing history is the game, 'round these parts.
Kudos. :)

Regards,
John
 
Those are NICE Ass speakers!!!

I think I will find a pair of the SD somethin something with the 12 inch woofers in them for a little wave guiding.
 
atrac said:
So I've hooked them up and they sound quite nice. Not my best pair of speakers...
Click to expand...

I spoke too soon. I've been giving these some "critical" listening all evening and my opinion of them has gone from "Wow" to "WOW!"

I had a busy day and when I initially listened to them, I was running around taking care of other things. Now that I've given them a "proper" sit down, I have to say that they might be the best pair of speakers I now own. I'm hearing a lot of things in music that I haven't heard before.

When I buy a pair of speakers (which almost seems to be weekly now), I always listen to "True" by Spandau Ballet and "Africa" by Toto. They are my benchmark songs and I have a very good feel for them and what to listen for. Well, I'm hearing things in these songs that weren't there before. I proceeded to keep listening to other music (I have a lot of film scores) and woah, more notes in them too!!!

Based on the other comments, I now know what you guys are talking about.

I, of course, will continue to buy speakers from Thrift Stores, but these are now the ones to beat!

I think the pictures I posted sum up my original opinion -- they are fuzzy and unfocused -- like I was when I first listened to them. I'll post some better pics of them so you can see what I'm hearing. :)
 
I owned a pair of ste-c5 and I can tell you that it is hard to find this constuction quality at any price . Finished in real wood veneer (of some kind called Bubinga) , compact size, acoustic suspension, 8" woofer with some kind of "metal-sandwich composite" very well explained in a previous comment. A friend of mine told me that magnesium was one of the cone components but not really sure. The drivers are typical Japanese type, with an 8" woofer with stamped steel frame and cloth surround (similar to a NS 10 woofer). The tweeter is a metal dome (maybe aluminium) type, 1 1/4 " with a "difraction piece" and a matal grille also like many Yams tweeters. and a big magnet. Second order X-over if I remember well. The woofer has printed on the back plate a power admision of near 20 watts nominal ,115 watts peak. These speakers are really hard to find (there is also very little info in the net). The sound was very good for my taste. Would apreciatte some more pictures with more resolution. I really miss these boxes. Enjoy them.
 
I think this little speakers are well overestimated here - I had a pair of those - and they were nothing near the Yamahas NS-625 or 645 I have had since then.
The speakers do look nice, but they are not a TOTL as it was written above - the cost in the 80s were around 250 Buck for a pair - so they were on the lower end side and the sound was not very open, but rather very hard, especially on the higher end.
 
Personally I've never thought much of "modern" Fisher gear... that being said, if these speakers please the OP, and he enjoys owning them I say Congratulations ! Enjoy.
 
It may be that a cap change in the crossovers will transform the sound. They sure do look purty! Nothing like a small 2 way to get the juices flowing.
 
Hi Fisherdude - I do not want to speculate, and I guess from your nickname, you got better knowledge on Fisher than I do, but I can clearly see from Japanese catalog that their cost was only 30K Yen one in 79.
How come they were totl?
 
At the time these speakers were being sold, they were part of Fisher's most expensive, "top of the line" speakers.

They were one of the line. The "STE" line included the STEC5, (the one you have), the STE1080, STE1110, STE1150, and STE1200.

Even though yours was the smallest of the model line, (bookshelf sized), they were 18 pounds each, and veneered with Bubinga. For reference, $250 in 1979 is the equivalent of approximately $750 today.

The STE1200 models weighed 112 pounds each.

To your point, though, just because they were one of the most expensive speakers that this particular manufacturer was selling doesn't necessarily mean you will like the sound. I've never had the opportunity to hear them.
 
These speakers are the only Fisher "Studio Standard" gear that actually looks like it could be used in a studio. Nice looks speakers. Not what I expected.....
 
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