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Fried A/5 opinions needed

There is a speaker terminal plate that has

the manufacturer's name, the model #, the impedance (8 ohms), & the city & State where they're from (Philadelphia, PA).
 
fried20a520speaker.jpg


The slot at the bottom almost guarantees that it's a Fried transmission line. But having blown up and rotated your original photo it looks like there may be some damage to the bottom of the cabinet to the right (left as you look at it) - maybe MDF swelling and separation. Hard to say. If you pull the woofer the inside should be a catacomb of tunnels - really neat.
 
It has the same stylings as the A3's I have, just taller and maybe more narrow. In the vent at the bottom, there should be a foam damper. No biggie if it is not there. Really its the something you can buy at a craft store for a few dollars. I guess it creates some back pressure to build up bass or something.
 
jimbofish said:
... and to keep creepy-crawlies out?

Thanks.
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The foam loads the woofer via it's aperiodic vent, ala the Dynaco A-25. The foam on my Q/3 had deteriorated and I replaced it with square foam used to seal between an air conditioner and the window sash, available at your local hardware store.
 
Infinitoid said:
But having blown up and rotated your original photo it looks like there may be some damage to the bottom of the cabinet to the right (left as you look at it) - maybe MDF swelling and separation. Hard to say. If you pull the woofer the inside should be a catacomb of tunnels - really neat.
Click to expand...

The guy says the cabs are in fine shape with only a few very light scratches that you have to really look closely to see. That would seem to preclude what looks like damage in the pic. I'm thinking (hoping) it's just a digital artifact in the lousy pic.

He doesn't know anything about the woofers being replaced. They were that way when he got them for free from a friend. There are no grills either.:no:

Here's a pic of the other speaker. I'm assuming the statue is not attached to it!:yikes:
 

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Hmmm? I would think the A/C foam you used prevents air from passing through it. Doesn't this effectively block the vent?:headscrat
 
Urizen said:
If they used the same driver for the A series, you're set.
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Yeah, that would be sweet.

Does Fried make their own drivers, or do they buy them from one of the driver manufacturers?

EDIT: I just looked again at the Fried website and now see that there IS a page for the A Series Replacement Woofer. Maybe I'm just missed it before but I don't remember seeing this before, at least, not with the price. Seems like it just said to click on the link for info. This sounds like good news! I'll still wait for confirmation from Fried though.

There's no mention of woofer size. Do all the Models in a series use the same size drivers?

http://www.friedproducts.com/modela.html
 
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I know the A2 and 3 use an 8" woofer - don't know about #'s above that. I want to say the B series uses a 10"

Humm....they make the A series now too and on the cheap. One of my woofers has a light amount of cosmetic damage to it. Maybe it's time to replace it. Thanks for that info. Plus it would be neat to see if there is any difference in sound from the old vs the new woofer. I really want to recap mine. I am sure they need it.
 
bigshawn said:
I know the A2 and 3 use an 8" woofer - don't know about #'s above that. I want to say the B series uses a 10"

Humm....they make the A series now too and on the cheap. One of my woofers has a light amount of cosmetic damage to it. Maybe it's time to replace it. Thanks for that info. Plus it would be neat to see if there is any difference in sound from the old vs the new woofer. I really want to recap mine. I am sure they need it.
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According to their site, the A, B, and Q series replacements have "improved resolution and a rubber surround for long term reliability". Possibly they might sound at least 'slightly' different. Definitely would want to replace them in pairs IMHO, but moot since they only sell them in pairs.

It appears that the "C Series" all use a 6.5" woofer. Oddly, those are the most expensive @ $185. It does sound like these had had the most changes and improvements, which may explain the price. They also include a schematic to revise the crossovers on these.

I'm not sure what to think of this company. No reply to an email since Wed, nor to a phone call today. Their site is a bit out of date. Some identical links on different pages take you to different versions of the same page. Explains why I didn't see the A page before. Must be a small operation.
 
I emailed them about a year ago and the response took about a week via email.

I would definitely only replace them in pairs. I just would want to A/B them for comparison.
 
I'll have to think about the sound part in comparison to the ones you have....I guess I would say they have tweeters like your advents, really nice detailed mids, but the lows kinda build and really extend. I think that is why they don't do beat driven rock as well. They don't thump like the JBL's, and don't go as low as my EV's (15Hz), but the bass is still low and full. I haven't heard the Avid's or specifically the JBL (but I have heard others in that line). What styles of music do you listen to? If you do acoustic, vocals, jazz, or other mellow stuff this is what they are for. I don't know about classical - not my style.

Your Marantz 2215 won't have enough juice to make them come alive, but the 2230 might. They sound good at low volumes, but really come alive with more power. I didn't really notice it until I hooked them up to my Sansui 8080.

Btw, I love the EV interface series. I have the C's.

As to contacting Fried - I emailed them earlier today and I just got a response. It was short ( four words), but it answered my questions. If you don't get a response today, I would resend and email on monday.
 
Well, I did get to talk to John at the Fried factory. They do indeed have A replacements and they are all the same size. He was just going out the door at 6pm and didn't have access to the database to see if they had any in stock right now. If so, they go out right away. Other wise they hold the check until your turn comes up. All you have to do is send them a check with return address and speaker series. He also gave me the name of the local dealer in Petosky to see what kind of a deal he could give me on a new pair that's "five generations ahead" of the A series. I may just take him up on it.
 
I assume you've considered the possiblity that the reason they haven't sold is that there is no way to name the speakers without giving people the idea that they are fried -- blown -- rather than that they are working speakers with an awkward name.
I've owned a pair of IMFs and a couple of pairs of Frieds, and liked them a great deal. Most Frieds are resisitive line tunnels rather than actual transmission lines, and are possibly as close to aperiodic as they are to transmission line. They don't go as low as TLs, but have a good portion of their freedom and clarity in the low end. Partly because of the lack of all the wood joints, the resistive line enclosures are more resonant than that of TLs, though no worse than the standard box, and since the resistive line dissipates pressure, probably better behaved.
Fried used the best drivers he could find, which meant his speakers sounded good, but replacements aren't easy to find or to identify substitutes for. Many of his woofers were Charbonneau (spelling?), which are out of business and the tweeters often were HiQphon, a french company which I think is still around, but they don't have replacements.
There was a company in the midwest that tried to revive the Fried line -- it began with a V -- but I don't know if they are still around. Its good to see that someone is trying to keep Frieds up and running.
 
That's very informative. Odd that this company has been around for so long, yet there's so little info that comes up on it. Almost like some kind of cult. :eek: The guy that sells them here has no showroom, sells them unheard, and will put your name on a waiting list for the next production run! When I asked where he was located, all he would say was Michigan! Very mysterious! Now I want one (two)! :drool: :drool::music:
 
If you look at 80s and 90s Stereophiles and other audio magazines, Fried shows up reasonably often -- they were a fairly successful (by high end standards) company. But looking for them on the web is very difficult because of that name -- its sort of like trying to find Ohm -- easy to find matches, but most of them are references to synomyms.
Incidently, John Wright started TDL after IMF, which was quite successful up to near the millenium. Their large speakers were full transmission lines, but they, like Fried, didn't use full lines for their lesser speakers.
I read in one british stereo magazine that IMF went under because it was part of a holding company, whose main product was swimming pool chemicals (!) and that company went bust.
 
I just wanted to follow up and see if you picked those up? By those, I mean the A5's.
 
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