Hamlin?

[spaceman]

I grabbed these off CL, from the same guy I bought my first pair of 811-Bs from, it turned out. They were advertised as Hamlin cabinets, without drivers, for a pretty decent price. The closest I've found on the interweb is Mason & Hamlin, a piano company originally out of Boston, that started in 1854. I don't have a clue yet if they ever even made speaker cabinets, so not implying these were made by them, just noting it's a possibility. :scratch2: Any info is much appreciated. BTW, these hold a single 8" fullrange, but I haven't opened them up yet to look at the baffle.

 

[spaceman]

OK, here's the inside, and though they "could" hold a larger woofer, I'm pretty inclined to stick with an 8". I have an old pair of ESS 8"s with alnico magnets, excellent sounding but a bit cosmetically challenged, since they were my first refoam, that go right in. I'm pretty sure my little Atomix horns I spoke highly of before will be the perfect compliment, but I'm not in a huge hurry to cut the baffle yet.

 

[jandg]

To bad the original 8" fr drivers were not in em.. I suspect they were PIM. & definately one of the best fr drivers I have ever heard when properly set up. They are special in many ways.. You could keep an eye out for some 8" Hamlin black box drivers or PIM 8/16, or they were also produced under SK ..??I can't remember the # after the SK.They are a dual cone fr without a wizzer & none needed IMO. Nice find..
Joe

 

[spaceman]

Well, I ended up borrowing my good L-pads from my Altecs, as the horns are a tiny bit more efficient than the woofers, but it was worth it. These are close to perfect, soundwise, with a lot better bass than I was hoping for, and very good balance between the highs, mids, & lows. :thmbsp: The only issue is getting the bass set just right, but that's a source issue. I'm running a Sansui 7000 into them for now, & it has stepped attenuators for the tone controls, & "perfect" would be a halfways point, between 2 positions. I think a tube preamp with continuously variable pots is in order.

 

[spaceman]

A little update, I don't know what made me try it, but I put my Stephens Tru-Sonic 15"s in them today, with the Atomix horns still sitting on top for now. I have about an inch of clearance on the baffle, but they do fit well. Now THIS is as close to perfect as I can remember ever hearing, period. :yes: And since the Stephens' are somewhat cosmetically challenged, but sound beautiful, these cabs are perfect for them, since the grilles & baffles aren't removable from the front. BTW, the Stephens are 16 Ohms & the Atomix are 8 Ohms, and they work very well together with an L-pad. I'll be trying them with the Sansui 7000 a few days, then trying them with tubes, where they should REALLY shine. BTW, the inside pic is to give yas an idea of the way the cabs are kinda vented in back, those "shelves" don't seal it at all.

 

[highping]

I compared your cabinets to a pair of speakers I have. Mine are also open in the back. The cabinets look to be of the same "build". It's interesting that the insulation was adhered in the same way (too). Here's some pics:

 

[highping]

Oh, BTW, the seller/builder of these cabinets is in Seattle.....and his son is still running the business.

 

[spaceman]

Cool, highping, they definitely look like they're closely related. :yes: I thought these big heavy Stephens "might" be a bit much for them, but they're fine, although I used all 8 screws for each driver. I'm still not sure what you'd call these cabs, maybe a type of folded horn (?), but they definitely kick up the bass a notch or 2. I'm liking the sound more and more, very musical, accurate, & MUCH smoother in the mids & highs than Heresies.

 

[highping]

I like mine alot too. I'd have taken a picture of the backs of them, but they are (in use) on the bottom of a stack, right up against a wall.

 

[spaceman]

Holy crap, I just saw a pair of these Stephens FR150s on that auction site (found in a search), supposedly never used, with a BIN of $850.! Obviously mine aren't worth AS much, but that definitely makes me feel better about what I paid for mine.

 

[Tabcat]

Hamlin was a line of Japanese equipment - tuner, amplifier, speakers and turntables -
imported and sold by Phil (?) Hamlin in Seattle in the 1960's. I still have them, tho
the electronics need work and the speakers are small. Couldn't afford the very
impressive big ones.

 

[stickman]

As mentioned previously in this thread the Hamlin "Black Box" enclosures usually came loaded with a Pioneer full range driver of the PIM-8L variety. Lafayette offered a version of this driver as the SK-98 model. These drivers are highly prized by collectors and excellent condition versions will typically fetch between $ 100 and $ 125 each on fleabay. The primary source of these drivers has been units removed from the Hamlin enclosures over the last few years, so its not surprising your boxes were empty.

The early Stephens Tru-Sonic drivers made in Culver City are also highly prized by collectors. Mr. Stephens was a contemporary of James Lansing and there was a rivalry between the two companies although JBL obviously won! (lol) For some reason the later Stephens FR-80 full range drivers are highly sought after by collectors primarily based in Scandinavia! (Oh how I miss when fleabay used to show the countries where the auction winners resided...)

 

[c-atle-79bay]

Going to bump up this dead thread as I recently got a set of hamlins with the PIM 20a/8 FR drivers.

Highping, who is the cabinet maker anyway? Kinda cool to know these guys are still going. Can't say it's my favorite speaker but does somethings very well.

 

[pfchance]

Hi,

I just signed up and am struggling to use this website.

Anyway, I have a broken Hamlins 20-20 integrated amp that will need an audio output transformer. So I am hoping to either find the transformer, or another unit from which I might remove it. Any leads will be greatly appreciated! This unit belonged to a former patient who passed away, and his widow gave the unit to me.
Thanks!!! Phillip Chance Seattle WA