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Heybrook HB-1 speakers

gearhound

gearhound

Lunatic Member
I purchased a pair of early 80's, English-made, Heybrook HB-1 speakers today.
Fair sized, 2-way, acoustic suspension speakers; with an 8" woofer, and a 1" soft dome tweeter.
The buyer is going to ship them to me, and hopefully, they will arrive in one piece?
I've heard nothing but good things about the early Heybrook HB line.
Hopefully the reality, will justify the hype!?

Steve :banana:
 
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They have a panel on the back that is held in place by four allen heads. The cross over is attached to it. Excellent cabinet quality and build. Had mine for years, but the woofers needed re-foamed. They are unique SEAS [ I think ] woofers, with a very high Q rating that are not made anymore. Some day I hope to hear mine, let us all know what you think.
 
You don't hear much about Heybrook. I have one of their power amps and would love someday to have a pair of their speakers and one of their turntables. Let us know how they sound when they arrive...I'm really curious.
 
First thing I did, was ask the seller about the condition of the woofer surrounds (i.e. rot?).
He claimed they were in excellent shape, and that the speakers sounded wonderful!
Since the speakers are probably 25+ years old, I'm assuming the woofers (VIFA, I think?) were re-foamed, some time in the past?
I'm also assuming, that a recap will probably be needed in the near future also?
I'm a BIG fan of English-made speakers.
I owned a pair of little B&W DM-12's for 20 years, until I gave them to my oldest daughter in 2001 (she LOVES them).
I still have a pair of small 1989/90 Celestion 3 speakers.

Steve
 
That's it, Vifa woofers. Mine are vinyl clad, did they come in real veneer? The fit and finish is first rate.

I also have some B&W, model DM 23, big warm sound in small enclosure. Again very nice cabinet work.
 
I had a pair for a while about a year ago, built mid to late 80s. Really nice sounding speakers, I should have never sold them. I did an A-B with a pair of B&W DM601s. It was a close tie as far as high end and detail went, but the Heybrooks won out with tighter, better bass and an overall fuller sound. If they're in good shape you'll be in for a real treat.
 
Surprise find - Radio Shack woofers

Well, the Heybrook HB1 speakers arrived this morning.
They looked in great shape!
The woofer surrounds looked like new, too new perhaps?
That sent a Red Flag up, and I decided to remove the woofers, and take a look.............................................

RADIO SHACK

I still fired them up, and while they still sound pretty decent, they are NOT the VIFA woofers, that I assumed I was getting?
So I e-mailed the seller about what I found, and asked him, if he knew about the Radio Shack woofers?
I guess the next step, is to see what his answer will be?
Either he bought the speakers to flip, and didn't know about the Radio shack replacement woofers.
Or, the seller himself put in the Radio Shack woofers.
Maybe because he didn't want to re-foam them, or maybe even didn't know they could be re-foamed?
Stay tuned..............................................................

Steve :sigh: :nono:
 
one of the great English companies from days gone by. They actually did everything well and made a small but great range of products.

I have heard their speakers and own a mint TT2 turntable that I will never sell.

marc mc
 
Hi Gearhound i too got the same deal when i received my HB-1 speakers i saw the woofers weren't original seas woofers, opened it up and found a made in taiwan woofer "fairly heavy with a big magnet" also something i have never seen on a woofer it has four wire connection pins ( two at let's say the 6:00 oclock position and 2 at the 12:00 oclock position) with different leads coming from the crossover on each connector? they sound ok but i would really like to see what the sound like with the proper seas woofers
 
stugazz:

The original woofers were made by VIFA.
I'm pretty sure, they are not produced any more?
I e-mailed MADISOUND last night, and asked them what would be the closest equivalent VIFA woofer, spec. wise, to the original?
Hopefully, I will hear from them on Monday?

Steve
 
Steve i found this info. apparently these are the proper replacemen Vifa M21WG-09-08 - Wilmslow Audio UK not cheap let me know if you find something more reasonable i think these are 67 UK pounds so that's like 105 $ ea.
 
$105 each, huh?
Guess that does not include expensive trans-Atlantic shipping either?
Jeez, I paid less than that for the speaker pair!?
Well, lets see what Madisound has to say on Monday.
Assuming they bother to e-mail me back?

Steve
 
Well, I heard from Madisound.
Disappointing response though, as they were totally clueless?
Parts Express has a heavy-duty 8" Dayton speaker, that the specs look similar to the now-discontinued VIFA.
Unfortunately it is NOT cheap!
As of today, it was $65.
And that was the SALE price!?

Steve
 
I believe it is the same woofer as found in the original Snell Model Ks. Don't know if you can find a damaged pair of Snell's but they might be easier to locate than a damaged pair of Heybrooks. I think the JPW AP2 also used them.

Mike O
 
JAMO 20418 treated paper woofers to the rescue!!

Parts Express is blowing out these Jamo treated paper woofers for $9 a pop!
Spec wise and construction, they are quite similar to the long-discontinued Vifa woofers, that were the original Heybrook HB1 woofers.
I removed the Radio Shack 40-1024A Polypropylene woofers, that a previous owner had installed.....without properly sealing them, btw.
I put foam weather stripping as gasket material around the woofer openings, then installed the Jamo 20418 woofers.
The Heybrook HB1 speakers really came alive, with the woofer exchange.
NOT a minor improvement either, but a significant top-to-bottom improvement!!
The lightweight Jamo woofers did not look like than could deliver the goods!?
But then again.....don't judge a book by it's cover, right?

Steve :yes: :thmbsp:
 
That's great news. I think that you're really going to enjoy them. I'm on my second pair of Heybrooks. I had the newer version HB2. It was a really nice speaker for the money. I recently picked up a pair of Quartets in great condition and could not be happier. They won't be going anywhere anytime soon.:banana:
 

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Just picked up a set for 15 bucks
Woofers need re doing
They say made in denmark think there original
Sound promising as is
 
Hello folks, It seems for the past several months each way I turn I hear about the fabulous "HB1's". Well a wise friend told me years ago - be careful if you look for something you will find it. Sure enough a pair are on there way form England via Baby! Like Gearhhound I asked all the right questions - got all the right answers. Hopefully the seller is honest. I'll post pics when they arrive.
 
I'm pretty certain that both the Heybrook HB-1 and the Heybrook HB-2 were designed by an English fellow by the name of Peter Comeau. I haven't heard much about him in the past decade, if at all. He was the last thing I heard doing consultancy work designing speakers for Chinese corporations who had the manufacturing capability but lacked a sufficiently savvy speaker designer.
 
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