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HPM-60 woofers

Eagle1

Eagle1

Super Member
I am the original owner of a pair of early HPM 60's I bought in 1976. Both surrounds on the woofers broke down way back and I replaced them with some Radio Schack replacements and tossed the originals, not knowing any better. Lately I've taken them out of storage and put them back into use with my stored Technics SA-5460. I've replaced one of the woofers with a Pioneer 25-730A which was originally for the HPM 40 but compatible for the HPM 60. The original woofer for the older HPM 60 is 25-727F. Both of these are not the aluminum baskets but the steel ones. Can someone shed some light on what the difference between the 25-727F and the 25-730A speakers? Much info would be helpful as I can puchase a 25-727F woofer to complete my upgrade and want to make sure all is compatible. Sorry to say the sellers only had one of each. I'd like to keep these as original as possible.
 
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I do know (or have read) that the HPM-60 woofers have two dust caps vs. one for the HPM-40 woofer. Otherwise, I don't know what, if any, diffences there might be. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the sonic differences where basically nil. I'd suggest nabbing that original woofer that's available to you and maybe keep your eyes peeled for another, while you enjoy your "almost original" speakers.
 
Agreed. I have HPM-60s and that's one of the great things about that speaker. it's very precise, not sloppy at all, and when you need authority, it's got it in spades. I assume the HPM-40 woofer is similar.

How on earth did the surrounds go south on you? They have a sort of accordian fold that looks darn near indestructible.
 
MarkAnderson said:
Early HPM-40, 60's used a stamped-steel basket with foam surrounds.
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That's exactly what happened. After about 12 or so years the surrounds started to break down and vibrate like heck. I pulled them and replaced them with some 10" Radio Schaak speakers just to get buy. Eventually tossing the originals not knowing anything about refoaming. This was back in the late 80's. Just lately I decided to bring them back out of storage and put in a spare pair of JBL 10" woofers for their Northbridge series. Sounded awesome but lacked the bass punch I remembered. Hence my search for HPM 60 woofers. Found one that a seller stated was for the HPM 60. Part number is 25-730A. Came this Sat. and it's installed. After checking out PIoneers service site that woofer is for the HPM 40. They list the 25-727F as the woofer for my early vintage HPM 60. The frequency reponses look to be the same and now wondering about the handling capabities between the different drivers. Thanks for all of your input and help!
 
Interesting, I've never seen, nor even knew about, this earlier line of HPMs. You learn something new every day here!
 
Ponderbear,

Some pics in this old thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56339&highlight=hpm-60

There is more info if you search in the Speaker Forum, but the pictures are messed up in a lot of them due to server crashes in the past. These old series I HPM-60's were very nicely made, with a well braced cab and a unique 90 degree bent port tube. Probably not too many of these around, as I don't see them on the auction site or even drivers anymore.
 
Eagle1 said:
That's exactly what happened. After about 12 or so years the surrounds started to break down and vibrate like heck. I pulled them and replaced them with some 10" Radio Schaak speakers just to get buy. Eventually tossing the originals not knowing anything about refoaming. This was back in the late 80's. Just lately I decided to bring them back out of storage and put in a spare pair of JBL 10" woofers for their Northbridge series. Sounded awesome but lacked the bass punch I remembered. Hence my search for HPM 60 woofers. Found one that a seller stated was for the HPM 60. Part number is 25-730A. Came this Sat. and it's installed. After checking out PIoneers service site that woofer is for the HPM 40. They list the 25-727F as the woofer for my early vintage HPM 60. The frequency reponses look to be the same and now wondering about the handling capabities between the different drivers. Thanks for all of your input and help!
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Eagle1,

How have you made out with your set? I'm not sure what the differences in the woofers are, but different part numbers mean that they are different in some way, and work with the crossover design. Just to know they were original, I'ld be looking to put the correct part numbers in :yes: They are a very nice speaker.
 
Couldn't resist. Took a few pics of my 60's on top of the Infinity Q2's. Gives a good perspective on their size. I think these are great looking speakers with the gold woofer and midrange cones.

I have them hooked up to the Denon HT rig (two channel only), and these HPM's really do well on movies. The frequency response really suits the HT application I think. Bass response is surprising for little guys on movie sound effects :yes:
 

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Kencat said:
Eagle1,

How have you made out with your set? I'm not sure what the differences in the woofers are, but different part numbers mean that they are different in some way, and work with the crossover design. Just to know they were original, I'ld be looking to put the correct part numbers in :yes: They are a very nice speaker.
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I lost out on a bid E-bay on a steel basket woofer, got sniped at the last second. So I'm still looking for an original set good condition. Someone had a set for sale but they had cut all fo the foam surrounds out and had been playing them that way. I passed on that deal as who knows what kind of damage may have been done to the coils. I did install the HPM 40 woofer in one of my 60's and it worked flawlessly. Really put the thump back into the bass again in the one speaker like the old times! I've since removed it and put it carefully in storage and reinstalled the JBL driver to keep the balance. So I'm still looking for an original pair that came in the HPM 60's not the 40's. I agree with you Kencat that there must be a difference between the two early vintage drivers. Wattage, magnets or freq. response? So I will limit my search to the 25-727F drivers.

Nice set of HPM 60's you have there Kencat! Very good condition. I have an Ininity owning buddy (4.5's, RS11B's and Q5's) who can't believe the bass produced from the HPM 60's. He used to accuse me of cheating by using the sub-woofers until I showed him it was just the pair of HPM 60's hooked up to my stereo Technics receiver.
 
I am in the same position for my HPM-60s. I got them for nearly nothing and there are some soft sourrounded woofers for closed cabinets installed:-( So they work,but the woofer is always wiggeling around.
So I look since a year for some original replacements for not too much money,but nothing to find.
Since the case is pretty lousy,I am not willing to invest too much.

Any Ideas for a cheap replacement which is working good?
 
Eagle1,

Patience req'd. A set WILL show up eventually. Back when a bunch of us were chatting these up a few years back, it seemed like ebay was full of the old series HPM-60 drivers. Almost like we were being watched :para:

Maybe the same will happen now :D

I will keep my eyes open now though for any local acquisitions and will let you know about it. Never know where a set may appear, and now that I'm aware you are looking, I'll be tuned in :yes:

Oh, my 60's are physically in really good shape for sure. I had to refoam the woofers of course when I got them for 35$. The vinyl though is pretty rough, with little tears all over. But it doesn't affect the sound, and gives them that "character". I guess they deserve to be, and forgiven for, being a bit worn after all these years eh? :yes:
 
agger said:
I am in the same position for my HPM-60s. I got them for nearly nothing and there are some soft sourrounded woofers for closed cabinets installed:-( So they work,but the woofer is always wiggeling around.
So I look since a year for some original replacements for not too much money,but nothing to find.
Since the case is pretty lousy,I am not willing to invest too much.

Any Ideas for a cheap replacement which is working good?
Click to expand...
You might also want to look at these also.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?DID=7&PartNumber=290-083
I was thinking of using these as replacements and the freq. response and wattage matches the Pioneers exactly at a good price. Plus it has the paper cones like the originals. Otherwise patience is our best virtue, it seems like they come up for sale in spurts. Craiglist is also a good site to watch.
 
For those of you that are looking for a good replacement woofer for your HPM 60's and wonderiing what I've been using lately check out JBL's web site:http://www.harmanaudio.com/search_browse/partlist.asp?BrandId=JBL&MarketId=HOM&Parts=E100CH PN# is 335573-002.
I put these in mine (as a trial) as I had a couple on hand as warranty replacements for my JBL towers. They fit perfectly, even the mounting holes lined up! They have a tighter bass response because of the poly cones but still have that deep kick in the butt bass. The price is right and they're brand new, no worrying about getting shafted. They won't make your HPM's original "for resale" but you'll have some great sounding speakers to listen to again!!!
 
Just received a good pair of 25-737A's woofers I purchased for my early version HMP-60's thinking that they would fit into my cabinet with no problems since the original 25-727F's have been hard to come by. To my amazement they are not interchangeable as the newer version are bit to big to fit into the enclosure and if they did the cabinet mounting holes would not align with the speaker's. Also the the 737A's have an extra ring which would require the cabinet to have a recess routed around the hole to accomodate it so it would sit flush. I guess I could do some major surgery to the cabinet opening, enlarging the hole, routing a recess and drilling new mounting holes. But then that would make my originals into Frankenstiens so to speak. So for those HPM 60, 40 owners of the early version beware! Pioneer did make changes during the speaker conversion from the steel basket to the aluminum basket with the cabinet design. Would be nice if someone who has a HPM60/U2 or 40/U2 to provide some pics of the enclosure with the speaker removed.
 
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