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ID 6" Full Range Driver Alnico

PR Audio

PR Audio

Super Member
Today out of necessity, we made a pair of OB speakers made with carton box (another thread on this)...We used a pair of 6" Full Range drivers with Alnico magnets that we have no info on. Four of these drivers came in a lot of full range drivers purchased on EBay many years ago; back when you could find real honest deals on Ebay. The lot also included 6" x 9" Full Range drivers, 8" Full Range with Alnico, 6-1/2" Full Range drivers with Alnico, and 8" woofers with Alnico. All in pairs, except for the ones seen in this pic, that two pairs came in the lot. We hooked them up using a pair of DTV OB speakers (more on that on another thread), and the sound was simply amazing and beautiful; unbelievable.

Enclosed are pics of the drivers. The back plate of the magnet says:

C71C122-4
DC/4

The C's were not very legible, so they could be "0" or "6".

Basket/Spider is Black. Cone material is paper.
 

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The lack of a US EIA code would tend to indicate these came from Japan and were made anywhere from the 1950's through the 1970's. Diatone/Mitsubishi was big on concentric strengthening ribs but that was a common feature on drivers from many sources. This may have been from a large size table radio or out of a package component system.

These types of drivers often sound quite good at low to moderate volume levels as long as you don't expect much bass response or extension.
 
stickman said:
The lack of a US EIA code would tend to indicate these came from Japan and were made anywhere from the 1950's through the 1970's. Diatone/Mitsubishi was big on concentric strengthening ribs but that was a common feature on drivers from many sources. This may have been from a large size table radio or out of a package component system.

These types of drivers often sound quite good at low to moderate volume levels as long as you don't expect much bass response or extension.
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My first guess was a European driver that came from an old console. Your educated guess is very possible. Bass is adequate, but not very deep. Maybe a good driver for a tower built with a subwoofer at the tower base. This driver can really sing.
 
You might want to check the ohms on them. If they're from a console, they'll likely be 16ohms, and that'll confirm the timeline.

They're probably low wattage, so don't push them too hard. Try to OB them with a 8>12" woofer x-ed over about 1.5k. Use a good cap to get the best out of those gems.

Have Fun. That's what it's all about.
 
cablephil212 said:
You might want to check the ohms on them. If they're from a console, they'll likely be 16ohms, and that'll confirm the timeline.

They're probably low wattage, so don't push them too hard. Try to OB them with a 8>12" woofer x-ed over about 1.5k. Use a good cap to get the best out of those gems.

Have Fun. That's what it's all about.
Click to expand...

Well, I have been looking for a full range driver for a floorstanding speaker, possibly horn loaded. I didn't check impendance with the multimeter, but that is easy to do. The thing is that I would have to measure the drivers in order to design the enclosure, and I don't have the software/equipment to do so.
 
Vaughn said:
They do look very Diatone in origin, which is a good thing:scratch2:
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Sound quality indicates, that whatever brand they are, they are extremely good. Have another pair of these, plus a similar pair that has a silver color frame, instead of painted black.
 
After lots of research, comparing pictures, dimensions, etc. It all points to the fact that this are are Diatone P610...:yes:
 
I don't think these actually are P-610, but they do look very Japanese and might be closely-related. I'm not surprised it sounds good: whizzer-less and shallow-cone with concentric ribs that tame break-up. How does it do on top, does it need a super-tweeter?

az
 
audiozaz said:
I don't think these actually are P-610, but they do look very Japanese and might be closely-related. I'm not surprised it sounds good: whizzer-less and shallow-cone with concentric ribs that tame break-up. How does it do on top, does it need a super-tweeter?

az
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Hum...Difficult to determine, you might be right. But, God, they sound great! A super-tweeter would help, but the highs on this driver are very clear and crisp, not harsh at all, impressive for a full range, but maybe a little less dB's than the upper low to upper mid range. Don't have measurement equipment, but I would say that they start to lower (gradual slope) their dB's at around 10kHz. We are going to build a floorstanding enclosure based on a popular design for the P-610, if a super-tweeter is needed it will be added, still to be decided if on top like a B&W or will leave sufficient space from the top of the FR driver to the top of the enclosure, as to install directly a super-tweeter.
 
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PR Audio said:
Hum...Difficult to determine, you might be right. But, God, they sound great! A super-tweeter would help, but the highs on this driver are very clear and crisp, not harsh at all, impressive for a full range, but maybe a little less dB's than the upper low to upper mid range. Don't have measurement equipment, but I would say that they start to lower (gradual slope) their dB's at around 10kHz. We are going to build a floorstanding enclosure based on a popular design for the P-610, if a super-tweeter is needed it will be added, still to be decided if on top like a B&W or will leave sufficient space from the top of the FR driver to the top of the enclosure, as to install directly a super-tweeter.
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If the highs are already pretty good, but only lacking a bit of air on top, you might consider a piezo tweeter. I know these have a bad reputation, but they can be made to work pretty well for this application. A little coat of damar on the paper diaphragm, a swamping resistor, proper crossover and attenuation so it's barely audible should be dandy. Bonus that they are very cheap to buy too.

I suspect that this driver has a high Qts, much like the P-610, which I often see with values above 1.0 and even 1.5 - quite high. It therefore stumps me to see the P-610 in reflex enclosures so often, as the parameters suggest it would be better in sealed, aperiodic or open-baffle enclosures. It probably has something going for it if so many do it.

az
 
If they are Diatones you've struck gold. Even the Chinese Diatone clones on ebay are quite expensive.

If they were mine I'd put them in OB flat baffles over H-frame Alphas.
 
Poultrygeist said:
If they are Diatones you've struck gold. Even the Chinese Diatone clones on ebay are quite expensive.

If they were mine I'd put them in OB flat baffles over H-frame Alphas.
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Poultrygeist,

At least all the dimensions match the Diatone, though the dims might be common for that type and size of driver, I don't know. Right now they are in an open baffle, see this thread for info on that...:D

Though not H-Frames, there is already a set of OB speakers that we made that are being repaired, waiting on recently purchased 15" Magnavox woofers to arrive. The owner of the drivers, my cousin, has another identical pair of 6-1/2" drivers, and a third pair that is basically the same, but the basket color is bare metal, not black. He also has an 8" pair, a 6-1/2" pair with whizzer cones, and about 3 pairs of 6" x 9", or similar size, oval full range driver. So, there are plenty of drivers to play with. The floorstanding speakers will be built as to fill a need for a nice sounding pair of speakers with good WAF.
 
audiozaz said:
The words "small" and "Open-baffle" sort of don't really go together as you may know. Nevertheless, it can apparently be done, but the woofer has to work very hard. Look at Gainphile's desktop OB:

http://gainphile.blogspot.ca/2009/09/s11-ob-bookshelf-open-baffle-with-seas.html

az
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Fully aware, I would use a smaller FR driver (3" or 4") with an approx. 5"-6.5" woofer. If they don't turn out good, I'll just scrap the boxes, and work on something else.

Note: Checked the website, and is more or less what I had in mind, but with the woofer within an enclosure and the smaller FR driver OB.
 
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PR Audio said:
Fully aware, I would use a smaller FR driver (3" or 4") with an approx. 5"-6.5" woofer. If they don't turn out good, I'll just scrap the boxes, and work on something else.

Note: Checked the website, and is more or less what I had in mind, but with the woofer within an enclosure and the smaller FR driver OB.
Click to expand...

Ok - boxed woofer and dipole fullrange driver - gotcha, that will be easier. :)

az
 
A flat baffle OB measuring 38" tall X 18" wide X 5" thick ain't that big yall.

But's it's big enough to hold a 15" woofer and 8" mains. :D
 
Poultrygeist said:
A flat baffle OB measuring 38" tall X 18" wide X 5" thick ain't that big yall.

But's it's big enough to hold a 15" woofer and 8" mains. :D
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Tell that to my wife!!! :whip: It's not the 38" tall, nor the 5" deep, it is the 18" wide. My living room has become my listening room, so whatever speakers I have must be interior decorator approved. I have a dedicated HT/Audio room, but it has been hijacked by children. Three freaking LED/Plasma TV's in the house, and the HT room is the one they like the most. Not counting that my wife love's Lifetime, Gray's Anatomy, and "strawberry" series like that, that I refuse to watch. And, she loves to watch them in the big screen secluded and away from the kids. She works a lot, so I don't mind, have learned to live with those little issues.
 
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