ID these speakers

[mlj4833]

Can anyone ID these speakers they are said to have 15 inch woofers?

 

[homebrew]

Look like Altec Valencia series.

 

[loudnoises]

Those look like Santana's with the inset tops, but no angled front edges and weird grills...

 

[bowtie427ss]

Interesting, the only place Altec used that grill material was on the A7-500W-II Magnificent, and those are definitely not Magnificents.

 

[Sammcamos]

Every few years I see a set of speakers like this come up. They are almost always some sort of home brew cabinet made by a local cabinet maker with any assortment of drivers inside. Might be Altec, JBL, Utah, or Realistic.

 

[kwayde]

Cabinets look like the JBL L101 Lancer but the grilles don't.

 

[mlj4833]

Thanks for the replies, I was thinking the same thing about the JBL L101 Lancer Cabinets but I'm not sure if the dimensions are the same?

 

[loudnoises]

Thanks for the replies, I was thinking the same thing about the JBL L101 Lancer Cabinets but I'm not sure if the dimensions are the same?

They look spot on for the lancers, but i think you're right. They look too square. But the edges, corners... so on.

The phaux slate tops are the key here i think. It was only in style for a minute.

They just don't look homebrew. Clones maybe?

 

[Sammcamos]

They just don't look homebrew. Clones maybe?

Most of these I see aren't homebrew in the sense of some random person with no skill made them, but rather by someone who was not a nationally reknowned speaker or even locally known speaker maker.

I had a nearly identical looking set as these, which had some of the most intricate cabinetry I have ever seen in a speaker (they made either of these look like they were made with a butter knife), with all sides, including the back veneered over 3/4" plywood, with the veneer grain matched. The tops were different; they had smoked tempered glass over black formica with invisible access holes to remove the glass for transport. These were most certainly were something an incredibly skilled home cabinet maker built, since besides the excellent build quality, there was almost no actual engineering that went into the cabinets, and everything down to the crossovers was bought from a Radio Shack Catalog

I live in an area where it's fairly common to see these come up, since someone in their $20 million dollar beach house wanted a stereo that looked exactly like the rest of their furniture, so they would have whoever was making their furniture make their speakers.

 

[kwayde]

Those look like Santana's with the inset tops, but no angled front edges and weird grills...

The Santana insert has wood around the sides and back. These have no wood at the back. Plus the wood at the front edges is beveled on the Sanatna.