Identifying speakers

[Agoud]

Dear members,

For many years I have been in the owner of two speakers. Now in need of a new amplifier, I decided to dig in to the origin of them, to understand how they might influence my choice of a new amplifier. Spent lots of time on Google but couldn't find them anywhere. Attached two pictures of the logo and the specs.

I found it hard to determine the name in the logo. My best guess at this point is that it says "Rams", which might refer to Dieter Rams, who as far as could find, together with Peter Hartwein, developed speakers for Braun? I could fin a speaker set called LS 120 with their name, but no 140.

The sound of the speakers has always been good, so I am not keen on replacing them. But I would like to know more about them.

Anyway, all information is welcome, for which I thank you very much!

 

[Dazaa]

google white van speakers....

 

[smoke-libr8r]

I found it hard to determine the name in the logo. My best guess at this point is that it says "Rams", which might refer to Dieter Rams

It is pretty clear that the plate says "Ramo". IMHO, the speakers don't look like anything that Dieter Rams would have designed.

 

[gdmoore28]

google white van speakers....

Could be, but I don't think so. The cheap-looking woofer surround plate would lead one to think white van at first, but even JBL and other major companies in that decade used that eye-candy gimmick. (Although the upper line products used cast or machined "beauty rings" around their speakers - not plastic.)

The fact that they were made in Denmark - home of extraordinary audio products - likely means that they were not budget offerings.

Agoud, welcome to AK! I tried to search every conceivable variation of the name and model number of your speakers, but no luck. Maybe somebody will come along and offer you more information. Now that you have my curiosity peaked, I'm interested in learning about this speaker line, too.

Good luck.

GeeDeeEmm

 

[smoke-libr8r]

The fact that they were made in Denmark - home of extraordinary audio products - likely means that they were not budget offerings.

The "white van guys" would never try to deceive by misrepresenting the country of origin. Right?

Is "Ramo" supposed to sound like "Jamo"?

Is there anyone here fluent in Danish? Is "Drifteffekt" a misspelling of "Driftseffekt"?

Agoud: Can you remove the drivers and post some pictures of the back side of them? Are the cabinets heavy? Are the cabinets covered in real wood veneer or vinyl?

 

[Dazaa]

It is pretty clear that the plate says "Ramo

Could be, but I don't think so. The cheap-looking woofer surround plate would lead one to think white van at first, but even JBL and other major companies in that decade used that eye-candy gimmick. (Although the upper line products used cast or machined "beauty rings" around their speakers - not plastic.)

The fact that they were made in Denmark - home of extraordinary audio products - likely means that they were not budget offerings.

Agoud, welcome to AK! I tried to search every conceivable variation of the name and model number of your speakers, but no luck. Maybe somebody will come along and offer you more information. Now that you have my curiosity peaked, I'm interested in learning about this speaker line, too.

Good luck.

GeeDeeEmm

Could be, but I don't think so. The cheap-looking woofer surround plate would lead one to think white van at first, but even JBL and other major companies in that decade used that eye-candy gimmick. (Although the upper line products used cast or machined "beauty rings" around their speakers - not plastic.)

The fact that they were made in Denmark - home of extraordinary audio products - likely means that they were not budget offerings.

Agoud, welcome to AK! I tried to search every conceivable variation of the name and model number of your speakers, but no luck. Maybe somebody will come along and offer you more information. Now that you have my curiosity peaked, I'm interested in learning about this speaker line, too.

Good luck.

GeeDeeEmm

I've seen hundreds of similar speakers turn up at the recyclers, i'm 99 percent sure these are low end.Sorry if that hurts any feelings. As for made in Denmark, as an example lots of beautiful high end stuff was made in England, but even more low end crap was made here, doesn't really mean anything.

 

[imral3]

Closest I could find on Google is a "Ramo 60 Danish Sound" but cannot locate anything else.

 

[goodolpg]

The "white van guys" would never try to deceive by misrepresenting the country of origin. Right?

Is "Ramo" supposed to sound like "Jamo"?

Is there anyone here fluent in Danish? Is "Drifteffekt" a misspelling of "Driftseffekt"?

Agoud: Can you remove the drivers and post some pictures of the back side of them? Are the cabinets heavy? Are the cabinets covered in real wood veneer or vinyl?

If drifteffekt is supposed to driftseffekt that means operating power...what does the stated 1.8Watt indicate?
My first impression was white van as well.
Cheap plastic trim ring and "lens diffuser".
Possible misspellings on the label.
Though no white van manuf. would lie about country of origin as mentioned.

 

[gdmoore28]

Sorry if that hurts any feelings.

Doesn't hurt my feelings. They don't belong to me.

GeeDeeEmm

 

[bowtie427ss]

but even JBL and other major companies in that decade used that eye-candy gimmick.

No no no, JBL used no cheap plastic crap beauty rings around a driver(assuming you are referring to the Linear Excursion series of drivers). They may have brushed the aluminum to give it a more nicely finished appearance, but the frames were truncated for a reason and it wasn't economy or marketing.

 

[gdmoore28]

No no no, JBL used no cheap plastic crap beauty rings around a driver(assuming you are referring to the Linear Excursion series of drivers). They may have brushed the aluminum to give it a more nicely finished appearance, but the frames were truncated for a reason and it wasn't economy or marketing.

Yep, that's why I said this: "Although the upper line products used cast or machined "beauty rings" around their speakers - not plastic."

I was being a bit sarcastic in calling them "beauty rings."

GeeDeeEmm

 

[Agoud]

Dear all,

Thank you for your time and effort helping me. I am loving these sort of little journeys to figure things out. To be clear: I am not emotionally attached to these speakers . I got them in the nineties from a friend while I was in college and had no money to invest in this sort of equipment. Somehow they just accompanied me from there. Now my amplifier is broken, I am looking fro some solid ground to decide whether I should replace them or not. And I get a feeling......

Following your comments I spent some time exploring them this morning. Exterieur: black wood-like veneer taped on pressed wood. From the inside I attached pictures. To comment on the "Made in Denmark debate", I think it should have said "These parts met in Denmark", haha. All rings etc are plastic (or so). The thing I should give them credits for is that they never broke down all these years and kept functioning.

If anyone can still tell me more from the part pictures it would be great, for the benefit of me learning more about identifying speakers. Other than that, my new hypotheses is that they are not anywhere near something valuable, and replacing them when buying a new amp is good idea. Agree?

Thanks for sharing an the teaching!

 

[Dazaa]

Yep those are junk. Small magnet on the bass driver, plastic horn tweeter. You can do much better

 

[bowtie427ss]

"These parts met in Denmark",

Unless you happen to live in Denmark, i can almost guarantee you that no part of those speakers have ever been to Denmark, Further, any speaker system a Dane was involved in building would be of significantly higher quality.

To be clear, just because they are of a lower quality standard in terms of components and construction doesn't mean they cannot provide satisfying sound.

The thing I should give them credits for is that they never broke down all these years and kept functioning.

That credit goes to YOU for being an excellent caretaker, and not abusing or neglecting them. As long as you don't ask them to do more than they're capable of, they will probably continue work well for you indefinitely.

 

[Roboturner91]

Yep those are junk. Small magnet on the bass driver, plastic horn tweeter. You can do much better

He says they sound good, and it doesn't seem like he wants/needs to replace them, so who are you to say they are "junk"?

 

[smoke-libr8r]

If anyone can still tell me more from the part pictures it would be great, for the benefit of me learning more about identifying speakers. Other than that, my new hypotheses is that they are not anywhere near something valuable, and replacing them when buying a new amp is good idea. Agree?

Thanks for posting the pictures. It makes it much easier for anyone to give you feedback on the speakers. The nonfunctional "tuned port" is another clue about the speaker's status. I agree with the others that the speakers would be considered to be on the low end side of the spectrum.

Now that you know what your drivers look like, you can compare them to pictures of other drivers. Go to a website that sells speaker parts and compare them to more expensive drivers. For the cabinet, compare the speakers to higher quality ones at a store. A heavy cabinet with real wood veneer is a good indicator of a higher quality speaker. However, you can't always judge a book by its cover. There are speakers that many people would probably consider to be junk by just looking at them, but sound pretty darn good. The Dayton Audio B652-AIR comes to mind. The big difference between something like the B652's and what you have is the attempted deception.

The good news is that if you decide to replace your speakers, you are pretty much guaranteed an improvement in sound quality. You can get help on picking out new components on this site. As you have probably already figured out, if you ask for advice on this forum, you will get honest opinions that are not sugar coated . My advice on "asking for advice" is to provide as much information as possible up front. For example, if you want advice on amps/speakers, state your budget, listening habits, music types, room type, what you want to use as a music source, etc. Better questions will usually get better answers.

BTW, welcome to Audiokarma!

 

[Dazaa]

He says they sound good, and it doesn't seem like he wants/needs to replace them, so who are you to say they are "junk"?

The pictures say it all, i'm not going to beat around the bush when I personally have thrown plenty of these type of speakers in to the e waste recycling bins.

 

[SiliconTi]

"One man's junk is another man's jewel."

What I mean is that even if they are "junk" speakers does not mean they are total garbage. I bought a pair of Yamaha NS-A series for $5 and though they were "junk" speakers, they sounded pretty good (and I am listening to some Zenith Circle of Sound as I type this).

I say if they sound fine and you are happy, keep them.

Now, onto the original question: what amp to drive them with? Answer: anything should drive them fine.

Do you have an idea what amps you are looking at?

 

[Nemo bit]

Quick question how good are hpm100s and are they worth $450 if mint? I dont need them but Its had not to consider them as I have seen them go higher and may be able to bring that down a bit. I didnt pay a whole lot of attention to them when they were new..

 

[valvenator]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ @ post #20
talk about a major derail
Why post in this thread and this Forum?
That question belongs in Dollars & Sense.