I'll bet these stump you: unidentified speakers.

[d-ray657]

I have ventured out at the thrift shops to buy (cheaply) some speakers with names that I did not recognize. They all passed the heft test though, very thick cabinets, very little resonance. The pair with the "PCS Audio" badge on them sound surprisingly good. I have not owned any high dollar speakers yet, but these will help give me patience. They are precise, clear, and they image well (at least to my untrained ears.)

Here are the descriptions:

"PCS Audio" 13" wide, 9.4 " deep, 22" tall, weigh 25-30#. Grill is glued on. (First two pics)

"CMC Model LS-130, 12" three-way system" 15" wide, 14" deep 26" tall, weigh 45-50#. Grill is glued on. (Next three pics)

Unknown 14" x 11" x 30", weigh 45-50 pounds. 8" drivers on three sides; grill cloth comes up like a bag. (Last two)

As I mentioned, the PCS Audio sound great. The CMC sound like they can use some new caps, plenty of bass, but weak in the mids and upper. The unknowns need new foam on all three drivers on each speaker, but they sound and look like they have potential.

Any information on these will be appreciated. Thanks.

Regards,

D-Ray

 

[kfa888]

The last ones look to be AR somethings. I have some AR-94 and AR-93's that look similar. Should say on the plate on the bottom.

 

[Arkay]

You win your bet: I'm stumped.

That p/c/s grill cloth looks hauntingly familiar, but I can't quite place it. Alas, I see so much vintage gear it's impossible to remember it all. :sigh: KFA888 might be right about the ARs; the drivers look right for a few, even the sticky square around them, but I wouldn't know what model. But ARs usually didn't use "sock" grill cover treatments like those. I wonder if any early DCMs used those drivers, because they liked to use "socks" like those. In any case, it is not a speaker that you see often. Otherwise, as far as I can recall I've never seen these speakers. Should be pretty rare.

There were a LOT of small, short-lived speaker companies over the years. Many of them left behind a few, scattered examples of speakers that range from mediocre to extremely good. Guessing games aside, how do these sound?

 

[geiman]

CMC was a chain of stereo shops in the mid-west. Those CMC speakers are their private label/house brand. I don't know who was CMC's contract manufacturer for those.
Private label speakers were common when retailers where trying to compete on price. These speakers had low wholesale cost so dealers had room to negotiate with buyers who were shopping competition. Speakers like these were of lower quality but usually sounded ok.
At Dixie HiFi, early on we had Royal Speakers as a house brand. Price for 12" three way was $159. Store cost was $36. Later we had Fisher brand name speakers, same product as the Royals.
That margin gave us room to drop the system price to compete with the competition if we had to. If not, we put the money in our pocket.
Spiffs were paid to salesmen for each pair they sold as an incentive.

 

[dc270]

Those last photos are the AR93's, they are actually a pretty good little speaker, once you trash that tweeter and replace it with a good quality dome. I put Morel MDT 30 tweeters in mine and they sound superb! The dual 8" bass and 8" mid are quite respectable. I hate the sock cover idea, more of an after thought, and covered mine with black burlap that looked a lot better.
DC

 

[StarMover]

Have the ARs been wet? They look a little distressed around the bottom.

 

[kfa888]

Those last photos are the AR93's

DOH!!!! i knew that, i have a set but i thought the pick with the side woofer was the back and it threw me.

 

[kfa888]

Have the ARs been wet? They look a little distressed around the bottom.

he might be OK as these have plastic bottom caps in them. Test the tweeters before you refoam as they are bad 50% of the time in my experience.

 

[Nat]

Those $39 Royals were built by EV and sounded pretty good. Not state of the art at all, but a great deal anyway.
And why slagging the AR cone/dome? I think they sound pretty good, and don't fall off in the low end like domes do.

 

[vinyldavid]

the p/c/s were OEM'd by Utah, or whoever made for Utah, as the back and connection panel are the same as on my HS3-5a's.

 

[dc270]

I just could not warm up to that particular cone twwter they had-just seemed lifeless to me for some reason. I am a huge AR fan, but that tweeter was lost on me. I like a phenolic tweeter fine like the old Marantz and others used, but really prefere cone tweeters in multiples best, as in my avatar. Nothing personal- just a life threatening phobia I have......
DC

 

[Nat]

I think its the same tweeter as used in the MSTs, which are a great little speaker, which is why I stand up for them. But its also in the 7s, which I don't get why people are enthusiastic.

 

[SleeperSupra]

I am stumped on the first two...


I think the bottom are a pair of AR 93Q speakers.

I had a pair in mint condition. Sold them to a good friend.

Very good sounding speakers...

 

[d-ray657]

Thanks for all of the information. I thought the last pair were AR's, but I had no idea of a model number. I had tried a google search with no luck. Google did not come up with anything for CMC, and all I came up with on PCS Audio was a service company that sets up audio.

As far as My review, I have used the PSC audio in my living room system for the past couple of weeks, with a Pioneer SX-9000, a Pioneer PL 50, a Denon DN 770R, and a Sony DVP-CX850D, and I love the sound. They are very detailed, and do the best job of anything I have had to date with respect to imaging.

I expected plenty of bass from the CMC and they deliver it, but the highs and the mids are missing. I will bring them in for a test in the main system before I take them apart. (The back appears to be screwed on, so I will go in that way rather than fight with the glued on grills) I have high hopes for improvement from some new caps. I really want both the CMC and the PCS to work out, because the cabinets and grills provide a great look. I'm a sucker for anything with real wood. After about 8 applications of lemon oil, the wood on the PCS is coming back to life.

I have only hooked the AR's up long enough to confirm that all of the drivers work, but for some reason, they sounded like they needed to be re-foamed. I wasn't paying much attention to the tweeters at the time, so I will probably test those before I order three sets of surrounds. (I do pinch pennies, especially with two in college).

Overall, this is a major part of the fun I get out of vintage audio - the chance to explore new options and eventually make things work better -- and of course, being able to do it on a budget. Thanks again for all of the info,

Regards,

D-Ray

 

[Nat]

Apparently CMC stands for 'Custom Music Corporation'. Now you know.