IMF, Fried, TDL brands Speakers

[JimPA]

being a longtime fan of the Fried line(s) including TLS80, Monitor IIIs and IIIs improved (new xover board in IIIs, RSPM4s with the stands, Model RIIs (still own), Model Qs (wish i had gotten a pair), Model As-pretty good and played quite loud). R4s (not so good).

it seems that after KEF drivers were supplanted by the Dalesford drivers selected by Bud weren't in the same league as KEF and the Fried brand went away for a while with the model G and the Betas with some others and they resurfaced claimed only a small part of the speaker market.

a couple of models are being marketed but can't exactly be considered actual Frieds of original heritage. it also seems to be associated with Salk.

with all that said, the Fried Signature Series Model 4 with the round woofers are among those that i have never seen. John Wright had brought out the TDL line in England and Europe and were likely the REAL descendants of the IMF line, i would love to have had any of them. i can only offer conjecture that TDL came as a result of the split between Bud Fried and John Wright (rumored to be the actual designer of the IMFs).

i don't consider myself to be a true historian of the Fried speakers but have expressed what i could reconstruct from memory and distant observation. i was busy engineering a divorce, new marriage, child custody, and then a premature birth (that ended up being a miracle). therefor my reconstruction of that past history is part good observation and some guesswork.

that's not intended to denigrate Irving M. Fried who was a genius in my estimation. he brought Decca cartridges, Decca Ribbon tweeters, and IMF to the US when those were cutting-edge products.

i would love to hear the Fried Signature Series Model 4 which appears to have the model R cabinet with different drivers that the R series.

Fried discontinued using the Kef drivers because the Dalesford woofers outperformed the Kef units.
The Kef 8" woofers were short lived in his model H subwoofer.
Using a Kef woofer with a 3mm xmax in a T-line has it's limitations in spl before bottoming out and deforming the voice coil former.

BITD the Kef units were the best choice available until higher performance drivers were designed.
There were several articles in the the former Speaker Builder magazine that supported this fact.
The Dalesford woofers had over twice the xmax of the Kef units.
They also had a much larger motor structure which meant a much higher power handling capability.
This is why their were used in the model T, O and Super Monitor T-line subwoofers.

The Fried brand didn't go away with the model G.
He kept designing new models using new improved drivers.
Take a look at the brochure below.

Over the years I purchased quite a few drivers from Fried and his associates which is another story in itself.

Fried's had a short lived young partner who departed ownership of.the company before he found a new partner around 1999.
Fried finally did sell his brand name but stayed on as a consultant of new designs with the second owner.

The Fried brand name was again resold and relaunched by a third owner Dr. Jonathon Raines.
Dr. Raines designed a new model called the Reference Monitor.
IIRC the price was around $20,000 per pair.
These used all Scan Speak Revelator drivers.
I never heard this model but some people say the C6 and O6 satellite subwoofer model were not surpassed by this model.



Then the brand name was again resold to Jim Salk.

It's quite a story.
I purposely left out the names of Fried's first and second partner because they have moved on and do not wish to be contacted about their former business venture.

 

[bhunter]

Fried finally did sell his brand name but stayed on as a consultant of new designs with the second owner.

The Fried brand name was again resold and relaunched by a third owner Dr. Jonathon Raines.
Dr. Raines designed a new model called the Reference Monitor.
IIRC the price was around $20,000 per pair.
These used all Scan Speak Revelator drivers.
I never heard this model but some people say the C6 and O6 satellite subwoofer model were not surpassed by this model.
View attachment 1086878


Then the brand name was again resold to Jim Salk.

It's quite a story.
I purposely left out the names of Fried's first and second partner because they have moved on and do not wish to be contacted about their former business venture.

Thanks for posting the brochure. I didn't realize Fried used the McShane M.A.R.S. system using multiple voice coils in the driver. I'd like to see what the schematic of the filter looked like.

 

[Lewish]

Wow this is such a treasure of info as I could not find much information at all about these speakers. They are made in England and have the Dalesford woofers, the label on the back just says Model R so I am uncertain about which version of R these are. One of the original tweeters was blown so I had to replace the tweeters with new SEAS Prestige dome tweeters that I believe are an improvement and I redid the crossovers with Dayton caps. The bass response was a revelation after listening to the KLH model Fives which are now paired with the Frieds in a quad set up. I appreciate your jumping on this thread with the updates thanks so much. What do you think these speakers are worth?

 

[JimPA]

Thanks for posting the brochure. I didn't realize Fried used the McShane M.A.R.S. system using multiple voice coils in the driver. I'd like to see what the schematic of the filter looked like.

The last page of the brochure has the crossover schematic.

The Gefco drivers have dual 10ohm voice coils.
Having both voice coils wired in parallel lowers the voice coil inductance.
This increases the bandwidth of the drivers which allows the use of a series crossover circuit.

I never saw the Signature Series Model 4 speaker.
Since there is a vent at the front bottom of the baffle the woofer uses aperiodic loading.

There was a Fried R4 model which was released in the early 1990's.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/fried-r4-loudspeaker

 

[JimPA]

Wow this is such a treasure of info as I could not find much information at all about these speakers. They are made in England and have the Dalesford woofers, the label on the back just says Model R so I am uncertain about which version of R these are. One of the original tweeters was blown so I had to replace the tweeters with new SEAS Prestige dome tweeters that I believe are an improvement and I redid the crossovers with Dayton caps. The bass response was a revelation after listening to the KLH model Fives which are now paired with the Frieds in a quad set up. I appreciate your jumping on this thread with the updates thanks so much. What do you think these speakers are worth?

I was hoping to see a photo of your model R 's.

 

[hifitommy]

this is what MINE look like with all KEF drivers. to this day they can stand up to current designs. they are tight and really kick in the transient response area. as far as i have been informed, Dalesford drivers were NOT superior to KEFs.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fri...UKBnwKHUBtCu4Q9QEI6wEwAg#imgrc=WbePqsuOkrmOKM:

 

[JimPA]

this is what MINE look like with all KEF drivers. to this day they can stand up to current designs. they are tight and really kick in the transient response area. as far as i have been informed, Dalesford drivers were NOT superior to KEFs

Fried stated in his newsletters that the R/111 was four times as efficient as it's predecessor and could play 12db louder without going into gross distortions in newsletter Report 15-May 15 1979.

I would post the Fried newsletter but they are too large to put in a thread.
Most of the Fried newsletters are still on the Fried Yahoo Group.
Newsletters
If one joins the group they can read the newsletters.

I was able to compare the B1 model that used all Kef drivers to the first model C and there was no comparison.
The model C could play cleaner and louder and was far more dynamic.

 

[JimPA]

If one compares the motor structure of a Kef B139 to a Fried oem 10" Dalesford there is no comparison.





.
The Dalesford motor sturcture is much larger for better heat dissipation.
The magnet is 135mm in diameter and the voice coil is vented by using a cloth dust cap.
The cone mass is much lighter then the Kef B139 which allow for a better transient response.
The flux density of the B139 magnet is 8,500 gauss and the Dalesford is 15,000 gauss.