Leslie Home Audio Speakers
- Thread starter stereojim
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
I'm not familiar with any Leslies for home use other than their organ effect speaker systems and their guitar equipment. They dominated (and likely still dominate) the gear for tremolo and vibrato type effects on electric organs, and were a major brand name for other musical instrument applications.
Some of their early gear used classic audio components, but they quickly (by the late 50's -early 60's) switched over to somewhat mediocre components. It turns out that except for volume most organ music isn't all that demanding on speakers. And guitar systems are supposed to distort.
If they offer a line of home speaker systems, they could be good, as Leslie understood what it took to produce good music. But if the home audio gear used components from their other lines, then it might come up a bit short for audiophile applications.
Some of their early gear used classic audio components, but they quickly (by the late 50's -early 60's) switched over to somewhat mediocre components. It turns out that except for volume most organ music isn't all that demanding on speakers. And guitar systems are supposed to distort.
If they offer a line of home speaker systems, they could be good, as Leslie understood what it took to produce good music. But if the home audio gear used components from their other lines, then it might come up a bit short for audiophile applications.
These were made specifically for home audio use. They have a 15" woofer with a foam surround in a ported enclosure. the midrange and tweeter are in a separate housing that can be aimed for imaging. the crossover has controls to set the levels of all the drivers. They are huge odd-looking things. There's a pair for sale locally, that's why I'm asking.
Yep, those are the ones, the 580 specifically. The owner wants $250, probably take $200, said they were $3000 new (Canadian/1975). The woofer surrounds are shot and the tops are quite scratched, but other than that they look pretty good. Any thoughts.....?
btw, thanks for the responses, much appreciated.
Just called the owner and offered $150 and a good home (they belonged to her husband who passed away a few years ago). She accepted. I hope I can do justice to their restoration. Personally, I think these things may well belong in a museum, but I think I'll just enjoy them for awhile. Thanks
With the controls on the speakers set "flat" they sound a wee bit hard and recessed on vocals. I am inclined to believe some new caps in the crossovers would help out here. The bass also seems a little overwhelming, but bear in mind the surrounds on the woofers are shot. I would prefer to hold off judgment until I've done some work on them. I don't expect they will replace my Clements towers, but who knows. I kind of like the idea of owning a piece of audio history. I will post a sound update after the tune-up. This will be my first attempt at replacing woofer surrounds, so hopefully I don't screw it up.:worried:
Thought I would post a few pics of my woofer refoaming.I Ordered a kit from Newfoam, liked the surrounds(perfect fit), didn't care much for their instructions though. I basically followed the directions on the Decware site, thus managing to save the old dustcaps. Everything went well enough, no voice coil rub etc.:thmbsp:.
The new caps for the crossover should be here this week. I can post some pics of that too if anyone is interested. The crossovers on these babies are quite interesting, VERY busy in there. Cheers!
The new caps for the crossover should be here this week. I can post some pics of that too if anyone is interested. The crossovers on these babies are quite interesting, VERY busy in there. Cheers!
Attachments
Jukin Jay
Geek
During the Quadraphonic era in the early 1970s, Leslie produced speakers called "Plus 2", model 450 that were intended as rear speakers for a quad setup. They were sold in pairs, a master-slave style arrangement. The master had an amplifier built in to drive the pair of speakers. Large beasts, about 2 feet square and 30 inches or so high.
These had the Leslie organ style mechanism. Woofer of about 12 inches firing downward into a styrofoam revolving cylinder with scoops cut out to distribute the sound, horn for the highs. You could turn off the Leslie effect with a pushbutton on the master speaker. I owned a pair for a while. They didn't sound bad with the Leslie effect turned off as regular speakers. With it turned on as rear speakers in a quad system they had a strange flanging type of effect. I used them as rears for a while with a Marantz 4430.
As I recall at the time Leslie was a division of CBS.
These had the Leslie organ style mechanism. Woofer of about 12 inches firing downward into a styrofoam revolving cylinder with scoops cut out to distribute the sound, horn for the highs. You could turn off the Leslie effect with a pushbutton on the master speaker. I owned a pair for a while. They didn't sound bad with the Leslie effect turned off as regular speakers. With it turned on as rear speakers in a quad system they had a strange flanging type of effect. I used them as rears for a while with a Marantz 4430.
As I recall at the time Leslie was a division of CBS.
