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Mordaunt Short System 442's in the house!

Beobloke

Beobloke

Super Member
Well, after fancying a pair for years and struggling to find a black pair, i am finally the proud owner of some Mordaunt Short System 442's! :banana:

For those of you who don't know them, they date from the early 1990's and sold for about £1000 when new. They are an unusual design that has a 6.5" woofer and a tweeter on a baffle plate on the front, and a further 6.5" woofer on another baffle plate on the back, which is out of phase with the front one and connected by a metal rod, through to the front unit. These baffle plates are fixed to a central pair of thick metal columns that go straight down to the floor and the cabinet is "hung" over this, with no direct connection to the drivers. Unusual looking, and when have you seen another speaker that has a grille on the back as well as on the front??!!

This pair have non-original tweeters but the seller supplied me with an unused set of correct new ones, plus some new baffle plates and full instructions, brochures and disassembly details, all for £31!! :thmbsp: Mind you, it took a round trip of 220 miles to collect them, the wife came with me and at the end of the day the total cost was more like £350 once i added in fuel, food, shopping in Cardiff and a trip to Ikea on the way home.............. :eek:

So, i need to change the baffle plates and tweeters, and the first step to disassembly is to remove the dust cap of the front woofer to get at the screw for the link bar - should be interesting.............. :scratch2:
 

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While I know the name, I don't believe I've ever seen those before. Very unusual design. Let us know how the upgrades go and more importantly how they sound.

cubdog
 
Very interesting. The woofers look like they have a big magnet - usually a good sign!

I wonder why the tweeters were replaced? Do the "non original" tweeters sound better?

Anyway, you'll have to invite us over for a listen! :)
 
Excelllent score! I've only ever seen one other pair of these for sale and I think they sold for around £350 - £400. The dual woofer arangement is similar to the Kef 104/2. Let us know how they sound when you get them fixed up.
 
This appears to be an isobaric configuration that should be wired inphase, not out. If the woofers were facing each other (push-pull), they would be wired out of phase.
 
Beobloke said:
when have you seen another speaker that has a grille on the back as well as on the front??!!
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I wonder......
Goodmans Dimension 8, by any chance? :scratch2: :D
But, you must have known that already, right? ;)
PS - Great score! :thmbsp:
 
GaryP said:
I wonder why the tweeters were replaced? Do the "non original" tweeters sound better?
Click to expand...

Apparently the original tweeters were somewhat fragile and it didn't take much to fry them! I used to work for MS and so i rang my old boss and he confirmed this. Fortunately the replacement ones i have that are to be fitted are a later improved version that are more robust.

This appears to be an isobaric configuration that should be wired inphase, not out. If the woofers were facing each other (push-pull), they would be wired out of phase.
Click to expand...

An isobarik configuration relies on one woofer in a sealed enclosure firing onto the back of another woofer in a different sealed enclosure. These are completely open and i can assure you are meant to be out of phase! I'll scan the relevant documentation that explains it if i get a chance.
 
ToTo Man said:
Hmmm, I wonder......
Goodmans Dimension 8, by any chance? :scratch2: :D
But, you must have known that already, right? ;)
PS - Great score! :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Ha - good point, i'd forgotten them!! :D
 
Well i did actually start the ball rolling with the old "how do you fancy a day out in Cardiff, dearest?" and made all the plans before casually mentioning i might be stopping off somewhere before we hit the shops. :D
 
There's a pair of these not far from me. Are they still considered good speakers?

Does anyone know how they would compare to my present B&W 602 S3's?
 
Cool speaker. I like unusual designs like that. let us know what you think of them once set up right and fed correctly :thmbsp:
 
£350 and the WAF Paid in advance. Not bad at all and you had a nice day collecting them as well as whatever you purchased in addition to the speakers.

A very sweet deal.
 
kfa888 said:
Cool speaker. I like unusual designs like that. let us know what you think of them once set up right and fed correctly :thmbsp:
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What i meant was there is a pair not far from me as in about 30 miles away. Are they good enough to consider selling my B&W's for?

I haven't got them yet and they need new tweeters too.
 
I just picked up a pair. An amazing pair of speakers. Remarkably well built and with an amazing sound. Tonally perfect, fast, great imaging.

I have them powered by a classic Sony Ta-F7B VFET amp, a very sweet match.

Does anyone have an instruction manual handy for the speakers? Very little info available online.
 
Hi.
Does anyone have the specifications on these speakers.
I owned a pair about 7 years ago but unfortunatly sold them on.
Yesterday I scored another pair in good condition. Only the rubber surrounds are a bit dry and stiff. Seems to get better now when I am playing on them. Only low volume at first. Previous owner havent played on them for many years. These are the series 2 which I think look a bit better than the early ones.
I would like to know the specs, I have heard that they need lots of power but they sound absolutely fine with my 30w Pass Labs Aleph 3 even on low volume.
 

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Robbanwrx said:
Does anyone have the specifications on these speakers.
I would like to know the specs, I have heard that they need lots of power
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@Robbanwrx

This thread was started 15 years ago and there hasn't been a reply in close to 8 yr's, I wouldn't hold your breath that anyone will reply.

In the other thread you posted too, the person you asked a question to hasn't posted to AK in close to 3 years

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/mordaunt-short-442s-a-good-buy.827424/

A simple minute or so search on the internet came up with this

http://www.wiredstate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=6645

http://www.lockwoodaudio.co.uk/

Let us know what you find out
 
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