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Mystery speakers from the 1970s

pixelriffic

pixelriffic

New Member
Howdy everyone,

Ran across these speakers and an Estate pre sale in Austin. I have worked in audio for decades, and have never seen them. There are four, and none has a logo or rear label. I would love to know if anyone can recognize them. And no, they are not Polks as some have already guessed elsewhere. Polk only used 6.5" active drivers at the time. These have dual 10" woofers. Look somewhat like Eminence drivers.
 

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Judging by the rough cut of the grille cloth, and uneven staples, my guess is DIY. Although looking closer and seeing the mismatch of color between the top and bottom grilles, possibly the cloth on the upper grille was replaced by the owner. Tweeters are Peerless, which I assume is why some people were guessing Polk. Midrange looks like a Jensen.

Also, based on the setbacks of the mid and tweeter, I'm assuming they were going for some sort of phased array a la Dahlquist; however, the setback seems much too severe for the tweeter (although maybe not, if the Technics SB7070 is any indication).
 
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I get a diy vibe as well, though they might sound good also, as someone put some thought into them
 
Seems like an odd way to mount the tweeter/mid, I can see the spacing, but would have expected them to still be vertically oriented.
My guess is that one of those 10's is a passive?
 
Just noticed that the screws holding the tweeter in are flathead, not Philips, hex or Allen. Styling suggests late 70s or 80s (and of course the tweeters date them to late 1970s or later), and manufacturers would not have used flathead screws because you cannot use them with any sort of powered screwdriver (pneumatic powered screwdrivers were available for industrial use decades before portable powered screwdrivers started becoming popular). Another point towards them being DIY.
 
Rick Owen said:
Seems like an odd way to mount the tweeter/mid, I can see the spacing, but would have expected them to still be vertically oriented.
My guess is that one of those 10's is a passive?
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Passive/Active is my guess as well. Will probably end up pulling a driver to see. I assumed time alignment as well, but an odd offset for the midrange vs the tweeter.
 
People keep saying Polk since they used the Peerless tweeter in their earlier days until they developed their own. Peerless made that tweeter a long time. Still have a 1999 Madisound catalog (DIY market) they were still selling them then. Gather a lot of them were sold both in DIY market and to speaker manufacturers. From discussions regarding Polks was a well regarded tweeter.
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dly66 said:
People keep saying Polk since they used the Peerless tweeter in their earlier days until they developed their own. Peerless made that tweeter a long time. Still have a 1999 Madisound catalog (DIY market) they were still selling them then. Gather a lot of them were sold both in DIY market and to speaker manufacturers. From discussions regarding Polks was a well regarded tweeter.
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True, and I know they are also looking at the time alignment and thinking of the RTA 12. The easy giveaway is that Polks of the time only used active 6.5" bass drivers with a large passive. These old Peerless drivers were great. In addition to Polk, M&K used them in their early models as well.
 
I think they would be a neat project to grab, and dissect ( not in a destructive manner )
 
elvi said:
I think they would be a neat project to grab, and dissect ( not in a destructive manner )
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Absolutely. In fact there are two sets. One set is operational. I made another visit last Saturday, hooked up a small amp, and they sound pretty impressive. The second set needs a bit of work. These are located in Austin Texas. I'm working with the estate executor to find these, and a few other items a new home.
 
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