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New OLD Chrysler CE-509 Loudspeakers

richartistic

richartistic

Active Member
DSCF0356.JPG Hello,
Just today I fell upon a pretty fair deal for some vintage loudspeakers. They are manufactured by Chrysler Speaker in Japan. My educated guess is that they are vintage late '60s or early '70s. They are very large and very heavy. Measuring 37 7/8" in height. They are 15 3/4" deep and are 19 3/4" wide. I can only guess at the weight as I had to muscle these huge beasts up a flight of stairs, so I think maybe 65 lbs apiece . I think these are fairly rare. I've read a few forum postings from years back, and my guess is that these were the top of the line or close to it. I'm pretty sure they consist of a 3 1/2 inch tweeter, as well as dual 5 inch Midranges, along with a 3 1/2 inch horn/supertweeter, and a 15 inch woofer in each box. I just got them home and they sound pretty remarkable. I put on some Nora Jones and now I'm listening to some Fourplay. Very nice indeed. If anyone wants to chime in with any information about them, I'd be grateful. Although they are most likely 45-50 years old, they look pretty good. If I have time this weekend, I'll re-veneer them in Black Walnut and shoot 3-4 coats of precatalyzed lacquer on the boxes. The grills are nice, aluminum framed with nice vintage original cloth in very good condition. Not a bad purchase for $45 for the pair. Here are some photos. To get an idea of size, in the background are Kenwood 7080s and a Realistic Mach 2 speaker behind. These speakers are quite large. I think they were a good find.
 

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I will definitely put some up ASAP. The only problem is that the front grilles don't seem to come off, and I'm guessing they are attached from the inside. I'm attempting to pull the backs off which are screwed on. I've gotten the majority of the screws out, but I've run into about 4 that are either stripped or just so messed up I can't remove them. Hopefully by the morning, I'll have the box back off and some photos to share.
 
Here are some photos of the insides of the Chrysler CE509s. They have a rectangular Bass Port on the bottom, a 15" woofer, then 2 5 inch Midranges, 2 3 1/2 inch tweeters to the side of one 3 1/2 inch horn. The case is rather solid. It is a well built loudspeaker and my guess is vintage early to mid 1960s. There aren't quick disconnects, everything seems to be soldered on, an indication of age. The only quick disconnects are the posts on the midranges. When I opened the case, one of the connectors on a midrange had spun itself off due to vibrations.
The crossovers consist of 2 different sized coils with 2 caps. There are 2 potentiometers, one for the mid ranges, and one for the tweeters. They are baffled throughout and on the back. I've removed the insulation material to reveal the inside box.
Photos here:
 

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Cabinet construction and crossover mounting is reminiscent of my Wharfedale W70's. Someone did a pretty good job on the cabinets. Low amount of fill inside too - similar to my Wharfedales (probably because they are ported). They are pretty nice looking cabinets too. Is the bass deep or is it heavy in the midrange? That's what my Wharfedales are like.
 
Wow, those look COOL. The internal construction and exterior looks nearly identical to a pair of 5 cubic foot 1968 Pioneer cabinets that I have. The drivers, pots, wiring, look like what came in the Pioneers originally. I received my cabinets empty and stuffed them with vintage Wharfedale drivers. I removed the drivers on Sunday and will be rebuilding them into Bozaks.

If you remove the screws that circumnavigate around the front baffle on the inside, the front baffle will fall out. The chrome trim is screwed into place on the sides.

Oh, mine have the same small L-brackets on the back, at each corner just like yours do. Unfortunately, I don't have any decent shots of the original interior.

Biggles

Super12064.jpg
 
I'm with Biggles on the Pioneer internals. Very similar to the Pioneer CS-A31 from the late 60's. Had a set once. 12" alnico woofer, a midrange squawker identical to those in the pics, but had a horn tweet. Front grill the same and cabinet the same design. Back came off with about 20 wood screws. The CS-A31's had a big brother, same design and cabinet style, just bigger. Good chance the Chryslers and the Pioneers came out of the same cupboard and were re-badged. Those are well worth recapping and keeping. The A-31's didn't dig very deep for having a 12" woofer, but they must have had a sensitivity rating well above 95db cause they didn't need much juice. With that squawker mid range they didn't sound too bad especially when a sub woofer was added in.
 
Nice find little brother. Now that you have the audio bug, I wonder how long you'll keep them until you want something different. lol Dan :music:
 
Oh, these are keepers. You'll come over in 10 years and they'll be nice and new looking, sitting in my living room, with Fourplay blasting out. Well maybe not blasting, but performing nicely!
 
Clearly Japanese aversion to warranty claims started in the 1960s.

Some of those are undoubtedly spares.

/neat regardless.
 
Hi,
I'm not understanding what you mean by Japanese aversion to warranty claims. Perhaps you could elaborate. I've read that this company spelled their name "Chrysler Electric Company" which is how mine are branded. I also read that they were challenged by GM back then for trade name infringement, which explained why their later stuff was "Crysler". Also not sure what "spares" implies, but then I'm a newbie here so not really familiar with what might be Audiophile lingo.

I have to say that these really do sound pretty nice and I'm comparing them to halfway decent speakers that I have. They really do sound pretty deep and rich. They will handle the volume as well. I'll be happier after I refinish the cabinetry over the next week. I'll take before and after photos.
 
Dr Biggles, I'm jealous regarding those Pioneers you have. Good grief, that looks brand new. The cabinetry really looks nice as well, a little lighter than mine. It appears in the photo you have that they have the same 3 inch tall built in stands as these. Maybe mine are rebranded and are Pioneers rebranded into Chrysler. Your grilles are slightly setback, whereas these are mounted on the face and stick out about 3/4 of an inch.

BTW, what are those speakers behind the Pioneers?
 
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Tim D.,
I haven't gotten a chance to make a decent analysis yet of the sound qualities, however when I do, I'll respost a response. Should be sometime next week. Thanks.
 
richartistic said:
Dr Biggles, I'm jealous regarding those Pioneers you have. Good grief, that looks brand new. The cabinetry really looks nice as well, a little lighter than mine. It appears in the photo you have that they have the same 3 inch tall built in stands as these. Maybe mine are rebranded and are Pioneers rebranded into Chrysler. Your grilles are slightly setback, whereas these are mounted on the face and stick out about 3/4 of an inch.

BTW, what are those speakers behind the Pioneers?
Click to expand...

Thank you and I agree, these cabinets are really nice. I'm going to sandwich in some 5/8" plywood on the interior and reinforce the cabinet. The Bozak woofer can really move some serious air and I need them to be as dead as I can get them. They have the original risers, maybe 2" at most.

The speakers behind the Pioneers are the infamous Wreckedilinears, Rectilinear III's. I sold them last year to an AK member, there's a nice thread on here somewhere with my adventures.

Biggles
 
richartistic said:
View attachment 882302 Hello,
Just today I fell upon a pretty fair deal for some vintage loudspeakers. They are manufactured by Chrysler Speaker in Japan. My educated guess is that they are vintage late '60s or early '70s. They are very large and very heavy. Measuring 37 7/8" in height. They are 15 3/4" deep and are 19 3/4" wide. I can only guess at the weight as I had to muscle these huge beasts up a flight of stairs, so I think maybe 65 lbs apiece . I think these are fairly rare. I've read a few forum postings from years back, and my guess is that these were the top of the line or close to it. I'm pretty sure they consist of a 3 1/2 inch tweeter, as well as dual 5 inch Midranges, along with a 3 1/2 inch horn/supertweeter, and a 15 inch woofer in each box. I just got them home and they sound pretty remarkable. I put on some Nora Jones and now I'm listening to some Fourplay. Very nice indeed. If anyone wants to chime in with any information about them, I'd be grateful. Although they are most likely 45-50 years old, they look pretty good. If I have time this weekend, I'll re-veneer them in Black Walnut and shoot 3-4 coats of precatalyzed lacquer on the boxes. The grills are nice, aluminum framed with nice vintage original cloth in very good condition. Not a bad purchase for $45 for the pair. Here are some photos. To get an idea of size, in the background are Kenwood 7080s and a Realistic Mach 2 speaker behind. These speakers are quite large. I think they were a good find.
Click to expand...
Beautiful !
 
Thanks Sunray Jack. I like them too! I'm going to re-veneer the cabinets soon. Hopefully they will look a bit nicer with new walnut and a nicer finish. They sound quite nice as they are.
 
Hi,
I'm back. Sorry it took so long, but I just finished putting in place, one of my Chrysler CE 509 speakers. I promised to post before and after photos of the job and so here they are. The speaker looks pretty decent. I shot it with 3 coats of Precatalyzed Lacquer and here are the results:
BTW, I added something to the bottom of this speaker, a flat plat w/ beveled edges trimmed in solid walnut veneer. The reason I did this was because these speakers are individually so heavy, I couldn't move them easily across my carpet and they are too big and bulky to pick up. They must weigh about 65 lbs each. With the new added plate it is easy as pie to slide around on the carpet. Anyway here are the shots:
 
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