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Oh great, more speakers

kfa888

Addicted Member
Well I was out and about and GW was for some reason calling to me. It is a mile from my house but I almost never stop there. Anyway I did stop there, saw some nice looking vintage boxes but no label. Went over to the dish section got a table knife and opened them up. Nice, Utah 12 inch full range drivers that look like new!!! $12.99 for the set. Have not hooked them up yet but they are measure right with a meter and no VC rub. they look new.

I really don't need these but for $12.99 there is no way I could pass on them. I always wanted to try full range XO less speakers so I guess here is my chance.
 

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Shame on you for breaking the pledge on speakers with just one driver each. You need speakers with at least 4 tweeters each.

- JP
 
I know, I know... no Mylar or sand ether!!! But for the price of two happy meals what can i say :D
 
Well, yeah, they do look nice for the price. I'd be curious as to what the specs are, though, for that size of driver to be full range.

- JP
 
Whatever the specs are I'm sure they sound better than those goofy Tannoy things your always talking about he he he :smoke:
 
You just keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it. Eh, but you still could be right, the Tannoys are still not my ultimate speaker and my other favorites (Magnepans and Infinities) do some things better. Maybe those Universities will excel in one or two areas.

So, when are you going to hook those up and tell of the sound?
- JP
 
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OK, I have been listen to these for about a half hour now. When I first fired them up I was pretty unimpressed. Sounded OK but not much for lows, not much at all. Surprisingly they had nice mids and highs and went higher than I thought they would. I assumed they would be kind of muddy but they are far from it. So I'm listening along to various artists and then Nora Jones comes on (Random shuffle on the CDP) Holy cow, not sure I have ever heard her voice so intimate and clear before, I start noticing the piano sounds surprisingly good in the mid and high registers as well. So I toss on some Sarah McLaughlin and same thing, detail up the wazoo and very intimate. In fact intimate is how I would describe these. They defiantly need lower register support but are very listen able once you get past that fact that there will be no nice low end to warm you up they really do some things nicely. I see why tube guys like this type of speaker, I would imagine they would really shine with tube stuff. Keep in mind that they are in no way setup for critical listening, I just hooked them up and threw them on the table in my home office as I worked. I am assuming with some time to loosen up, and proper placement and feeding these might sound pretty good. I have them on the Sansui 7070 but I'm starting to think SX-650 for warmth. I can tell they will image well as they already do and my setup is severely lacking for any real good imaging.

Now here is the interesting part (to me anyway), I pulled the cover off one (nails and glue) and the cone has a very unusual bell shape (see illustration). Not a flat cone at all but a highly profiled one.

Audio is fun
 

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Those would be great candidates for a DIY cabinet. I'm pretty sure with a larger enclosure the bottom end would come alive. Great find!

-j
 
That wooger is warped! :D

I agree, they look like they have DIY written all over them. Have fun kfa.

RC
 
I have a thought.

How soft and supple are those surrounds? There's another thread going about JBL LE-14C's with the old Lansalloy surrounds that get hard and stiff with age. This will cause your bass response to drop off dramatically.

If those surrounds are hard, that might be it. Utahs are terrific drivers, and I've never heard any complaints about the low end. Some new surrounds and you might be very pleased!
 
You know I thought about that and did see that post. It is hard to tell without taking the back off again because the surround is inverted. I will check. Does anyone know if the brake fluid really works? Seems a little scary to me.
 
Is the person your depriving of those two happy meals that cutie in your Avitar??????

If so I think one of us should call childerns services The idea!!!!!

If you bring those speakers down here to Silverton I will trade you two happy meals and a Big Mac. BUT NO FRYS FOR YOU Child depriver.......
 
They kinda look like Utah's take on Altec Lansing Biflex speakers. Maybe not but the different cone on the center is suspiciously like a biflex design.
 
I believe Bi-flex has a surround type deal in the middle of the cone. these are not like that, the middle cone is a "wizzer" which is a standard "full range" trick to gain more HF.
 
kfa, it looks like you're the man to get out there and spread the word that xoverless (shall we call it XOL?) is the ideal toward which all speakers should aspire, impossible though it may be. Intimacy and clarity, onward and upward.

Your next step will be to acquire a circa 1955 copy (or two) of Harry F. Olson's LC1A almost-fullrange driver (technically it's a coaxial) and build it into Olson's proposed "drone-cone" cabinet. That's right, Olson invented the passive radiator loudspeaker (in 1951).

Well, the real next step will be to feed that adorable child of yours. Then begin the XOL Quest. The Apotheosis of the Wooger.

.
 
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Passive radiator... I like that idea. It would make it a non "single speaker" system... or does it... but as it is just enhancing the bass response and for the most part is still basically a point source system that idea has merit. I don't think I have seen many applications like that.

XOLSPPRS - crossonverless single speaker passive radiator system

I've got my $12.99 out of that sucker already. :D

Oops, looks like Mya fell asleep, probably from malnutrition. :sigh:
 
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kfa888 said:
Passive radiator... I like that idea. It would make it a non "single speaker" system... or does it...
The "drone cone" wouldn't count. It would still qualify as a near miss at a single fullrange driver, equivalent to a ported box.

I'm sure there are other, newer, true fullranges out there. The LC-1 just happens to be a sentimental favorite of mine.

I was reading Olson's 1954 AES Journal paper describing the latest improvements to the LC1A when I came across your description of the Utahs. Excellent description of the advantages of XOL. That's why many of us are headphone freaks and Ohm Walsh freaks. And coaxials, if we can't get truly free of crossovers.

By the way, the Utah's cone was probably given that shape to increase radial stiffness and fend off the inevitable breakup as long as possible. But usually the curve goes the opposite way, so maybe Utah had some hot idea of their own.
 
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