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Open Baffle Epiphany!

Poultrygeist said:
Parting out an old console is how I came upon the Zeniths. I think I paid $35 for the console and sold it's tube amp and other parts for around $150. Glad I hung on to the speakers which turned out to be keepers. Most of the guys who hunt down and harvest tube amps from consoles care little about the speakers. Oftentimes you can find them for not much money on eBay.
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This reminds me of a speaker (horn if I'm not mistaken) for sale that came from a console I came across some years back. Out of curiosity I googled the console. It was this huge maybe 7ft tall beautiful wood cabinet whose main centerpiece was a maybe 12" Black and White TV. This thing would have set the average man back a years wages to buy, by my calculations. Made me wonder how many of those pieces survived the test of time and fashion yet that little horn made it into the 21'st century. The endurance of speakers amazes me, as they do most of the physical work, yet here I am using one's from the 50's working like new.
 
valvenator said:
.......The endurance of speakers amazes me, as they do most of the physical work, yet here I am using one's from the 50's working like new.
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I share your amazement. My daily drivers are a 1958 Tannoy, and 1963/4 Wharfedales. They may not be as "accurate/revealing" as new speaks, but they warm my soul! My OB drivers are all early 70's. Going to keep my eye out for those Zeniths.
 
Well, I decided to take a leap of faith and jumped on those Zeniths on fleabay. Poultrygeist, your word in the OB speaker world is gospel, I hope you're right. I been looking for something new on the speaker front for my new SEP flea amp and these sound like the ticket.
 
Son-of-Vere said:
Well, I decided to take a leap of faith and jumped on those Zeniths on fleabay. Poultrygeist, your word in the OB speaker world is gospel, I hope you're right. I been looking for something new on the speaker front for my new SEP flea amp and these sound like the ticket.
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My friend, you're in for a treat.

I'm listening to Ellington's "Solitude" ( from Allen Toussaint's "Bright Mississippi" ) as I write this and I'm transfixed and emotionally moved by the Zeniths. On other selections they faithfully capture all of Allen's piano, it's overtones and decay so well. You know you've got a winner when a piano sounds like a piano. The kick drum and cymbals on "St James Infirmary" are so right they might as well be in my room.

I feel guilty for storing these wonderful drivers in my garage for the last few years. I had no idea!
 
Being emotionally moved is a quality I look for, so this should be interesting. I'm going to experiment (use cardboard) and build that Japanese J E Labs baffle. I have no plans for bass augmentation and I'll try them sans tweeter to start. They should be here Mon. or Tues. as they have already shipped. I do have some tweeter sets ranging from old console cone to modern dome. It looks like the small deflector at the top of those baffles were a handy spot to put tweeter enclosures on.
 

Yes and I surmise the last digits indicate different runs as everything otherwise is identical, i.e. size, configuration, cone, alnico magnet, same aluminum basket, gasket color etc. That's why I refer to them as the Zenith 49CZ as I don't think the other numbers are relevant.

My two came from a turn table only tube console. Even with two drivers and two tweeters it was mono and I'm thinking it predated stereo, maybe mid-late 50's.

GITD says the unusual ribbed cones are like Japanese Diatones, which many consider Holy Grail full range drivers.

Since there are no surrounds there's nothing to deteriorate and replace. That's a huge plus for 60 year old drivers.
 
I'm not sure the Zeniths need tweeters as they play pretty high and clear on their own. Should I buy tweeters ( one of my Realistics is shot ) it would need to be in the 100+ db range. Godzilla likes the Eminence ASD 1001 for his Beta 12LTA build which are about the same efficiency as the Zeniths. It's easy to pad a hot tweeter down but you can't do the reverse.
 
Poultrygeist said:
I'm not sure the Zeniths need tweeters as they play pretty high and clear on their own. Should I buy tweeters ( one of my Realistics is shot ) it would need to be in the 100+ db range. Godzilla likes the Eminence ASD 1001 for his Beta 12LTA build which are about the same efficiency as the Zeniths. It's easy to pad a hot tweeter down but you can't do the reverse.
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Thanks Poultry, looks like you answered my question as to the quality of the ASD 1001's without me even asking.:thumbsup:
I've been checking out those Eminence thinking of replacing some "awesome" Pyle's in my horns which are quite lacking, maybe nonexistent in the top octave.
Was going to add a super tweeter but for the price simply replacing the Pyle's seems to be the better choice.
Poultry, you previously stated:
Poultrygeist said:
I think they was made by Fostex. Labeled as Realistic, I removed the pod enclosure so the back could radiate.
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Since the Eminence drivers are made for horns do you think having the sealed back will make a noticeable difference in OB's?
 
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valvenator said:
Thanks Poultry, looks like you answered my question as to the quality of the ASD 1001's without me even asking.:thumbsup:
I've been checking out those Eminence thinking of replacing some "awesome" Pyle's in my horns which are quite lacking, maybe nonexistent in the top octave.
Was going to add a super tweeter but for the price simply replacing the Pyle's seems to be the better choice.
Poultry, you previously stated:

Since the Eminence drivers are made for horns do you think having the sealed back will make a noticeable difference in OB's?
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If the ASD tweeters have back covers I would hope you could remove them.
 
Spent a few minutes with the Zeniths on Saturday. I find I'm in the sans tweeter camp and I had them on the floor. For the kind of listening I plan on doing with them "Laid Back" is OK. Sadly the SEP amp is having some issues and I may put the OB's on the back burner for now. Still, some sweet tone................

zenith 001.JPG
 
Son-of-Vere said:
Spent a few minutes with the Zeniths on Saturday. I find I'm in the sans tweeter camp and I had them on the floor. For the kind of listening I plan on doing with them "Laid Back" is OK. Sadly the SEP amp is having some issues and I may put the OB's on the back burner for now. Still, some sweet tone................

View attachment 863855
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They're too good for the back burner :D

I see you've got got lots of vinyl and the Zeniths have prompted me to order a Schiit Mani.
 
FWIW, I just emailed PE and asked if the back covers on the ASD tweets are removable. A closed back tweeter used in OB should fire to the rear.
 
PastTechFan said:
Is upward OK?
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Don't know about upward but when these super tweeters were in their pods I had them firing to the rear.

P2090013.jpg
 
Just got a pair of Heppner AlNiCo full rangers with the following numbers on them:

SP CO224
A024398-0
575425

They are 8", 8 ohms... and have them mounted on some temporary baffles to evaluate the sound... pretty good so far. Amazing that such "old" speakers sound so good.

Here they are: http://www.ebay.com/itm/292016751722?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Couple of questions: each cone has a small tear in it. What is the best way to repair it? The tears are small in the paper cone... maybe 1/8-3/16" in length. However, the tears cannot really be seen in the pics in the link above.

Is there anything to paint on the "accordian" surrounds to help preserve them?

Finally, I cannot find the detailed specs on these. Can someone/anyone provide info or a link?

Many thanks.

EDIT: The "575" indicates Heppner. The "425" indicates year "4" and week "25"... maybe 1964 week 25? But still no specs.
 
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