Philco speakers

[teal'c]

I had called on these because I thought the receiver the guy was selling could be a tube unit, which it wasn't. He gave me the model number and I looked it up, decided no, and figured that was it.
He texted me the next day and said I was the only one who had contacted him and asked if I was still interested. I told him no, and he said he was tossing them then and if I wanted he'd put them out early so I could come get them for free. So I did.


Four speakers, two different sizes.
I haven't tried them out yet, I'm going to pull them apart first to check the foams. They do look interesting inside though.
6x9 and a horn in the smaller ones, 6x9 and a mid and tweeter with a cardboard baffle and port.

 

[stickman]

I would have loved to have been given two pairs of vintage speakers like that as I really enjoy performing frankenspeaker re-do projects on low purchase cost oddball speakers! (lol) The 6x9's were made by the Cleveland speaker company (EIA code 433) and their drivers often sounded quite good based upon the limitations of their design and construction parameters. Its a bit unusual that a Japanese cone tweeter was mixed in with USA made drivers in the larger 3 way models, so they must have been a good deal! The Rola made driver in the 3 ways (EIA Code 285) is likely a phenolic dome tweeter being used as a high frequency super-tweeter and Rola made very good quality drivers.

I recently purchased a pair of vintage Philco branded sealed back 5" midrange drivers with alnico magnets manufactured by CTS in the early 1970's off of FleaBay and they sound quite good.

 

[crogs]

So I just picked up a pair today for $15. Similar to the smaller speaker with the same driver/port setup but with a wood slat grill that seems to be screwed in from the inside with 9 screws. Sounded pretty nice with my LG G7 and it's sabre DAC playing a 320kb rip of Ella and Louie through my Tandberg 3012 amp. Pretty much my only two vintage pieces at this point.

I'd throw in my Webcor Moderne console. But it aptly fits its model name now as it's gutted with digital amps, dedicated sub and new drivers with a chromecast audio and Philips TT. And little warning. Do not hop on a vintage console forum and mention you're gutting and modernizing one. It got vicious quick.

I plan on upgrading the wiring, adding banana terminals and I suppose I should update the crossover. Haven't ventured down that path before. Only dealt with pre-built crossovers. So it'll test my soldering skills. Any help with the crossovers would be appreciated.

Haven't popped out the speakers to inspect, but nothing sounded off, and the guy I bought them from was using them up until I bought them. Plan to do some light sanding and refinishing of the cabinet. Not sure if I'll tackle the grills outside of basic cleaning.

I'm also looking at Realistic Nova 4's and 7b's for $80 and 60 respectively. Am sure I could get another $20 knocked off both. Wouldn't mind cleaning up either and give them to my mom for her living room setup. Finally got her turntable setup, but it's an AT LP60 playing througu a Def Tech slimline soundbar. Not ideal. Told her she'd probably be happier with a receiver again and just the stereo speakers flanking the TV console. Have a Dual Turntable I need to rewire so I can replace the AT. That thing just feels so cheap.