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Rare Holy Grail Frazier Model Elevens

Those things are about as rare as RTR Towers . . . just wow. Congratulations on finding them.

I have been getting bits of information from the former employees of Frazier speakers that use the FUG pages on Facebook. Aparently after Jack Frazier died, and the company was sold, they still produced some Model Eleven speakers. The estimate is that around 200 were produced total, and after reading as much as I can find on the web, only around 8 have shown up as being still in use. Who knows how many are hiding and waiting to be found.

There is a list showing a bunch of important people like Elvis that owned Frazier's, I will try and find it again and post it here.

It has also been explained how the Model Eleven was built to compete with the Klipsch K-horn, I had read where they tested them against eachother, and out of the people present at the test, it was pretty even on which was liked better. I plan on trying to gather all this information up and post it here, it can only help others in the future that might have questions, and find other existing Elevens.

I'm really surprised no crossover schematic has ever shown up, but from what I understand, Jack Frazier did not document much for files. They had build sheets that they gave to the assemblers, most of the designs stayed in Jack's head.
 
I am really enjoying this thread . Thanks for all the info .

Thanks! I find the Frazier speaker history interesting myself. Here is some more history.

Jack Frazier began manufacturing commercial loudspeakers ca. 1952 in Dallas, Texas. From the 1950s through the 1970s, his company offered consumer hi-fi speakers in addition to its primary line of commercial products. The company operated under Jack's leadership until his death in 1983. It was purchased shortly thereafter by a small group of private investors. This group operated the company until May 1986, when they sold the assets and dissolved Frazier, Inc., as part of a non-competition agreement with the buyer, Sound-Craft Systems, of Morrilton, AR. Sound-Craft moved the operation to Morrilton, Arkansas. The company's product line at the time consisted mostly of designs that had originated in the 1950s and 1960s. Documentation of many of these earlier products was apparently either nonexistent or was not provided to the new owners. As a result, information about vintage products is minimal.

http://www.itishifi.com/2010/05/frazier-loudspeakers-dallas-tx.html
 
More good reading.




The principle of slot loaded enclosures had been pioneered by Ed May, JBL's head of Product Development. Before joining JBL in 1959, Ed had been partners with Jack Frazier in the Frazier May loudspeaker company and they had introduced this concept in the mid fifties. The illustration at left shows this design in cross-section. The bass driver was actually front firing and the loading cap and panel were the front face of the speaker
 
Remember the RTR towers with the 360 degree electrostatic tweeter element that looked like a slide film ring mounted atop the cabinet? I can't even find a photo of it. RTR made the elements for Crown's electrostatic speaker as well.

Please don't turn this thread into a RTR information thread, I'd like to keep it on subject.

Thanks!
 
Great thread. I have read every word. I can still hear that pair of 11's in my friends dorm room at North Carolins State University in the mid 70's cranking out Lynyrd Skynyrd. Man they were awesome! One heck of a deal too! Enjoy+1
 
Great thread. I have read every word. I can still hear that pair of 11's in my friends dorm room at North Carolins State University in the mid 70's cranking out Lynyrd Skynyrd. Man they were awesome! One heck of a deal too! Enjoy+1

I can only imagine what that was like, how they carried those monsters in there had to be a challenge.
 
steve, you mention an illustration , cross section of the slot loading, i would like to see that, where is it?, im looking in the f.u.g. and am only upto page 30 of 189, great info and reading, thanks.
 
Another great piece of history from Todd C. who was the Frazier sales manager.


**taken from the pages of Frazier users group.**


Todd Crane


703 posts
LocationMurrells Inlet, SC



Posted 27 March 2008 - 08:30 AM



Well, it wouldn't surprise me if Paul (Klipsch) didn't have a pair of Mark IV's or Mark V's in his shop when he built the Heresy. I know we had a pair of K-horns in our sound room when we were building the ELEVEN's.
 
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These tidbits just get better all the time, this is very interesting.

Todd Crane


703 posts
LocationMurrells Inlet, SC

Posted 28 March 2008 - 12:22 AM


FYI! Any adjustment control that Frazier had, are meant to run wide open for flat, and in keeping with Jack's ideas about passive eq, you can only shape the speakers to your room by cutting down on the highs...it's a long story, but one I felt should be passed along.


Posted 28 March 2008 - 02:59 PM


Greg was a young Mexican/American, as were most of the CRAFTSMEN that woked in production at Frazier. We had two women that worked in final production, but Greg probably made most of the finished products. We had 5 finish benches, where all the raw drivers and crossovers etc were installed.


Posted 29 March 2008 - 03:53 PM


Jack loved to use the original Harvest disc of Dark Side of the Moon, and He would only play "Time", and as soon as they started singing, He'd cut it off...PWK and JAF were a PAIR of wild and crazy guys!!!!


Posted 30 March 2008 - 01:19 PM

Model Eleven,
David, you are right on the mark with the two crossovers. woofer to stacked mids..and woofer to stacked mids... the piezo's of course are direct coupled. So you have two two/way systems which means less distortion, and more UMPH..... And, if you look at the massive size of the cabinet and the massive size of the tuning slots...and if you corner load it, it will knock your socks off. We used to take a $10.00 transistor radio and power them at CES shows back in the day.....Todd
 
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I found these pictures of the inside of serial # 3 Model Eleven, the pictures show the same basic layout and components that my two have, even the two 10uf in series. Todd C. is a wealth of Frazier information. :thmbsp:


Posted 30 March 2008 - 10:21


ELEVEN's, Sr. # 3 and 4 were the ORIGINAL set to go into the soundroom at Frazier. SO YOU HAVE A REAL 1st. A guy bought Sr. #'s 1 and 2 through Melody shops in Dallas, and paid extra to get #'s 1 and 2. BTW, whenever the warrenty cards were returned, Jack sent a letter to the owner. Sr. # 5 and 6 went to Hauer Music Co., in Dayton OH. WOW if I had the room, or a way to get them here I'd have 5 and 6 but.... I'll be happy with what I have now, that is till I find more deals at yard sales LOL.

Hey I was with Jack for almost 13 years, and sold Frazier's for another 3 years, and probably one of the finest moment I've ever had with Jack, was with our commercial/home dealer in Clovis NM, Norman Petty. Norman had a pair of 7's and Things in his control room, and a pair of 11's for his studio monitors. and two of everything we made in his showroom, which was a small church converted. If the name Norman Petty doesn't ring a bell, I'll explain. In the 50's Norman and his wife Vi had some pretty good hits as the Norman Petty Trio. He recorded for Top Rank, and Columbia. He was our dealer in his later years, but his real claim to fame was He recorded and backed Buddy Holly and The Crickets. They had no bread, so Norman said, list me as a co-author of the songs you write and I will record you and promote you for nothing. Well needless to say, until Holly went to NYC as a solo, he stayed with Petty. I've stood at the microphones where Buddy Holly recorded all his hits, held his guitar, and even played Vi's harpsichord that was prominent on "Everyday". Norman gave me a 5 disc album titled The Buddy Holly Story, that contains everything Buddy ever did. This was originally issued from Decca LTD in England, and the first run was only 500 sets. Mine was autograhped by Norman and it said, Todd There really was a Buddy Holly, There really is A Clovis New Mexico, Thanks for being a fan, Norman Petty. Well needless to say, the disc's have been played twice. Once to put them on tape in 1980, and once to burn them to cd's a couple of years ago. After i burned them to cd, I sent the set to The Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock, Tx. I'm hoping next Feb., that my wife and I will travel there to see if they are using it., if not I'd like it back to give it to the Norman Petty Museum. Anyway when we get finished in Lubbock, we'll head to Dallas to see my cousin, and maybe a couple of us can get together, and then on to San Antonio for the rodeo. Ok That's my rambling for the time being. Oh by the way, Petty had many hits with many artists over the years, not just Holly. Todd

Posted 01 April 2008 - 12:36 PM


to finish my story about Norman Petty. He moved into the only theatre in town when it closed down in the mid 60's, and while he used the old studio some, most of his stuff was done in the movie theathre with as he say's perfect accoustics including a natural reverb. It was in 1979 that he started using all the Frazier's...al la 7's, thungs and 11's, untill his death in 1985 at ONLY 57. Jack, by the way lived to be 83+, and suffered a fatal heart attack on his way to DFW airport to pick up our rep from Hawaii. He pulled over to the side of the road, and gave it up. What a way to go!!!!!!!
 

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I have a quick question for you RS Steve....

I think I found a spec sheet for these Frazier 11's that says their frequency response goes down to 16HZ?

Maybe I imagined I found that spec sheet because I cannot seem to find it again. I thought I found it on the F.U.G. on the Klipsch Community site.

Do you feel like they go down that low?

Thanks,
Wayne
 
I have a quick question for you RS Steve....

I think I found a spec sheet for these Frazier 11's that says their frequency response goes down to 16HZ?

Maybe I imagined I found that spec sheet because I cannot seem to find it again. I thought I found it on the F.U.G. on the Klipsch Community site.

Do you feel like they go down that low?

Thanks,
Wayne

The spec sheet was posted in one of my early posts in this thread, it does state that it goes that low. I probably couldn't tell you by listening to them, I'm not sure how low I can hear. I can tell you that there are certain tracks, mostly from movies I have watched, that resonate your body core. It's early in my assessment on these to give an accurate statement, but I plan to put them through as much testing as I can.
 
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This really is what I was looking for but had doubted it could be found, it is an actual hand written assembly drawing made for the model Eleven, and used on the assembly line. It was supplied to me by former Frazier worker John D.

How cool is this everyone? :thmbsp:
 

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This should answer the questions about the 15" woofer.


Posted 09 June 2008 - 06:28 AM

Todd Crane

I just remembered... ie Frazier F-1577 15' EV woofer.If you look on the magnet and see a brushed part, it's where we sanded EV's number off....sorry...maybe Bill Wadkins will remember...We used that thing in the 11, the X15, the X-215....we used to buy them by the 100's back in the day. Wish I had a pair lol.
 
This is the David and Goliath of Frazier speakers, except Goliath wins this battle! :D

These are my Frazier Concerto's in front of the model Elevens, gives you an idea of just how big the Elevens are.
 

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This is the David and Goliath of Frazier speakers, except Goliath wins this battle! :D

These are my Frazier Concerto's in front of the model Elevens, gives you an idea of just how big the Elevens are.

Imposing...no, downright FRIGHTENING...
 
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