Readers digest speakers?

[opossumcrush]

I was at the thrift store and saw a pair of decent looking speakers. They were heavy, and seemed to be well constructed, with decent looking drivers. The only marking on them was Readers Digest, I forget the model number. Anybody know anything about these? Are they worth picking up?

 

[ferninando]

if ya kant hear em least ya kan read em

 

[Arkay]

Probably made by someone else for Reader's Digest, possibly an attempt to expand their offerings beyond their music LP boxed sets, which sold well for years. Never seen a pair, though; probably rare. Possibly a special offer to people subscribing to boxed-set series?

Any chance of getting pics of them? Maybe someone will recognize them as a re-badge or be able to guess who made them, from their appearance. If you buy them, pull the drivers out and post shots of the backs, or at least post any numbers written on them. Should be able to learn who made the drivers, at least.

My guess is that these could be decent vintage speakers. Probably not absolute top-end, but not bad, either. Their records are generally quite good quality; it seemed that quality mattered around RD. If the price is cheap enough, try them!

 

[opossumcrush]

Well I picked them up for $8.00. Model number 2M-4. Any opinions?

 

[yddet12]

Well I picked them up for $8.00. Model number 2M-4. Any opinions?

The red-ringed tweeter reminds me of the tweeter used in the Rectilinear XI.
The cabinets look decently thick, though I still don't know what material (LDF, MDF, HDF, etc) they're made of.

 

[AltecDarpa]

how do they sound?

 

[stickman]

The phenolic ring tweeters are Japanese copies of American CTS units, but probably sound comparable. All of the drivers were likely sourced from Pioneer but were bottom line "mass market" generic style drivers, thus the use of a name other than Pioneer. I would expect them to sound okay but nothing special, so its a good thing you didn't spend much money on them. I am not a fan of inexpensive paper cone drivers with outer edges that aren't treated (or use separate surrounds) as I found them to have far too many "paper cone resonance" issues.

 

[BrocLuno]

What's the crossover look like? That may tell ore than the drivers ?

 

[analogguyinadig]

I once picked up a Reader's Digest Tuner. Picked up stations only my Kenny tuner would......

 

[tgunner]

I had a Reader's Digest Amp and Tuner awhile back. It worked nice and seemed to compare quality wise to low to mid-end Realistic stuff. I sold the two to a friend for $20.