RTR HPR-12 Speakers

[WillKennet]

I want to do complete re-cone of the 12" woofers in my old RTR speakers. Can anyone tell me who actually made the speaker itself? It has a square magnet on back, but no identifying numbers. They have three speaker coils leads allowing them to be hooked up as 8 ohm or 4 ohm.

And/or is there a way to contact whoever bought out RTR? Any source of info on these would help greatly.

 

[Lavane]

I would think you could get them re-coned by a speaker repair shop. They should be able to use the right type and weight cone. There's a shop that does good work near me. I've seen various speaker repair shops around the country when I first did a search.

 

[Ohming]

FWIW Will. I had a pair, bought from the original owner. He bought them, placed them on the carpet in the corner, placed nothing on top for 40 plus years, then I purchased them. The were seemingly out of a time capsule, factory perfect. Trouble was, after I got them, they started rattling a bit. Turns out they had spider sag from sitting so long. That was a couple of years ago, perhaps you will have the same aging effect, hopefully not. Beautiful speakers, sad that it was more enjoyable looking at their beauty than listening to the rumble on quiet passages.
Found a replacement woofer on the bay, sold them. They did absolutely nothing wrong, just didn't do enough things right for me.

I often see comments about how newer speaker technology far exceeds 70's vintage. This one of the times that I found it difficult to dispute that arguement.

I rotate my large woofer every 5 or so years in hope of preventing this.

Good luck sir.

 

[WillKennet]

Wow! I got mine 5 years ago for free. I just noticed that the speaker cone/spider assemblies seem softer than I think they should. However they do sound quite good. I just redid the wiring and crossovers and figured I would try to find a recode kit and do it myself, as I have done quite a few re-cone jobs. These are paired with original Bose 501's that have new original mid and high frequency speakers in them. The Bose also came with very nice new Realistic subwoofers in them (Realistic always made super gear). The Bose were also free. I drive them with an older Kenwood receiver and a new digital 21 band per channel equalizer. They don't sound that great at very low volume, (a stand alone sub-woofer helps here) but at "normal volume they sound great. When you crank them they sound beautiful.. I want to get my RTR's sounding as good or better than the the Bose. Simply Speakers has given a couple of places to check, but I welcome any place you people know of that sell quality parts.

Like you said about newer speakers sounding better than 70's vintage, I'm hoping new re-cone kits will upgrade these speakers to more modern quality and better than original sound.

Fortunately, I have the response curves for these 12"ers to buy complete replacements, but that could be spendy. Thanks for the quick response and take care. Rock on.

 

[WillKennet]

I would think you could get them re-coned by a speaker repair shop. They should be able to use the right type and weight cone. There's a shop that does good work near me. I've seen various speaker repair shops around the country when I first did a search.

Since I have a contractor's license, I am hoping to buy the kits direct cutting out the middle man. I used to have my speakers re-coned at Jamac in Portland, Oregon and he did excellent work. I think I can match his work if I pay close attention and follow the kits instructions. I have done s few speakers myself and so far, so good. Thanks for the input and you stay safe.