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RTR Speakers... History? Opinions?

I have a pair of Model II F's, I believe they are, at my buddy's house. Big speakers and well built using two 10" woofers per cabinet with a 12" passive. They haven't been used much in the last 10 years, though.
 
I picked up the rTr 240D in of all places a Goodwill. I had been shopping around two years and bought plenty of pairs of speakers only to return them to shops. I go into the Goodwill and there they were giant tall speakers I had never heard of the name and didn’t expect much. I go home hook them up and wow to my amazement I loved them. I did research found they were built in the 1970’s were a small company and their best stuff was between 1969-1981. The owners quickly sold it off at its peak. I’ve given up using reviews to some degree their important but once your in the top tier no two ears are the same. People like different presentations of their music. If you got a 1970’s pair you’ll be happy if the sound to your ear likes what it’s hearing
 
Love RTR speakers. I have the electrostatic tweeters sitting on top of my exp-12's and was really impressed with the sound. I recently switch them out for the first good speakers that I bought new. NHT 1.5's, NHT SA-2/SW-2 amp/sub.

The RTR's don't give up much, but detail and the very lowest bass to the NHT's. I'll be moving them back and forth in the bedroom system forever depending on what my mood is.

Allen
 
Jbridgway said:
I picked up the rTr 240D in of all places a Goodwill. I had been shopping around two years and bought plenty of pairs of speakers only to return them to shops. I go into the Goodwill and there they were giant tall speakers I had never heard of the name and didn’t expect much. I go home hook them up and wow to my amazement I loved them. I did research found they were built in the 1970’s were a small company and their best stuff was between 1969-1981. The owners quickly sold it off at its peak. I’ve given up using reviews to some degree their important but once your in the top tier no two ears are the same. People like different presentations of their music. If you got a 1970’s pair you’ll be happy if the sound to your ear likes what it’s hearing
Click to expand...

I saw some of those big RTRs in a Goodwill also(Syracuse, NY) They were aound $70. Was really tempted but they were so damn big, my wife would have killed me if i brought them home(which, in itself, would have been problematic becauseI would never have been able to fit them in the car)
 
I have a pair of RtR's from the mid 70's. They do not appear to have a model listed anywhere. Numbers on back are P 00146, I think that's a serial number. 2 way, 10 inch woofers. The tweeters seem to have blown, and was looking online for replacements. Can't get too fat without a model number! Any ideas, folks?
 
Ghoulardi57 said:
I have a pair of RtR's from the mid 70's. They do not appear to have a model listed anywhere. Numbers on back are P 00146, I think that's a serial number. 2 way, 10 inch woofers. The tweeters seem to have blown, and was looking online for replacements. Can't get too fat without a model number! Any ideas, folks?
Click to expand...
What type of badge does it have? Is it round or sort of shield shaped? Is there a button for a circuit breaker in back and a dial to adjust the treble? Is the tweeter a large cone type? Heavy cabinet for its size?

My guess is the circuit breaker or pots need work. Either can be bypassed and in the case of the circuit breaker should for improved sound quality. Tweeters hardly ever go out on the EXP- series. (My guess on what you have is an EXP 9 or 10 if it’s a round badge speaker.
 
Round logo, yes. No button on back. There is the treble dial. Cabinet is a monster, yes.
Pics attached, please excuse the cat hair ;-)IMG_20220409_133053255.jpg IMG_20220409_133118015.jpg IMG_20220409_133211506.jpg
 
Ghoulardi57 said:
Round logo, yes. No button on back. There is the treble dial. Cabinet is a monster, yes.
Pics attached, please excuse the cat hair ;-)View attachment 2535302 View attachment 2535303 View attachment 2535304
Click to expand...
Yeah, that’s one of the EXP speakers. The tweeter is a 3.5in Mid/tweeter and covers the higher frequency’s that the woofer can’t handle. It rolls off around 18khz and was sourced from Peerless if I remember correctly. (Might have been developed in house, but I don’t think so.

I would pull the tweeter and check the ohms to see it it’s fried, but I’m betting the cap in the crossover or the tweeter control is the issue.

Should sound a whole lot better than you might think once it’s back to spec.
 
Not an electronics guy, will have Doc Service have a look ;-)
Weird thing is both lost the high end, at the same time.
My amp is now being serviced, in case that might have been the culprit.
It's already in for something else... I figured tweeters as the headphone jack
puts out, just fine.

Thanks!!!
 
I think those speakers crossed the tweeter pretty low. I’ll see if I can find the brochure for the EXP series. It may have the crossover point. The good news is that the tweeter pot. should allow you to match the loudness of the new tweeter to the woofer. The trick will be finding one that goes into the upper mid range where the woofer is dropping off.

Another option would be to econowave them. This would allow you to cross them low, but still have good dispersion.
 
BTW
the 8 ohms info is from the back of the cabinet. Does that indicate the resistance of the tweeter, as well? Looking for replacements, a supplier made the distinction between the actual tweeter and the cabinet. This is foreign territory for me. Repair shop confirmed the tweeters were open/fried. Will same measurement provide ohm info, too...?
 
Ghoulardi57 said:
BTW
the 8 ohms info is from the back of the cabinet. Does that indicate the resistance of the tweeter, as well? Looking for replacements, a supplier made the distinction between the actual tweeter and the cabinet. This is foreign territory for me. Repair shop confirmed the tweeters were open/fried. Will same measurement provide ohm info, too...?
Click to expand...
Most likely. There are exceptions, but most likely the woofer and tweeter are both 8 ohms.
 
I had their ESR -6 electrostatic tweeter modules and could not give it a higher recommendation…at Axpona this year you can see a Wilson speaker that was rumored to use this module (maybe modified?) as the tweeter array between the Focal tweeters seen in the photo. I turned off the midrange and tweeter in my JBL L 88+12 and this module moved the sonics up quite a bit
 
I
wallacefl said:
I had their ESR -6 electrostatic tweeter modules and could not give it a higher recommendation…at Axpona this year you can see a Wilson speaker that was rumored to use this module (maybe modified?) as the tweeter array between the Focal tweeters seen in the photo. I turned off the midrange and tweeter in my JBL L 88+12 and this module moved the sonics up quite a bit
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I like my ESR-6 a lot. I run them with RTR 180D ‘s and RTR HPR-12 Magnums. The HPR’s are a bit more forward of midrange than the 180D’s.
ESR-6 would go great with Goulardi57’s speakers, but would cost significantly more that what he has in the speakers. They cross around 1500 hz, so they are deep into the midrange. Having their own crossover like that means you wouldn’t need to worry about any crossover redesign.
 
Ghoulardi57 said:
Round logo, yes. No button on back. There is the treble dial. Cabinet is a monster, yes.
Pics attached, please excuse the cat hair ;-)View attachment 2535302 View attachment 2535303 View attachment 2535304
Click to expand...
While RTR did use a lot of Peerless tweeters, your image suggests a CTS tweeter to me. Here is something similar, although not exact, and these are 4 ohms, not 8. But your tweeters could be 4 ohms in an 8-ohm specified system. In any case, these might help you to salvage these speakers.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334504086177

or these, which look even closer to your tweeter:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/363881000089
 
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Ghoulardi57 said:
I have a pair of RtR's from the mid 70's. They do not appear to have a model listed anywhere. Numbers on back are P 00146, I think that's a serial number. 2 way, 10 inch woofers. The tweeters seem to have blown, and was looking online for replacements. Can't get too fat without a model number! Any ideas, folks?
Click to expand...
They’re probably exp10’s and they used rola tweeters
 
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