Scored pair of Fisher XP 4A speakers

devo391

devo391

Phased & Confused
I found a set of these on Craigslist and at first glance I thought I was seeing things because the woofers looked like someone had glued pie tins on to them and I though to myself how rediculous is that???? They were asking $35 for them and I thought what the hell. I must see these in person. The owner told me they were pie plate woofers and were indeed supposed to be that way and said that they sounded very good. I noticed one of the midrange drivers had damage to the cone but otherwise all the other drivers appeared to be just fine so I grabbed them because they were so interesting just to look at with pie plates for woofer cones!!!!! They did not have the grills unfortunately but I figure I can make a pair if needed.

Here is the exact same speakers recently on epay :http://cgi.ebay.com/Fisher-XP4A-speakers-Excellent_W0QQitemZ5811273243QQcategoryZ50597QQcmdZViewItem

Does anyone know the specs for these???? I did a Google and found no info, I am guessing they can handle 40 - 50 watts and are late 60's to early 70's. If they sound good I will fix them up for my computer room.

I have attached pics showing the driver that needs repair or replacement, I am not sure which is appropriate as the mid driver is unique too, it is fully enclosed and I have never seen that before and would not know whether or not that could be replaced with a modern driver???? I know these are a little rough cosmetically but I think they may be worth saving.
 
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I have seen a lot of mids with enclosed backs like that. Semi typical. Anyway the cone does not look to bad. If the surround is good I would be temped to send that to GordonW on this forum and see if he can fix it. I've seen posts where he has fixed much worse. :yes:

Interesting speakers, look forward to your evaluation of the sound. :scratch2:
 
There is a hole poked through the surround which is why I think the driver is beyond repair :worried:
 
Here is a pic, I hope you can see the hole clearly. I really cannot see where the cone meets the surround, it looks like all one piece to me???
 
Yeah, that's a tough one. It is a pleated design, the cone and suspension or surround if you will is the same part. This might not be able to be repaired. :no:
 
I am hoping one of the speaker God's here has one of these in their collection. I just made a donation to AK for some extra Karma :D
 
I am going outside to burn up two years worth of checking account statements (3 checking accounts!!) and have a few ice cold Becks in the process :thmbsp: I just hope the neighbors don't say anything cuz I think it's illegal to burn things at my apartment complex which is only three buildings in a V shape backed up to a wooded area so it should be O.K.

So if anyone posts that they have a driver like this or knows of where I can get one please do not think I am ignoring you, I'll be back in a couple of hours :smoke:
 
I saw the Fisher Doctor pics when I was Googling but those are very different, they appear to be ported enclosures and all the drivers are different. Perhaps I should consider replacing all 4 midrange drivers??? However I would prefer to find an original so I can hear them as they were meant to be heard. Still would like to see the specs for these.
 
Oh I almost forgot to mention that the mini fire pit worked great and me and a couple of neighbors enjoyed soaking up the wonderful smell of burning wood and the great taste of Becks & Guiness. I dug a small amount of ground up and surrounded it with some cement blocks I wisely had saved for just such an important event!! Then we picked up some decent sized branches & busted em up as I fed bank statements to it for about an hour straight, this was all to save some wear & tear on my shredder :D

Note to self: cement blocks hold heat really good :)
 
Fisher XP-4A

The 1964 New Fisher Handbook lists the XP-4A and XP-10 as their most advanced - and expensive - speakers. I believe the XP-4A cost around $150 each. They have a 12" free piston woofer, two 5" midrange speakers, and a 2" hemispherical tweeter. In terms of weight - 60 pounds - and cabinet dimensions, they were the predecessor of the XP-9.

If you like an extremely smooth sound, muted highs, liquid midrange, and big, but reserved bass, these will do fine.
 
devo391 said:
I saw the Fisher Doctor pics when I was Googling but those are very different, they appear to be ported enclosures and all the drivers are different.
Click to expand...

Huh? The drivers are exactly the same barring model changes. Take a closer look. Call him if you must. The Fisher Doctor put either a port or small supertweeter in the enclosure. I have seen original 4a's before at a local thrift store twice. No pie pan. Also, there is no FOAM on any of their XP line stuff that I am aware of except maybe the later 7C stuff. And that would have been only on the midranges.
 
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O.K. maybe the tweeters are the same but everything else is clearly different. Look at the auction link I gave for reference, those are the exact same speakers as I have and the rear control panel says XP 4A so these speakers obviously went through some design changes at some point.
 
Hey maybe you're right :thmbps: I am not trying to goad you or piss you off. But I am still :lmao: at the pie pans!

How does it sound anyways... I mean barring the mids being gone? Do they ring? LOL sorry... I would have bought them on novelty sake alone!
 
Trust me I was LOL when I first saw them as well and totally grabbed em because they make you wonder why anyone would put pie tins on a woofer except for maybe someone (Fisher R&D Dude think 60's) who smoked a little too much weed, ate a whole pie and went to work in the AM with pie tin in hand.................... :lmao: :lmao: It is rather comical too think of all the possible ways this occured. I have not hooked em up yet because I wanted to clean them up a little and fix the Fubar driver to be fair to them. Maybe I will put some juice to them anyway but I think I should stick the bad driver back in the hole first.
 
The idea of what you refer to as the pie tin was supposed to allow the speaker to produce the FR range. An interesting concept when it first came out. Other makers really tried the same thing by other techniques such as the Bozak woofer and RCA with its driver of cones (rare and actually VERY good).
 
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