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Small B&W speakers, point me in the right direction

Freezer7Pro

Freezer7Pro

Luxman!
I saw a pair of small (roughly 30x20x15cm, 12x7x6") B&W speakers at a yard sale. The guy said that he could put them aside for me if I wanted to. I didn't get a chance to look at them closer or snap a picture (bloody phone battery). They had a dark wooden finish, black cloth covers, and seemingly flat-fronted 4 or 5" drivers. I'd say 70's vintage. Lots of weight in them, passive.

Based upon that rather vague description, do you have any idea of what they could be, and if 20€ would be a reasonable price (from my perspective ;))? Given that they're quite dirty and have quite bad cosmetic issues.
 
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I cannot ID your model, but if they are working and in good shape, any B&W speaker for 20 euros is a steal!!
 
look on the beack where you attach the spkrs and see the B&W stuff, model # incl.
then goto the B&W archives for info.
 
Freezer7Pro said:
I saw a pair of small (roughly 30x20x15cm, 12x7x6") B&W speakers at a yard sale. The guy said that he could put them aside for me if I wanted to. I didn't get a chance to look at them closer or snap a picture (bloody phone battery). They had a dark wooden finish, black cloth covers, and seemingly flat-fronted 4 or 5" drivers. I'd say 70's vintage. Lots of weight in them, passive.

Based upon that rather vague description, do you have any idea of what they could be, and if 20€ would be a reasonable price (from my perspective ;))? Given that they're quite dirty and have quite bad cosmetic issues.
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Except for the cloth grill, they vaguely sound like my DM 5's, built circa 1977. But they lost they're foam grills long ago, it seems.

Check the B&W site. Look in the archives section.
B&W keeps an extensive gallery of pics, brochures and manuals of just about every model they've ever made, going back to the 1970's.
 
I'd likely get them and ask questions second. You can always resell if they don't work out. B&W are generally considered good speakers :)
 
wow&flutter said:
How were the drive units arranged.Two way,three way bass reflex, go on give us a clue!
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Sorry, I didn't get a chance to do anything but take a quick look at them and lift one up. The guy managed to hurt his back today, too, so I can't find out more for a while :(
Saint Johnny said:
Except for the cloth grill, they vaguely sound like my DM 5's, built circa 1977. But they lost they're foam grills long ago, it seems.

Check the B&W site. Look in the archives section.
B&W keeps an extensive gallery of pics, brochures and manuals of just about every model they've ever made, going back to the 1970's.
Click to expand...

They looked something like that. Slightly wider, and they seemed to have a flat front with driver(s) mounted on the inside.
 
The DM5 had a frequency response graph printed on a plate above the tweeter on the front baffle and a foam front cover.The DM4 had a three driver set up with a reflex port at the bottom and the front cover was set back between the top and bottom boards of the speaker(It may have had a metal trim on the front edges if memory serves me right.(it usually doesn't).
 
Agree with luno - get the speakers and ID them later. I have sevral (albeit newer) B&W speakers and they are really great sounding speakers. In case you don't like them you can always sell them, do not worry.
 
This morning I got a call from the yard sale guy (know him from before), and he said that he figured that he wouldn't get them sold elsewhere, so I might as well have them for free, as I've helped him out with some stuff on another occasion.

So, I have them now. And boy, was I off with the description. WAY off. Didn't even get the brand right!

It turns out they're a pair of B&O Beovox 901's:

IMG_0416-3.jpg


They both work, but I can't figure out how to get inside them.

Does anyone know anything about them? Google doesn't want to tell me much more than that they're named similar to the Bose 901's. Yay for Web 2.0!

EDIT: Managed to get a grill off of one, although I doubt I did it the way it's supposed to be done:

IMG_04193.jpg


Quite beat up, but nothing a li'l cleaning won't fix.

EDIT 2: Holy crap, these things are sensitive! Pushing 8W through them is enough to fill the whole flat with sound.

EDIT 3:

BangandOlufsen.jpg


Look what a little cleaning can do!
 
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Thought as much, i didnt think b&w made speakers that small in the 70s, the dm5 as mentioned in an earlyer reply had a black kevlar cone and much larger.
 
lrdrage said:
Thought as much, i didnt think b&w made speakers that small in the 70s, the dm5 as mentioned in an earlyer reply had a black kevlar cone and much larger.
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While it is hard to judge size in pics, I wouldn't say those are appreciably any smaller than my DM 5's. 18"x9.5"x9".:scratch2:
After reading the B&O dimensions, maybe they are a tad bit smaller.
 
4 ohm Peerless cone tweeter.....nice!
Betcha the woofer is Peerless/Seas/Vifa/Scanspeak?
Should sound pretty good, be careful about the power rating though.

Steve
 
Great score - love B&O stuff. Have a pair of RL60 speakers here that I got for cheap from Craiglist.

Looks like you can remove the woofer & tweeter by unscrewing those screws and probably get access to the crossover that way.
 
lrdrage said:
Thought as much, i didnt think b&w made speakers that small in the 70s, the dm5 as mentioned in an earlyer reply had a black kevlar cone and much larger.
Click to expand...

DM1 is quite small, but nothing like these, DM1's are great little speakers though.
 
lrdrage said:
Thought as much, i didnt think b&w made speakers that small in the 70s, the dm5 as mentioned in an earlyer reply had a black kevlar cone and much larger.
Click to expand...

Though the DM5 woofer had a woven appearance suggesting early use of Kevlar, B&W mentions that it actually was the DM6's mid driver that came to use kevlar for the first time. My question is: what material was the DM5's woofer really made of? It looks like bextrene, and not the plastiflex-type of material woofers of the late 70's were made of.

Xm1KqbgsF25P8fAhAulNug==.jpg
 
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