Speaker ID... "Micron"?

[myu701]

Speaker ID... "General Sound" "Micron"?

Saw this in an estate listing. The badge on the speaker grille says "Micron", but there is no other information available. Looks like a massive subwoofer... or just one lone speaker used in mono. The black bookshelf speaker to the right is a Canton of some kind (badge is a giveaway), but I've no clue about the other two on the left (no close-up photo available). The larger "Micron" speaker is the real curiosity. Any ideas?


EDIT:
I got a chance to see them up close and examine the back side. This is a "Concert series bass module" from the Micron line made by General Sound, essentially some kind of passive sub woofer. Model number GS-10 There's no dedicated sub woofer feed. It takes two channels as input and provides output for two satellite speakers (left/right).

 

[sealy]

JM Labs made a model called the Micron, but this one isn't that. It looks very similar to a lot of German-made speakers, including those made by manufacturers like Braun, Canton and ADS. If those small speakers on the left are indeed Cantons, then chances are good the rest of them are German-made, as well. I'm guessing the single speaker to have a 6 or 8 in. woofer, which would put the sub driver at 10-12 in.

 

[myu701]

Hey Sealy, yeah I'd stumbled across JM Labs when searching and I'd agree, definitely not the same. I'm going to take a look at a few other items in a preview, and hopefully I'll get a chance to look these over and find some origin information on the back.

 

[myu701]

The last person to own this speaker had the thing resting on its side, rather than on its bottom with the wood veneer side facing up. This put some heavy duty scratches and markings into the wood trim of one side. But it looks like it can be salvaged.

Anyway, it's a nice looking unit. Heavy beast, weighing in at 53lbs, and totally sturdy enough to sit on with confidence. I've not yet had a chance to hook it up, so no idea if it's any good. It's rated at 8ohms, yet no sign of peak wattage handling. The only hint of information on the Internet is that it was made between 1981-1985.

Here's the driver. I've never seen a woofer with two sets of wires, one for each channel. :scratch2:

The crossover is relatively simple--one side is for the incoming signal, the other for outgoing.

 

[DaveElton]

Dual VC woofer, is that an 8 or 10"?? You must hook it up man and tell us how it sounds!!!!

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Wow, a dual-voicecoil woofer with a stamped frame. I can't imagine that's very-common, although I'm way-out of my league with that stuff.

Great-looking box.

 

[Nat]

Part of a sub sat system that got good reviews in a HiFi annual I used to have.

 

[MunkeyQ]

Wow, a dual-voicecoil woofer with a stamped frame. I can't imagine that's very-common, although I'm way-out of my league with that stuff.

Great-looking box.

Most single driver passive subs use a dual voice coil woofer as a cheap way to effectively sum both channels to mono - the left channel drives one voice coil and the right drives the other. The crossover is doubled up as it's treated as two separate drivers, one for the right channel and one for the left, which is why in that sub there's two inductors and two sets of capacitors, one for each voice coil.

Looks like the satellites are padded down with that resistor too...might need to play around with its value depending on the efficiency of the speakers you're using with it. The capacitors probably form a 1st order high-pass filter for the satellites.

(also, I have an Altec computer sub which has a 6.5" dual voice coil stamped basket with a vented pole piece!)

Nice sub, well made and the driver looks like a CTS. Liking the woodwork especially...very living room friendly. Whip out that passive crossover, give it its own mono amp with an active crossover and it'll make a great little system with some bookshelf speakers!

 

[kreichenbach]

1056 is a Fisher woofer. 8051 is the 51st week of 1980. The only reason I know is I just decoded one in a speaker I have. Subwoofer looks interesting. How does it sound??

 

[myu701]

Thanks for the info, guys. Good to hear it was pretty well respected back in the day, Nat. Dave, the woofer is 9" diameter from surround edges... is that uncommon? It's not the heaviest magnet (my JBL L80T woofers beat this), but probably good enough for the job. This is my first passive sub woofer, so I had no idea about dual voice coils. I wish the original General Sound satellites came with it, but the previous owner used Pinnacle PN2's instead. I've seen mention of PN2's on AK and the talk was that they're a pretty respectable budget speaker.



I didn't photograph the side that the sub was sitting on for most of its life, so the impression of appearance in my photos is a little exaggerated. There aren't any deep gouges in that side, so I should be able to clean it up fairly well.

MunkeyQ, it's definitely furniture grade. The side pieces appear to be solid oak, secured with a bolt from the inside at each corner. I'm guessing the top surface is a walnut veneer with some kind of spill resistant matte finish. The main cabinetry is very thick and solid sounding, probably making up the bulk of the weight (53lbs is hefty for 17x19x21). When you say "whip out that passive crossover", do you mean to bypass the passive crossover and use an active one with a mono amp?

It looks like there are a number of ways to use this passive subwoofer. One setup might be employing a 2 channel amp, sending L/R channels to the GS-10 with two speakers hooked up to the GS-10 in the satellite terminals. Or if the 2 channel amp has a pre-out, send that to another small amp dedicated for the subwoofer. Most HT receivers expect an active sub, with a single RCA pre-out, so I don't think the GS-10 would work for that... unless I used it for a supported 2nd zone or in place of one set of surround speakers?

Kreichenbach, thanks very much for posting about the identify of the driver. Very cool on the timing. I don't know how it sounds just yet, but will post once I've tried it.

 

[Columbo]

2002 Orion Blue Book

Micron by General Sound

80-85 421/2/3 new=$270/pr (4" 2-way?)
80-85 521/2/3 new=$330/pr (5" 2-3ay?)
80-85 631/2/3 new=$450/pr (6" 3-way?)
80-85 1011 Bass Extender new=$350
81-85 GS-5 new=$300/pr
81-85 GS-10 Subwoofer new=$300

 

[MarkSA]

Nice find: Circa 1981. Not a common speaker. Not easy to find.

 

[myu701]

Thanks for that Orion info, Columbo. There's so little info on the Internet about General Sound... it's good to know that the satellite speakers were model GS-5. I found some photos of them on the Internet: 1, 2, 3, 4.

 

[myu701]

Well, I hooked this up to my Integra receiver in stereo mode and used the Pinnacle PN2's as the satellites. Wow! Impressive sound. The bass is nicely balanced. Not muddy at all or overbearing. I'd first tried out the PN2's alone and they were OK, but they sound better through the GS-10. The mids are a little light on detail, but overall it's a pleasant sound. I have a JVC mini system with thin tube satellites and a decent sub. This GS-10 setup is definitely better. Despite the fact that there are just two satellites, the imaging is good enough to make them disappear. Almost a "surround" feeling. This might be even better with the original GS-5 speakers... or perhaps a JBL bookshelf substitution.

Next, I decided to give my Canton CT-800's a try in place of the Pinnacle PN2's... They're rated at 8ohms as well. The Cantons have a nice 10" woofer that went a little shy, probably because the crossover in the GS-10 was taking the lower frequencies for itself. But the CT-800's are more efficient than the PN2's and so they performed really well. Overall, a satellite with a very good tweeter and mid is best paired with the GS-10.

The Canton CT-800's definitely work better with a powered sub, like the Canton AS-20. It has both a crossover frequency adjustment as well as volume, so you can precisely manage bass distribution (nice to let the CT-800's handle a good bit of it, with the AS-20 helping out). The GS-10 is passive and has no crossover adjustment... but then you're talking about a significantly different price bracket. Assuming the GS-10 goes for somewhere between $75-$100, it's a very good value.

 

[ijosef]

There's a complete system on the 'bay right now, but it's pricey.

Here's a few pics.

 

[Edroom]

Micron Speakers

I have a set of these, every once in a while I google to see if I can find any info, have very little info, although it is obviously a well made set.
I have the 631 satelites with the 1011 bass extender.
The 631 has time array set up with the tweeter set back, they are HEAVY!
They couldnt have sold many, my Bass extender was #6.
Picked the set up about 10 years ago at a doctors estate sale.
any more info would be appreciated!
here are some pics.

 

[Bigkahuna]

Sorry to drudge up an old thread. I have a friend who wants to connect a Micron Model number GS-10 subwoofer with two satellite speakers to an old Harman Kardon 330c that I sold him. I really am unfamiliar with using a subwoofer in a stereo set up and with this being a small 20 wpc receiver I would hate to see him damage it. Wouldn't he connect a preamp to the sub woofer if the sub has an amp?

 

[Nat]

Many subwoofers allow a choice of connection to the preamp via RCAs or connection to the power amp via speaker wires from the regular speaker terminals on the amp, witht he regular speakers connected to terminals on the subwoofer. This being a specific system may not offer that flexibility. You'll have to look at the subwoofers inputs/outputs.

 

[Bigkahuna]

Many subwoofers allow a choice of connection to the preamp via RCAs or connection to the power amp via speaker wires from the regular speaker terminals on the amp, witht he regular speakers connected to terminals on the subwoofer. This being a specific system may not offer that flexibility. You'll have to look at the subwoofers inputs/outputs.

I believe if you look at the above photos this one just has speaker connections. So I guess it is just amp in and satellite speakers out. I am just worried a 20wpc will not be able to handle this 2.1 passive system.

 

[nexus]

it might work if you only listen at backround music levels. i would suggest at least 75 honest watts per as a minimum..