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SpeakerLab 7

DaWoofer

DaWoofer

Super Member
I finally went and picked these up (that was difficult to do by myself) and got them home.With the cabinets being of rather thinner MDF than I had usually seen for speakers, these things have some mighty weight to them. The tweeter had come loose from its silicone mounting and I could see inside at the mid horn and tweet magnets. At least I could see they used some cross-bracing in there. I couldn't see the woofer magnets because of the stuffing in there, but they must have some very hefty magnets on them to weight this much. Am I correct in this account? This model is the WA which I think stands for Wave Aperture, whatever the heck that is. Is it just another way to say "horn?" I'm gonna reapply some silicone and give them a listen and report back. I don't plan on keeping them, I've thought of parting them out but ya never know what will happen after the listening test.
 
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I finally hooked them up tonight and listened for a little while. Man these things sure tickle your insides with the deep base. I heard on acoustic guitar tune on these and man they sound so real to life. Much more listening ahead and positioning to get real use to them. But I can see right away why they were so popular. I haven't turned them up over 2 watts and man were they cranking. Does anyone have the spec sheet for these or know what their sensitivity rating where?
 
Post some pictures!

Depending on the series, the woofers could weigh 10 pounds and about 7 pounds (12" and 10") or a few pounds more if they are a later series. The early series that I have have AlNiCo magnets which are smaller but more powerful and contained than a ceramic magnet.
 
W.a.

The wave aperture tweeter was a short lived but much under appreciated horn design that was advertised to broaden the dispersion of the high end.
PM me your Edress and I will send you an old SpeakerLab 7 poster.
 
Listening to my Speakerlab 7s, in comparison to other speakers with known sensitivity, I would guess the sensitivity is around 92 to 95 db for 1 watt at 1 metre. Do a search in AudioKarma, there have been quite a few threads on Speakerlab 7s over the last couple of years.
 
Wow! I put a little power to these tonight, about 2 to 8 watts peak and these babies came alive. I also got off FM and put on some Robin Trower and it made these things sound fantastic. The soundstage opened up as well. You that know Trower knows the heavy bassline in his music and these woofers really shocked me. Even the chains rattling on the snare drum had me fooled for a second when I realized I haven't had the Ludwigs set up in months. I just can't image how these will sound if they can take more wattage and hold together with the great punch and bass. Just fricking fantastic. And for the cheap price I paid for these and more people not telling me to jump tells me that many people have over looked SpeakerLab and the ones that didn't knew something that many people just plain missed. I didn't know anything about them neither until I ran across these from the guy who had the SX-1980. Man I got to give the old fellow credit, he must of rocked his ass off in the day. Can't wait for the turntables run at these and contemplating my tube setup just for the shits and giggles and see what might happen. I got many sets of speakers around here and right now many are in deep ****.
 
You bet, I've got ~45 sets of speakers...when I got my early-model SL-7's they took the King of Bass crown and just laughed.

In all but one of my rooms, the model 3's with dome tweets are a better match. But in the one big room... :D
 
:wave: :thmbsp: Congratulations on your pickup! Yeah those Sevens are impressive aren't they, with good efficiency and power handling abilities too.

We had great fun assembling speakerlab speakers from kits back in the day.

It's been posted before (search on AK on "speakerlab 7" for lots of discussion) but here's a scan from a late 70s catalog for the Super Sevens.

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I think I also have a catalog listing for the Wide Aperture version (believe that model came in 1980 :scratch2: ). I can get you a scan if interested.
 
Would love the WA version ad. Thats the version I have. Man if I ever ran across some Super Sevens I'd be in heaven if I got them. I believe my search might be over! So what did a pair of the Supers go for?
 
< pulling the speakerlab catalogs from the cabinet >

The Speakerlab 7WA's appeared in the 1979 Speakerlab catalog (they were the only version of the speakerlab 7 in the 1979 catalog). Rated for 250 WPC RMS/channel max guaranteed safe amplifier power. In kit form w/ the utility enclosure, they were priced at $309 per speaker. $349 each w/ the walnut veneer enclosure.

The Sevens and Super Sevens appear in the 1978 catalog. Prices were not listed in the catalog but on a separate sheet. I have a "retail price list" sheet from 8/81, it lists the S-7 kits @ $269 each. (wow those WA tweets and horn mids could be had for $64 and $85 respectively).

It's a good ballpark figure but by the early 80s, I think we are sadly starting to see the redesign of the Sevens (and the K-horns go away) due to legal pressure from Klipsch - I believe I saw that mentioned by AK member bwanajim, another longtime seattle area speakerlab guy.

Ok I'll bring the catalog into work next week and get the WA page scanned for ya. Enjoy those speakers. I hope I run across a pair like you did. :thmbsp:
 
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I have hot melted that tweeter in twice and twice the back pressure has popped it out. I didn't figure clear silicone would have any better adhesion than the hot melt. But I think I read in other threads that is what the factory used. I guess I have to invest in a tube and find out. I really appreciate your efforts in getting the info for me. When you mention S-7, is that a separate speaker all together or is that short for Super 7's?
 
SpeakerLabFan said:
< pulling the speakerlab catalogs from the cabinet >

The Speakerlab 7WA's appeared in the 1979 Speakerlab catalog (they were the only version of the speakerlab 7 in the 1979 catalog). Rated for 250 WPC RMS/channel max guaranteed safe amplifier power. In kit form w/ the utility enclosure, they were priced at $309 per speaker. $349 each w/ the walnut veneer enclosure.

The Sevens and Super Sevens appear in the 1978 catalog. Prices were not listed in the catalog but on a separate sheet. I have a "retail price list" sheet from 8/81, it lists the S-7 kits @ $269 each. (wow those WA tweets and horn mids could be had for $64 and $85 respectively).

It's a good ballpark figure but by the early 80s, I think we are sadly starting to see the redesign of the Sevens (and the K-horns go away) due to legal pressure from Klipsch - I believe I saw that mentioned by AK member bwanajim, another longtime seattle area speakerlab guy.

Ok I'll bring the catalog into work next week and get the WA page scanned for ya. Enjoy those speakers. I hope I run across a pair like you did. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

I was earning $5.49/hour when I moved to Seattle in 1979. That's why I bought the .1 satellites instead of the 7s :sigh:
 
DaWoofer said:
When you mention S-7, is that a separate speaker all together or is that short for Super 7's?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is just short for Speakerlab 7s. That's how they list the speaker in the columns in the Retail Price list.

I found a couple of scans from the 1978 catalog:

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Spalls said:
I was earning $5.49/hour when I moved to Seattle in 1979. That's why I bought the .1 satellites instead of the 7s :sigh:
Click to expand...

Listed at $65 each for the utility kits. Alot of bang for the buck!
 
DaWoofer said:
Would love the WA version ad. Thats the version I have. Man if I ever ran across some Super Sevens I'd be in heaven if I got them. I believe my search might be over! So what did a pair of the Supers go for?
Click to expand...

Sorry it took a couple of weeks...here's a scan of the catalog pages for the Speakerlab 7WA model:


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Just tried logging onto Speakerlab web site would not let me without special permission. It was asking for log on info that was a new one. Anybody hear have that happen to them?
 
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