audiomagnate
Addicted Member
They are beyond cool. You have to buy them.
Stan White speakers - worth a look?
- Thread starter moggi1964
- Start date
kansei
Super Member
The drivers look to be two mid-woofers with a single tweeter on top. I'm set to pick them up tomorrow and will report on the innards later on.
By reading the articles, the inside of the speakers have an elaborate series of passages a'la folded horn. If you look at the ad on CL page, looks like there is a downward pointing bass port on the back of the enclosure as well.
Not sure why they were so expensive. Perhaps they were a niche product?
By reading the articles, the inside of the speakers have an elaborate series of passages a'la folded horn. If you look at the ad on CL page, looks like there is a downward pointing bass port on the back of the enclosure as well.
Not sure why they were so expensive. Perhaps they were a niche product?
bobaloniny
newt
Good on you kansei...they are looking pretty cool from here...Im pretty sure that if they were within a couple hours of me I would have been all over them.
kansei
Super Member
I picked up the speakers and got them home. Here is the skinny.
The seller says they are the Excelsior model. From some of the web reading, they appear to be the Esquire. The owner's grandfather knew actor Eddie Bracken (Roy Walley from the Vacation movie). Eddie was a part-owner of Stan White's company, and talked the original owner into purchasing a set. The owner used to drive them with a Sherwood amplifier, and they were built into a bar-like structure.
Each speaker has two 8" mid-woofers and a single 4" (5" ?) tweeter. They look great, much nicer finish than the pictures. The grills used to be white with gold speckles, and are now much darker from picking up all the dust. The speakers used to have conical feet which have gone missing.
The woofers: they have paper cones and are very brittle with broken paper surrounds. The back of each woofer has a round magnet and it's marked W-98 and 270804.
The tweeters: paper cone tweeters inside a simulated wooden horn. Marked W951 and 270752.
The crossover: a single capacitor in front of the tweeter, nothing else. The woofers are not crossed at all. It appears the woofers are wired in series.
The enclosure: back-loaded horn design. The inside of the top of the speaker is rounded and it vents downwards. The back of the speaker is louvered, so there are two exits there. The part of the enclosure I can see is very well made, rounded where it needed to be rounded and square where it needs to be square.
The advertising says the following: curved, not folded, exponential horn (1% of formula). Multiple flare formula (patent applied for). Passive phasing chambers. 21db/octave acoustical crossover. Distributed throat characteristics (not found elsewhere). They were sold by Harvey Electronics and ASCO in New York, alongside of such brands as Fairchild, Dynaco, Ampex Tandberg and Quad.
The model is "The Esquire", originally sold for $194 each.
I have to figure out two things:
- how to fix the drivers, as they don't appear to lend themselves to standard re-foaming due to the brittle paper surrounds.
- how to clean the grill fabric
Does anyone know who made these drivers?
Attaching a few photos as well
The seller says they are the Excelsior model. From some of the web reading, they appear to be the Esquire. The owner's grandfather knew actor Eddie Bracken (Roy Walley from the Vacation movie). Eddie was a part-owner of Stan White's company, and talked the original owner into purchasing a set. The owner used to drive them with a Sherwood amplifier, and they were built into a bar-like structure.
Each speaker has two 8" mid-woofers and a single 4" (5" ?) tweeter. They look great, much nicer finish than the pictures. The grills used to be white with gold speckles, and are now much darker from picking up all the dust. The speakers used to have conical feet which have gone missing.
The woofers: they have paper cones and are very brittle with broken paper surrounds. The back of each woofer has a round magnet and it's marked W-98 and 270804.
The tweeters: paper cone tweeters inside a simulated wooden horn. Marked W951 and 270752.
The crossover: a single capacitor in front of the tweeter, nothing else. The woofers are not crossed at all. It appears the woofers are wired in series.
The enclosure: back-loaded horn design. The inside of the top of the speaker is rounded and it vents downwards. The back of the speaker is louvered, so there are two exits there. The part of the enclosure I can see is very well made, rounded where it needed to be rounded and square where it needs to be square.
The advertising says the following: curved, not folded, exponential horn (1% of formula). Multiple flare formula (patent applied for). Passive phasing chambers. 21db/octave acoustical crossover. Distributed throat characteristics (not found elsewhere). They were sold by Harvey Electronics and ASCO in New York, alongside of such brands as Fairchild, Dynaco, Ampex Tandberg and Quad.
The model is "The Esquire", originally sold for $194 each.
I have to figure out two things:
- how to fix the drivers, as they don't appear to lend themselves to standard re-foaming due to the brittle paper surrounds.
- how to clean the grill fabric
Does anyone know who made these drivers?
Attaching a few photos as well
Attachments
kansei
Super Member
Thanks, that rocks! Now I have an option of getting replacement full-range Quam speakers and stay in the spirit of things instead of re-coning the originals or getting something different.
I was considering Fostex replacements yesterday.
Do you have at least one woofer that is in good enough condition to measure? If you can somehow get a meaningful set of T/S parameters you will at least have half a chance of getting something that will work with those unusual enclosures. Otherwise, it will just be a crap shoot.
What the hell is a 21dB/octave acoustical crossover, btw? 3.5th order?
What the hell is a 21dB/octave acoustical crossover, btw? 3.5th order?
kansei
Super Member
All of the paper surrounds are cracked, so not sure whether measuring them would produce usable results. I could probably pick up a similar driver on the 'bay and measure it.
It seems that the design philosophy of the speaker was focused on the back-loaded horn enclosure, which produces big sound from small drivers. The drivers seem to be fairly ordinary, and the "next gen" Quam ones can be had in the $10-$20 range.
It seems that the design philosophy of the speaker was focused on the back-loaded horn enclosure, which produces big sound from small drivers. The drivers seem to be fairly ordinary, and the "next gen" Quam ones can be had in the $10-$20 range.
I'm not a "horn guy" but everything I have ever read suggests that horns are extremely sensitive to the performance of their associated drivers and that they require a serious "motor" with correspondingly low Qts, among other things. Superficially, your's don't look like the kind of low Q woofers I am familiar with, so I wonder if this cabinet really is a horn? Perhaps it is more of an acoustical labyrinth or tuned quarter wave design? Whatever it is, I wish you luck and hope that you continue to share your results.
moggi1964
Active Member
It was great to hear the story the seller had to tell (I was there with Kansei).
These are intriguing speakers and I do hope that close to original parts can be found so we can get an idea what the Stan White used to sound like in its day.
I'm rather excited
BTW: you should start a new thread in Speakers detailing what you find and what you do.
These are intriguing speakers and I do hope that close to original parts can be found so we can get an idea what the Stan White used to sound like in its day.
I'm rather excited
BTW: you should start a new thread in Speakers detailing what you find and what you do.
audiomagnate
Addicted Member
Quam is still in business. Maybe they have something equivalent, or better yet, some NOS.
kansei
Super Member
The best way to describe the current speaker load is as follows: console speakers. They don't appear very sturdy or "low Q" as one may expect. I suppose they may be magic when working properly, but my thought is that the magic is in the enclosure.
I found some Quam replacements on the 'bay, but I'm still not convinced that's the way to go. PE has some fairly inexpensive full-range drivers which look much beefier than what Quam has to offer. I suppose I could pick up Fostex drivers as well, although they cost $100 per unit.
The enclosure looks something like this on the inside, except the turns are rounded and without angles: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4188648&postcount=8
I found some Quam replacements on the 'bay, but I'm still not convinced that's the way to go. PE has some fairly inexpensive full-range drivers which look much beefier than what Quam has to offer. I suppose I could pick up Fostex drivers as well, although they cost $100 per unit.
The enclosure looks something like this on the inside, except the turns are rounded and without angles: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4188648&postcount=8
jessdw
Active Member
MartinV56
Well-Known Member
MartinV56
Well-Known Member
audiomagnate
Addicted Member
$66! I'm astounded. The legendary 4D's retailed for $3,000 a pair and those look good and original.
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